He desired that they should appear in all
solemnity. And when he made up his mind to summon them, the whole nation
being assembled together, he found his brother Benjamin on the threshold
of the house defending the door like a bodyguard.
He, Benjamin, had remained the one idler, the one unfruitful scion of
that swarming tribe, which had toiled and multiplied so prodigiously. Now
three-and-forty years of age, without a wife and without children, he
lived, it seemed, solely for the joy of the old home, as a companion to
his father and a passionate worshipper of his mother, who with the
egotism of love had set themselves upon keeping him for themselves alone.
At first they had not been opposed to his marrying, but when they had
seen him refuse one match after another, they had secretly felt great
delight. Nevertheless, as years rolled by, some unacknowledged remorse
had come to them amid their happiness at having him beside them like some
hoarded treasure, the delight of an avaricious old age, following a life
of prodigality. Did not their Benjamin suffer at having been thus
monopolized, shut up for their sole pleasure within the four walls of
their house? He had at all times displayed an anxious dreaminess, his
eyes had ever sought far-away things, the unknown land where perfect
satisfaction dwelt, yonder, behind the horizon.
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