The women parted with Chavveh in great gladness, and turned towards home
conscious of a definite purpose. Now they all felt they knew just what
to do, and were sure it would prevent all further misfortune and
disgrace.
They could have sung out for joy, embraced the hill, the stream, the
peasant huts, and kissed and fondled them all together. Mind you, they
had even now no definite plan of action, it was just Chavvehle's
sympathy that had made all the difference--feeling that Chavveh was
with them! Wrapped in the evening mist, they stepped vigorously and
cheerily homewards.
Gradually the speed and the noise of their march increased, the air
throbbed, and at last a high, sharp voice rose above the rest, whereupon
they grew stiller, and the women listened.
"I tell you what, we won't beat them. Only on Sabbath we must all come
together like one man, break into the house-of-study just before they
call up to the Reading of the Law, and not let them read till they have
sworn to agree to our sentence of excommunication!
"She is right!"
"Excommunicate him!"
"Tear him in pieces!"
"Let him be dressed in robe and prayer-scarf, and swear by the eight
black candles that he----"
"Swear! Swear!"
The noise was dreadful. No one was allowed to finish speaking. They were
all aflame with one fire of revenge, hate, and anger, and all alike
athirst for justice. Every new idea, every new suggestion was hastily
and hotly seized upon by all together, and there was a grinding of teeth
and a clenching of fists. Nature herself seemed affected by the tumult,
the clouds flew faster, the stars changed their places, the wind
whistled, the trees swayed hither and thither, the frogs croaked, there
was a great boiling up of the whole concern.
"Women, women," cried one, "I propose that we go to the court of the
Shool, climb into the round millstones, and all shout together, so that
they may know what we have decided."
"Right! Right! To the Shool!" cried a chorus of voices.
A common feeling of triumph running through them, they took each other
friendly-wise by the hand, and made gaily for the court of the Shool.
When they got into the town, they fell on each other's necks, and kissed
each other with tears and joy. They knew their plan was the best and
most excellent that could be devised, and would protect them all from
further shame and trouble.
The Pidvorkes shuddered to hear their tread.
All the remaining inhabitants, big and little, men and women, gathered
in the court of the Shool, and stood with pale faces and beating hearts
to see what would happen.
The eyes of the young bachelors rolled uneasily, the girls had their
faces on one another's shoulders, and sobbed.
Breindel, agile as a cat, climbed on to the highest millstone, and
proclaimed in a voice of thunder:
"Seeing that such and such a thing has happened, a great scandal such as
is not to be hid, and such as we do not wish to hide, all we women have
decided to excommunicate----"
Such a tumult arose that for a minute or two Breindel could not be
heard, but it was not long before everyone knew who and what was meant.
"We also demand that neither he nor his nearest friends shall be called
to the Reading of the Law; that people shall have nothing to do with
them till after the wedding!"
"Nothing to do with them! Nothing to do with them!" shook the air.
"That people shall not lend to them nor borrow of them, shall not come
within their four ells!" continued the voice from the millstone.
"And _she_ shall be shut up till her time comes, so that no one shall
see her. Then we will take her to the burial-ground, and the child shall
be born in the burial-ground. The wedding shall take place by day, and
without musicians--"
"Without musicians!"
"Without musicians!"
'Without musicians!"
"Serve her right!"
"She deserves worse!"
A hundred voices were continually interrupting the speaker, and more
women were climbing onto the millstones, and shouting the same things.
"On the wedding-day there will be great black candles burning throughout
the whole town, and when the bride is seated at the top of the
marriage-hall, with her hair flowing loose about her, all the girls
shall surround her, and the Badchen shall tell her, 'This is the way we
treat one who has not held to her Jewishness, and has blackened all our
faces----'"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
"So it is!"
"The apostates!"
The last words struck the hearers' hearts like poisoned arrows. A
deathly pallor, born of unrealized terror at the suggested idea,
overspread all their faces, their feelings were in a tumult of shame and
suffering. They thirsted and longed after their former life, the time
before the calamity disturbed their peace. Weary and wounded in spirit,
with startled looks, throbbing pulses, and dilated pupils, and with no
more than a faint hope that all might yet be well, they slowly broke the
stillness, and departed to their homes.