pause. "Every human being—be he ever so wicked—if he have done but a single good deed on earth, will, when he arrives above, in the seventh heaven, get his Sechûs, that is to say, the memory of the good he has done here below will be remembered and rewarded bountifully by the Almighty." Gudule ceased speaking. Suddenly a change came over her features: her breath came and went in labored gasps; but her brown eyes still gleamed brightly.
In tones well-nigh inaudible she continued: "When Jerusalem, the Holy City, was destroyed, the dead rose up out of their graves . . . the holy patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob . . . and also Moses, and Aaron his brother . . . and David the King . . . and prostrating themselves before God's throne they sobbed: 'Dost Thou not remember the deeds we have done? . . . Wouldst Thou now utterly destroy all these our children, even to the innocent babe at the breast?' But the Almighty was inexorable.
"Then Sarah, our mother, approached the Throne . . . When God beheld her, He covered His face, and wept. 'Go,' said He, 'I cannot listen to thee.' . . . But she exclaimed . . . 'Dost Thou no longer remember the tears I shed before I gave birth to my Joseph and Benjamin . . . and dost Thou not remember the day when they buried me yonder, on the borders of the Promised Land . . . and now, must mine eyes
