Reb Shemuel had not of course expected him till the next morning, but he welcomed him as heartily as Hannah could desire.
"The Most High bless you!" he said in his charming foreign accents. "May you make my Hannah as good a husband as she will make you a wife."
"Trust me, Reb Shemuel," said David, grasping his great hand warmly.
"Hannah says you're a sinner in Israel," said the Reb, smiling playfully, though there was a touch of anxiety in the tones. "But I suppose you will keep a _kosher_ house."
"Make your mind easy, sir," said David heartily. "We must, if it's only to have the pleasure of your dining with us sometimes."
The old man patted him gently on the shoulder.
"Ah, you will soon become a good Jew," he said. "My Hannah will teach you, God bless her." Reb Shemuel's voice was a bit husky. He bent down and kissed Hannah's forehead. "I was a bit _link_ myself before I married my Simcha" he added encouragingly.
"No, no, not you," said David, smiling in response to the twinkle in the Reb's eye. "I warrant _you_ never skipped a _Mitzvah_ even as a bachelor."
"Oh yes, I did," replied the Reb, letting the twinkle develop to a broad smile, "for when I was a bachelor I hadn't fulfilled the precept to marry, don't you see?"
"Is marriage a _Mitzvah_, then?" inquired David, amused.
"Certainly. In our holy religion everything a man ought to do is a _Mitzvah_, even if it is pleasant."
"Oh, then, even I must have laid up some good deeds," laughed David, "for I have always enjoyed myself. Really, it isn't such a bad religion after all."
"Bad religion!" echoed Reb Shemuel genially. "Wait till you've tried it. You've never had a proper training, that's clear. Are your parents alive?"
"No, they both died when I was a child," said David, becoming serious.
"I thought so!" said Reb Shemuel. "Fortunately my Hannah's didn't." He smiled at the humor of the phrase and Hannah took his hand and pressed it tenderly. "Ah, it will be all right," said the Reb with a characteristic burst of optimism. "God is good. You have a sound Jewish heart at bottom, David, my son. Hannah, get the _Yomtovdik_ wine. We will drink, a glass for _Mazzoltov_, and I hope your mother will be back in time to join in."
Hannah ran into the kitchen feeling happier than she had ever been in her life. She wept a little and laughed a little, and loitered a little to recover her composure and allow the two men to get to know each other a little.