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possible Reb Laski will let Henda know I’m alive. Please.”
    â€œI’ll do that and more,” the rabbi reassured her. “But you must promise me you won’t fret about this. An unquiet mind doesn’t let a sick body heal properly. Put aside your worries and your anger. Concentrate on regaining your strength.”
    â€œAnger?” Raisa repeated. “I’m not angry at anyone.”
    The rabbi raised one silvery eyebrow. “Not even at the inn-keeper’s son for what he told Reb Laski’s messenger?”
    Raisa shook her head. “How could I be mad at him for that? Lemel’s almost thirty, but he acts like a boy of nine. He tries so hard to help his parents, to do the right thing, and he takes it to heart badly when he fails.” She touched the rabbi’s hand. “Does he know what he did? Please tell him not to be upset. He couldn’t help what happened.”
    â€œTrue, true.” Reb Avner nodded. “You were so sick, that—let me be frank, Raisa—Lemel wasn’t the only person in this town who was sure we’d lost you, God forbid. But sometimes the same hammer that breaks a chair to pieces builds a better one in its place. As soon as Glukel knew you would live, she told Sarah. No better way to make sure the whole village found out in a hurry, eh?” He chuckled.
    â€œOf course Sarah ran to tell her husband. Yossel was at the inn, checking their horses for loose shoes and sore feet, Lemel helping him out by making the beasts stand still. Yossel told me that the poor lad heard your name from Sarah’s lips and thought she’d seen a ghost! He was terrified, until his father calmed him down and explained you were as alive as he was. That was when a light kindled in his eyes and he blurted everything he recalled about Reb Laski’s messenger. So you see, none of us might have heard one word about the man from Warsaw if not for Lemel!”
    He stood up slowly, groaning a little. “Ah, old bones, old bones . . . I could never make the journey that’s waiting for you. Lie down, now, and rest well. If you don’t get your strength back, how can you travel to Warsaw, let alone America?”
    â€œAmerica?” Instead of lying down, Raisa sat up even straighter in bed.
    â€œMy dear, do you think I don’t know?” He gave her a gentle, kindly look. “These past four years, your sister has been sending Reb Laski money to keep until there’d be enough to bring you to her.”
    â€œHow did you find out?” she asked, thunderstruck. The arrangement had been a secret between the sisters. Raisa still remembered how Henda had held her close the night she stole out of the house and took the road to Warsaw. “Once I reach America, I’ll get work, Raisaleh,” she’d whispered in the dark of their shared bed. “I’ll work hard, and I’ll send back everything I can so you can join me. But remember, you mustn’t tell anyone about this until there’s enough money for your ticket.”
    â€œNot even Glukel?” Raisa had whispered back.
    â€œIf you tell Glukel, you might as well tell Nathan, and if you tell Nathan . . . I’m not going to America just for a visit, Raisaleh; I’m going to stay, to make a new life for both of us. If Nathan finds out, he’ll try to make you stay here, to keep us apart, maybe even to force me to come back.”
    Raisa remembered being puzzled by her sister’s vehemence. “Do you really think he’d do something like that, Henda?”
    Her sister’s face had hardened. “You don’t know what he’s already tried to do to me. Do you think I’d leave you like this, go so far away over nothing? I love you, Raisaleh, and if you love me, you can’t tell anyone about the ticket money—no one at all!”
    The memory faded, but Raisa’s question remained. “Who told you, Reb Avner?”
    The