of its exact weight. The Jew Gamaliel had been
desired to attend with his balances, and could at once use them to
satisfy the bishop.

The jeweller immediately proceeded to do so, and old Horapollo, who was
an expert in such matters, went close up to him, and watched him
narrowly.

It was in feverish anxiety, and more eagerly than any other bystander,
that Paula and Orion kept their eyes fixed on the Jew's hands and lips;
after weighing it once, he did so a second time. Old Horapollo himself
weighed it a third time, with a keen eye though his hands trembled a
little; all three experiments gave the same result: this gem was heavier
by a few grains of doura than that which the merchant's son had weighed,
and yet the Jew declared that there was no purer, clearer, or finer
emerald in the world than this.

Orion breathed more freely, and the question arose among the judges as to
whether the young Arab might have failed in precision, or an exchange had
in fact been effected. This was difficult to imagine, since in that case
the accused would have given himself the loss, and the Church the
advantage.

The bishop, an honest man, now said that the patriarch's suspicions had
certainly led him too far in this instance, and after this he spoke no
more.

All through this enquiry the Vekeel had kept silence, but the defiant
gaze, assured of triumph, which he fixed on Paula and Orion alternately,
augured the worst.

When the prosecutor next accused the young man of complicity in the much
discussed escape of the nuns Orion again asserted his innocence, pointing
out that during the fatal contest between the Arabs and the champions of
the sisters, he had been with the Arab governor, as Amru himself could
testify. By an act of unparalleled despotism, he had been deprived of his
estates and his freedom on mere false suspicion, and he put his trust in
the first instance in a just sentence from his judges and, failing that,
he threw himself on the protection and satisfaction of his sovereign lord
the Khaliff.

As he spoke his eyes flashed flames at the Vekeel; but the negro still
preserved his self-control, and this doubled the alarm of those who
wished the youth well.

It was clear from all this that Obada felt sure that he had the noose
well around his victim's neck, and why he thought so, soon became
evident; for Orion had hardly finished his defence when he rose, and with
a malicious grin, handed to the Kadi the little tablet