General Well'ngone In Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

once
again to the window.
    Out there, somewhere in London, Berel was in
trouble. She was sure of it.
     
    The Evening Service at the Great Synagogue
had come to an end. Mr. Melamed was speaking with a fellow member
of the synagogue when he saw a person wrapped in a shawl making her
way across the slippery pavement of the courtyard. From experience,
he knew this probably meant someone was in need of his assistance.
On such a cold night he could imagine that a poor family required
fuel for a fire, or perhaps money to pay a physician’s fee.
    “ Mr. Melamed, may I have a
word with you?” asked the person.
    When they were inside the synagogue
building, and the person had removed the folds of the shawl from
her face, Mr. Melamed was surprised to see that it was Sarah
Krinkle who had sought him out.
    “ Miss Krinkle? How may I
be of service to you?”
    Now that she was standing before Mr.
Melamed, Sarah felt her cheeks grow red. It was hard for her to
admit that she required his assistance, after her insistence on the
day of her father’s funeral that she needed none.
    “ It is Berel,” she managed
to say. “He has not come home. It is not like him to stay out in
the street after dark. I am worried that something may have
happened to him.”
    Mr. Melamed was silent. As one of the
wealthiest Jews in the city and a person with social connections
that extended to the upper reaches of London society, he had
considered it his duty to take on a leadership role in the Jewish
community. Indeed, he enjoyed being of service to others and had
found that by immersing himself in communal affairs he could keep
at bay, at least most of the time, the loneliness he continued to
feel even though it had been several years since his wife had
passed away. But there was one task he disliked immensely, and that
was being asked to find a missing person. He was not God, and he
was not a magician. He could not see into every building and
alleyway and spy out every lost soul. He therefore felt quite
helpless when confronted by a worried family member, who usually
came to him as their last hope.
    Yet he could not say any of this to the
young lady standing before him. He therefore said, instead, “We
must hope your brother is safe, Miss Krinkle. Perhaps he has only
lost his way. It can happen, especially after dark.”
    Mr. Lyon had been standing in the entryway
and had overheard their conversation. “Is it Berel Krinkle you are
speaking about?”
    “ Have you seen him?” asked
Mr. Melamed.
    “ I saw him earlier this
afternoon at the Frost Fair.”
    “ The Frost Fair?” asked
Miss Krinkle.
    “ There was no harm in
that, I assure you, Miss Krinkle. The freezing of the Thames does
not occur very often, and any boy would want to see it. I took my
family to see the Fair this afternoon.”
    “ Was he with anyone?”
asked Mr. Melamed.
    “ Yes, he was with General
Well’ngone.”
    “ General Well’ngone!” the
young lady exclaimed. “I told him to never talk to that awful
person again!”
    Mr. Melamed gave a sigh of relief, certain
that the mystery of Berel Krinkle’s disappearance had been solved
and grateful that the solution had come about so easily.
    “ Miss Krinkle, I suggest
you go to Devonshire Square with Mr. Lyon, where I am sure Mrs.
Lyon will be happy to receive you. I shall go to Gravel Lane, where
I shall hopefully find your brother safe and sound.”
    “ I wish to go to Gravel
Lane with you, Mr. Melamed. I must give Berel a box on the ears
that he’ll never forget.”
    “ What you do when you get
your brother home is your private matter,” said Mr. Melamed, trying
not to smile. “But Gravel Lane is no place for a young lady. You
may either go home and wait for your brother’s return there, or go
to Devonshire Square and wait at the Lyon home.”
    “ I suggest Devonshire
Square, Miss Krinkle,” said Mr. Lyon. “Supper is waiting for us,
and I am sure a bowl of hot soup will be very welcome on this
bitter