rve," continued the marquis,
"that the worthy Jew there did not only bind the wound for me with as
much care as if I myself had been an Israelite, or he a Christian--but
he moreover offered me the aid of his purse; and therefore am I under
obligations to him which I can never wholly discharge. In good sooth, my
lord," added Manuel, in whom neither a lengthened imprisonment nor the
awful solemnity of the present scene could entirely subdue the flippancy
which was habitual to his speech,--"in good sooth, my lord, he is a
splendid specimen of a Jew--and I pray your eminence to discharge him
forthwith."

"This levity ill becometh you, Manuel d'Orsini," said the grand
inquisitor; "for you yourself are in terrible danger."

Then, upon a signal given, the familiars conveyed the marquis back to
his dungeon: but ere he left the judgment-hall, he had the satisfaction
of beholding the Jew's eyes fixed upon him with an expression of
boundless gratitude and deep sympathy. Tears, too, were trickling down
the cheeks of the Israelite: for the old man thought within himself,
"What matters it if the rack dislocate my limbs? But it is shocking--oh!
it is shocking to reflect that thy fellow-creatures, noble youth, shall
dare to deface and injure that godlike form of thine!"

"Jew," suddenly exclaimed the grand inquisitor, "I put no faith in the
testimony of the witness who has just appeared in thy favor. Confess thy
sins--avow openly that thou hast murdered Christian children to obtain
their blood for use in thy sacrifices--and seek forgiveness from Heaven
by embracing the faith of Jesus!"

The unhappy Israelite was so appalled by the open, positive, and
undisguised manner in which an atrocious charge was revived against him,
that he lost all power of utterance, and stood stupefied and aghast.

"Away with him to the torture-chamber!" cried the grand inquisitor, in a
stern and remorseless tone.

"Monster!" exclaimed the Jew, suddenly recovering his speech, as that
dreadful mandate warned him that he would now require all his
energy--all his presence of mind:--"monster!" he repeated, in a voice
indicative of loathing and contempt;--"and thou art a Christian!"

The familiars hurried Isaachar away to the torture-chamber, which, as we
before stated, opened upon the tribunal. And terrible, indeed, was the
appearance of that earthly hell--that terrestrial hades, invented by
fiends in human shape--that den of horrors constituting, indeed, a