he said to the young man. 'They'll deport you smartish and I hope the Russians have joy of you. Nasty piece of work,' said Robinson, and shoved the struggling ex-Cohen from the room.
Yossi was led away to wash his face. Julia Abrahams said helplessly, 'But he seemed so nice.'
'Zeeser Gottenyu!' Mrs Grossman fanned herself. 'Sweet God, a Russian! In my house, yet!'
Mr Abrahams went to the cupboard, poured busily, and passed around small glasses of strong sherry. Everyone sipped and gradually started to recover from the shock. The voices rose to fever pitch then began to die down.
That's the last revelation I have for today,' said Phryne. 'Not a nice one but it is the last. Everyone else in this room is definitely who they say they are.'
She looked around. The students were clumped together. The three Kaplans had the advantage of knowing each other from birth. Yossi was well known. Everyone was now known, except this strange woman who had seduced Simon and solved the mysteries.
There was something that everyone was dying to know but no one liked to ask.
Mrs Katz took another biscuit and nudged her husband, who shrugged. Julia Abrahams looked at her husband, but he was staring into his glass. The students shifted and muttered but did not speak. Then Simon rose from his chair and came to sit next to Phryne.
'I have to know,' he said. His parents looked fondly at him. Simon could be relied on to ask the question on everyone's lips. Such a good boy.
'Phryne darling,' said Simon, forgetting that his mother was listening. Tell us. Please. We have to know.' 'What?'
Simon took Phryne's hand in both his own. 'How did you know that the spy was Isaac Cohen, I mean, Ivan Vassiliov?'
'A spy can learn a language,' said Phryne. 'A spy can study Torah, be circumcised, and can acquire a protective veneer of shared history or shared study. But one thing cannot be faked. You can authenticate an Englishman by asking him to sing Humpy Dumpty or Old King Cole or asking him about the Old Woman Tossed Up in a Blanket. You can verily a Pole by asking him to say a little prayer, which every Polish child learns at its mother's knee. Orphaned, lost, brought up by wolves, every child born in Poland knows his Our Father.' 'So?' asked Julia Abrahams.
'So I just took them into the next room, and asked them to sing me Raisins and Almonds,' said Phryne.
Bibliography
If anyone would like to duplicate my research, here are my sources. I have made one deliberate anachronism: I moved the Society restaurant to Bourke Street four years early.
u/r = unknown reference–I had given the book back before I noted the reference.
Album of Melbourne Views 1925 (author's collection)
Amirah: An Un-Australian Childhood Amirah Inglis, Heinemann, Melbourne 1983
The Australian Jewish Herald 20 September 1928
A Book of Household Management Mrs Beeton Ward Lock, London 1901
The Book of Werewolves Sabine Baring-Gould, Causeway Books, New York 1973
Bridging Two Worlds: The Jews and Italians in Carlton Arnold Zable et al., catalogue, Museum of Victoria undated
The Castle of Otranto H. Walpole, Penguin Classics, London 1989
Celebrate Jewish Festivals Angela Wood, u/r
Dawn of Magic L. Pauwels and J. Bergier, Panther, London 1964
Dictionary of Alchemy M. Haeffner, Aquarian Press, London 1991
Education of Hyman Kaplan L. Rosten, Penguin, New York 1968
Eliphas Levi and the French Occult Revival C. Mcintosh, Rider, London 1972
Experimental Magic J. Brennan, Samuel Weiser, New York 1981
Fortune Telling B. Rakoczi, Man Myth and Magic, London 1970
From Moses to Qumran H.H. Rowley, Lutterworth Press, London 1963
The Heir of Udolpho Mrs Radcliff, Penguin Classics, London 1981
The Holy Bible, King James edition
The Holy Kabbalah A.E. Waite, Oracle, London 1996
Jewels and Ashes Arnold Zable, u/r
The Jewish Problem Louis Golding, Penguin, London 1938
The Jews in Victoria Hilary L. Rubenstein, Allen & Unwin, Sydney 1986
The Joys of Yiddish Leo Rosten, Penguin, New York 1959
Living Traditions I. Becher, Mallard Press, New York 1993
Man, Myth and Magic, an encyclopedia ed. R. Cavendish, Purnell, London 1972
Melbourne Markets 1841-1879 u/r, State Library
Melmoth the Wanderer Sebastian Maturin, Penguin Classics, London 1989
Murder Australian Style Jim Main, Unicorn Books, Melbourne 1980
The Murdered Magicians Peter Partner, Crucible Press, London 1987
The Mystical Quabbalah Dion Fortune, Aquarian Press, London 1987
Natural Rubber and the Synthetics T. Tryon, u/r Bailleu Library, Melbourne University
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia ed. I. Wigoder, W. H. Allen, London 1977
Paracelsus: Magic into Science H. Pachter, Collier, New York 1961
The Religions of Man H. Smith, Perennial Library, New York 1958
The Return of Hyman Kaplan L. Rosten, Penguin, New York 1970
Teyve's Daughters Sholom Aleichem, trans. Frances Butwin, Crown, New York 1969
Trial and Error: an autobiography Chaim Weizman, Hamish hamilton, London 1949
The Torah D. Charing, Mallard, New York 1994
The World's Great Religions Time Life, New York 1986
Maps and journeys—the City of Melbourne, Carlton
film: Bitter Almonds: The Jews in Melbourne
