I gave my Milly all she has in the world--a house, a shop, a husband, and my best bed-linen.

And now when I want her to call the child Yosef, after my first husband, peace be on him, her own father, she would out of sheer vexatiousness, call it Yechezkel." Malka's voice became more strident than ever.

She had been anxious to make a species of vicarious reparation to her first husband, and the failure of Milly to acquiesce in the arrangement was a source of real vexation.
Moses could think of nothing better to say than to inquire how her present husband was.
"He overworks himself," Malka replied, shaking her head.

"The misfortune is that he thinks himself a good man of business, and he is always starting new enterprises without consulting me.

If he would only take my advice more!" Moses shook his head in sympathetic deprecation of Michael Birnbaum's wilfulness.
"Is he at home ?" he asked.
"No, but I expect him back from the country every minute.