What is it that draws me to this old man? I am almost glad he needs my
care as a physician. Remarkable egotism this on my part; but fortunately
the sickness is not serious; a slight indisposition, such as often comes
in old age. My patient is well on in the seventies, and is really
wonderfully fresh and vigorous. A sudden spell of faintness induced his
servant to send for me--the wrathful, snarling servant who received me
with so little grace on my first visit. Now I am used to Feiwel
Silbermann's quirks and sallies. I know his intentions are not bad; and
then his great merit in my eyes is his rare fidelity to Simon
Eichelkatz. After I had finished examining the patient on my first
visit, Feiwel crept after me, caught hold of me as I stood on the lowest
step, and anxiously inquired:
"What is the matter with Reb Shimme? Is he, God forbid, really sick?
He's never been this way before. I've known him--may he long be
spared--these twenty years, but as he was to-day--"
Feiwel tried to take my hand. "I must scold, _nebbich_. That's what he's
used to. And if I were suddenly to come along with fine manners, he
might think, _Chas ve-Sholem_, it was all over with him. Now, I ask you,
Herr Kreisphysikusleben, if a man always scolds and means well, isn't
that as good as if a man speaks softly and is false? A treacherous dog
doesn't bark. Praised be God, Reb Shimme knows what he's got in me.
Twenty years I've been with him, since Madame Eichelkatz died. His only
son is professor at the University in Berlin. A _Meshummed_, Herr
Doktor. Baptized," he added, his voice growing hoarse. "Since the
gracious Madame Eichelkatz died, we live here, at the Flour Market. And
he never saw his son again, Herr Doktor. But now, if he should, God
forbid, get sick--he's an old man--I don't know what I should do."
Ah! So Simon Eichelkatz has a skeleton in his closet, not an every-day
skeleton, either. I should not have suspected it from what I saw of the
gentle, gay-spirited old man. As to Feiwel, I set his worries at rest. I
told him the illness was not serious, a mere weakness, not unusual in a
man of Simon Eichelkatz's age, and it would pass without serious
consequences. Feiwel gave me a look of such devout gratitude that I was
touched. "Of course," I said, "you must be watchful, and must take good
care of him, because at his age every symptom must be taken into
account."
"What, symtohn he has?" Feiwel asked, anxious again. "Can symtohn become
dangerous? Is it a very bad trouble? Symtohn!" He repeated the word
several times. "I've heard of people's getting heart disease, or kidney
trouble, may I be forgiven for my sins, or rheumatiz, but to get
symtohn!"
I explained the meaning of the word to him, and he breathed a sigh of
relief.
"Praised be God, if it's nothing more than that--I'll look out for the
symtohns, you can be sure of that, Herr Kreisphysikusleben."
"I'll come again to-morrow to find out how Herr Eichelkatz is doing," I
said, "and I hope it won't be necessary to let Herr Professor Eichelkatz
know--"
At that moment it occurred to me I had never heard of a university
professor of that name.
"He isn't called Eichelkatz at all," Feiwel whispered with spite in his
voice. "If a man can have himself baptized, he can throw his father's
name away, too. Why not? What should a man be named Eichelkatz for if
he's a professor? If he's a professor, it's better for him _evadde_ to
be named Eichner--such a name!"
Eichner! Professor Friedrich Eichner, the most powerful of modern
thinkers, the philosopher of world-wide renown, a son of Simon
Eichelkatz!