this in time in Hebrew, please. 'I love you, he said in that language.
Good boy, she murmured. You are going to make a prize pupil. There was
one more doubt to be set at rest, and Debra voiced it at the iron gate
to the garden, when at last he took her home.
Do you know what the Bris, the Covenant, is? 'Sure, he grinned, and
made scissors out of his first and second finger. It seemed in the
uncertain light that she blushed, and her voice was only just audible.
Well, what about you?
That, David told her severely, is a highly personal question, the answer
to which little girls should find out for themselves, and his expression
became lascivious, the hard way.
All knowledge is precious as gold, she said in a small voice, and be
sure that I will seek the answer diligently.
David discovered that the acquisition of an apartment in Jerusalem was a
task much like the quest for the Holy Grail. Although the high-rise
blocks were being thrown up with almost reckless energy, the demand for
accommodation far outweighed the supply The father of one of Debra's
students was an estate agent and the poor man took their problem to his
heart; the waiting-list for the new blocks was endless, but an
occasional apartment in one of the older buildings fell vacant, and he
used all his influence for them.
At unexpected moments of the day, Debra would send out an urgent signal,
and David would fetch her in a taxi at the University and they would
hell across town, urging on the driver, to inspect the latest offering.
The last of these reminded David of a movie set from Lawrence of Arabia
complete with a dispirited palm tree out front, a spectacular display of
bright laundry hanging from every balcony and window, and all the sounds
and smells of an Arab camel market and a nursery-school playground at
recess rising from the courtyard.
There were two rooms and an alleged bathroom. The roses and wreathes of
the wallpaper had faded, except in patches where hangings had protected
their original pristine virulent colouring.
David pushed open the door of the bathroom and, without entering,
inspected the raggedy linoleum floorcovering and the stained and chipped
bath tub; then pushing the door further he discovered the toilet bowl
festering quietly in the gloom with its seat set at a rakish angle like
the halo of a drunken angel.
You and Joe could work on it, Debra suggested uncertainly. It's not
really that bad. David shuddered, and closed the door as though it were
the lid of a coffin.
You're joking, of course, he said, and Debra's determinedly bright smile
cracked and her lip quivered. Oh, David, we are never going to find a
place! 'And I can't wait much longer. 'Nor can I, admitted Debra.
Right. David rubbed his hands together briskly. It's time to send in
the first team.
He was not sure what form the presence of Morgan Group would take in
Jerusalem, but he found it listed in the business directory under Morgan
Industrial Financeand the Managing Director was a large mournful-looking
gentleman named Aaron Cohen who had a suite of offices in the Leumi Bank
building opposite the main post office. He was overcome with emotion to
