THE FIRST SEVEN YEARS
665
ments, manufactured during his lonely rooming house evenings, thick
pads of commentary which the shoemaker peered ,at and twitched his
shoulders over as his daughter, from her fourteenth year, read page
by sanctified page, as if the word of God were inscribed thereon. To
protect Sobel, Feld himself had to see that he received more than he
asked for. Yet his conscience bothered him for not insisting that the
assistant accept a greater sum than he was getting, though Feld had
honestly told
him
he could earn a handsome salary if he worked else–
where, or maybe opened a place of his own. But the assistant an–
swered, somewhat ungraciously, that he was not interested in going
elsewhere, and though Feld frequently asked himself what keeps him
here? why does he stay? he finally answered it that the man, no
doubt because of his experiences as a refugee, was afraid of the world.
Mter the incident with the broken last, angered by Sobel's be–
havior, the shoemaker decided to let him stew for a week in the room–
ing house, although his own strength was taxed dangerously and the
business suffered. However, ,after several sharp and nagging warnings
from both his wife and daughter, he went finally in search of Sobel,
as he had done once before, quite recently, when over some fancied
slight-Feld had merely asked him not to give Miriam so many books
to read because her eyes were strained and bloodshot - the assistant
had left the place in a huff, an incident which, as usual, cam(' to noth–
ing for he had returned in a few days and taken his seat at the bench
without an explanation. But this time, after Feld had plodded through
the snow to Sobel's house- he had thought of sending Miriam but
the idea became repugnant to him-the burly landlady at the door
informed him in a nasal voice that Sobel was not at home, and though
Feld knew this was a nasty lie, for where had the refugee to go?
Etill
for some reason he was not completely sure of-it may have been
the cold and his fatigue- he decided not to insist on seeing him.
Instead he went home and hired a new assistant.
Having settled the matter, though not entirely to his satisfaction,
for he had much more to do than before and so, for example, could
no longer lie late in bed mornings because he had to get up and open
the store for the new assistant, a thin dark man with an irritating
rasp ,as he worked, whom he would not entrust with the key as he had
Sobel. Furthermore, this one, though able to do a fair repair job,
knew nothing of grades of leather or prices, so Feld had to make his
