The Ghetto Part 14

ROSA.

[_Pointing to SAMSON._] Let him speak.

SAMSON.

Why--why, she can't take a joke--that's all.

RAFAEL.

Oh, a joke. What was the joke? What was the joke?

DANIEL.

Oh, everything is a joke. Don't we live across the street? Can two people help putting their heads together once in a while? Well, of course, if you--if she--if we--why, of course----

RAFAEL.

What did they say?

ROSA.

They said--they insinuated that--that----

RAFAEL.

I know what they said. You--I--[_He takes hold of them both._] Two people can't help putting their heads together! If you will meet me in some seclusion, my two good friends, I'll show you how two heads can be so put together that two people shall see stars enough to read their horoscopes. You shall read in those stars the name of Rosa--Rosa who, G.o.d search my soul, is purer than the snows on the crest of the Jungfrau. Quite properly--[_as he causes them to bend low_]--quite properly, they bend in homage, Rosa! And Daniel here, Daniel whom the starving lions would not taste--the story never seemed to me so true as now--he says that what he said he did not say, and can't remember what it was, and is most sorry that he said it--and see--[_forces them_]--bends low. I thank you for your courtesy. And Samson, he that slew the thousands with the jawbone of an a.s.s--which is his jawbone to this day--he's swallowing those words he spoke, so eagerly that he chokes! Ha, ha! my ardent friends! [_He turns them about ironically._] And must you go? Ah, well! [_He pushes them towards the door._] If you insist--if you insist--Good-bye! Good-bye! [_He throws them violently out._] [_Then to ROSA._] I have seen Hanakoff; he is going to play my music to-night; and if--Rosa--[_ROSA bursts into tears._] Rosa!

ROSA.

Go away from me!

RAFAEL.

But why, Rosa----

ROSA.

Let me be! You shall never touch me again! I hate you--I loathe you--all of you!

RAFAEL.

But have I not disposed of them! Is there anything else? My darling!

ROSA.

No, never again; never shall you lay your hand on me! I know what lies before me now. I am your wife and you will not proclaim me. I am your wife and they insult me, and you bundle them off without a word such as I wanted, as if I were your mistress, who must not be vexed! I know now; last night you soothed me over--you took me in your arms before him; but he is blind--he did not understand--he only suspected something foul; and so it will grow, until his suspicion makes an open accusation; and then you will stand revealed--you will shrink away from me--you will cry, "I have sinned in the sight of the synagogue," and I shall be cast out of doors--a broken plaything, a husk of yesterday!

RAFAEL.

Rosa! Rosa! Are you not my wife?

ROSA.

Your wife--here in the Ghetto--here among your people? No, to them I am a Christian--to them I cannot be your wife--to them I am a sacrilege--an insult in their teeth! Oh! as one who enters h.e.l.l I entered here--a steaming h.e.l.l of avarice; not life--but a sickly poisoned dream of gain, gain--always gain. I thought I saw a bright light shining in this horrid place. I flew to you--I gave you my soul--to find myself--ugh!--only----

RAFAEL.

Horror! that you should even think such things!

ROSA.

Think such things! You say you love me with all your heart--with all your soul. How great is your soul that dares not the anger of a father who is wrong?--a soul that fears poverty, disinheritance, the hatred of the Ghetto? You fear that you would be cast off, that you would suffer want and ridicule, that your father would never feed you and clothe you again; and when that fear comes into your heart what room is left for me? Love! Ugh! Ugh! What is _your_ love! The love of the way that is easiest, the love of the son of honest Sachel--the love of a Jew!

RAFAEL.

[_Slowly, sorrowfully._] And now _you_ say "Jew!" "Jew!" as they say it in the streets, among the mob, when I go beyond the Ghetto. It sounds strange from lips that I thought loved me; it sounds strange from the daughter of your father! Such a man he was! When you and I had our first long talks together, and you told me of the n.o.ble deeds your father had done in behalf of the Jews, I couldn't help loving you for his sake; and now you call me Jew! I _am_ a Jew.

Never forget that I am a Jew. I have married you; and when it is known I shall have no standing among Jews. The orthodox will avoid me as a pariah, and the mob of Jews will howl at me when I go into the street. And I shall still be a Jew--proud of my race, proud of its fort.i.tude, of the great triumph which shall come to us Jews when we have shaken off the material sh.e.l.l which hides our spirits, and makes us no better and no worse than the Christians! No, no! You are angry--you don't care what you say! You are angry--and you sneer at my father. What do you know against my father's honesty?

ROSA.

He is the father of a man who has married me and dares not proclaim me.

RAFAEL.

Dares not! Dares not! Ah, you little know me if you think that!

Rosa, Rosa! Look here! My dear little girl, you are all wrong. We have agreed on this point. It was yourself who said that we must not tell of our marriage yet. [_ROSA sinks into a chair._] You said that I must give my time to my music, until I had made a name--until we could go forth on our own footing--not cast out of that door--without a cent between us, to be reviled and hustled by the mob. And I thought of my father--of his old age--of his pain. If he _is_ wrong--if he _is_ what he should not be, he's still my father----

ROSA.

He called me a demon just now! He opened the door and was about to bid me go from here. He said my father came out of h.e.l.l. He called me a vampire--he called me a snake----

RAFAEL.

Oh--! Oh--! Rosa, poor little Rosa!

ROSA.

[_Weeping._] I only want you to love me. I want to know it--to know that they cannot, shall not take you from me! Tell me so, Rafael; burn it into my heart, Rafael!

RAFAEL.

Yes, it must be burned into your heart, dear. Before to-night it shall be. I love you! I dare anything for the sake of my love for you!

ROSA.

Rafael!

[_Knock at the door. She rushes upstairs._