'
After Baruch had gone, Clara returned.
'He's a curious creature, my dear,' said Mrs Caffyn, 'as good as
gold, but he's too solemn by half. It would do him a world of good
if he'd somebody with him who'd make him laugh more. He CAN laugh,
for I've seen him forced to get up and hold his sides, but he never
makes no noise. He's a Jew, and they say as them as crucified our
blessed Lord never laugh proper.
CHAPTER XXIV
Baruch was now in love. He had fallen in love with Clara suddenly
and totally. His tendency to reflectiveness did not diminish his
passion: it rather augmented it. The men and women whose thoughts
are here and there continually are not the people to feel the full
force of love. Those who do feel it are those who are accustomed to
think of one thing at a time, and to think upon it for a long time.
'No man,' said Baruch once, 'can love a woman unless he loves God.'
'I should say,' smilingly replied the Gentile, 'that no man can love
God unless he loves a woman.' 'I am right,' said Baruch, 'and so are
you.'
But Baruch looked in the glass: his hair, jet black when he was a
youth, was marked with grey, and once more the thought came to him--
this time with peculiar force--that he could not now expect a woman
to love him as she had a right to demand that he should love, and
that he must be silent. He was obliged to call upon Barnes in about
a fortnight's time.
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