The visitor regarded each of us skeptically, as if still trying to make us out. His glance finally lingered on Hava.

“Mrs. Lifshitz, I presume?”

“Hava.”

“Madame. I beg your pardon, but I have unequivocal instructions first to talk in private with your husband and then in private with you. The matter, as you all know, is a rather delicate one. I really am most sorry.”

“Will you stop talking like a goddamn popinjay!” thundered Yolek, rising to his feet like a wounded old bear and drawing up his body to its full height, his head and shoulders hunched sharply forward. He slammed his fist on the table and roared, “Where is that success story of mine? Is he or is he not with that degenerate nebbish of yours?”

“I was saying that so far—”

“Eh?”

“So far, sir, I’m afraid not. But—”

“So far, eh? You’re afraid not, eh? This whole business is beginning to smell to high heaven! What’s going on here, a conspiracy? Blackmail? Gesheften? What’s that rotten clown of yours up to?” With his full weight behind him, he spun around to face Hava, turning purple, a twisted vein pulsing in his forehead. “Exactly how much, Mrs. Lifshitz, do you already know about all this? What the hell have you and that redneck of yours already conspired to do with Yonatan behind my back? Rimona. Srulik. Azariah. Out. All of you. No. Wait. Srulik stays here.”

I stayed.

On his way out, Azariah unsuccessfully tried to conceal a snicker. Rimona said, “Hava and Yolek, please don’t fight. It makes Yoni sad.”

Yolek sat down in his chair, panting and wiping the sweat from his brow with a bare hand. As soon as he’d caught his breath, he bellowed at the visitor, “Will you sit down, mister?”

Mr. Seewald, in point of fact, had never got up.

“Hava! A glass of water. And my medicine. I don’t feel well. And give this lawyer fellow something to drink too. It’s time he stopped making cultivated faces and talked business.”

“Thank you ever so much,” said Mr. Seewald, a genially puzzled look on his neat-bearded face, “but I’m not a bit thirsty. With your permission then, we’ll get down to the matter at hand. This isn’t a social call.”

“Oh, it’s not, is it?” growled Yolek. “And here I was thinking that you’d come for a dancing party! All right, sir. I’m listening. You can begin. And by the way, I’ve nothing against talking to you in private. Hava, to the bedroom. Srulik, you stay. I need you as a witness. This whole thing stinks. Hava, I said out!”

“Certainly not,” exploded Hava. “I don’t care if you burst a gut. This is my house. It’s my son he’s talking about. No one is kicking me out. Here’s your glass of water. And take these pills.”