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pointment to ask why, she answered without hesitation, "Because
he's nothing more than a materialist."
"What means this word?"
"He has no soul."
He considered her statement for a long time but then asked,
"So will you see him again?"
"He didn't ask."
"Suppose he will ask?"
" I won't see him."
He did not argue; however, as the days went by he prayed she
would change her mind. He hoped the boy would telephone because
he was sure there was more to him than Miriam, with her inexperi–
enced eye, could discern. But Max didn't call.
As
a matter of fact he
took a different route to school, no longer passing the shoemaker's
store, and Feld was deeply hurt.
Then one afternoon Max appeared and asked for his shoes. The
shoemaker took them down from the shelf where he had placed them
apart from the other pairs. He had done the work himself and the
soles and heels were well-built and firm. The shoes had been highly
polished and somehow looked better than brand new. Max's adam's
apple went up once when he saw them and his eyes shone.
"How much?" he asked, without directly looking at the shoe–
maker.
"Like 1 told you before," Feld answered sadly. "One dollar
fifty cents."
Max handed him two crumpled bills and received in return
a newly-minted silver half dollar.
He left. Miriam had not been mentioned. That night the shoe–
maker discovered that his new assistant had been all the while stealing
from him and he suffered a heart attack.
Though the attack was mild, he lay in bed for a week. Miriam
spoke of going for Sobel, but sick as he was Feld rose in wrath against
the idea. Yet in his heart he knew there was no other way, and the
first weary day back in the shop thoroughly convinced him, so that
night after supper he dragged himself to Sobel's rooming house.
He toiled up the stairs and at the top knocked at the door.
Sobel opened it and the shoemaker entered. The room was small and
