their race, and not fanatically devoted to their
religion, which might be true, but certainly was not fashionable.
Therese, who was of a less sanguineous temperament than her sister,
affected despair and unutterable humiliation, which permitted her to
say before her own people a thousand disagreeable things with an air of
artless frankness. The animated Sophonisbe, on the contrary, was always
combating prejudice, felt persuaded that the Jews would not be so much
disliked if they were better known; that all they had to do was to
imitate as closely as possible the habits and customs of the nation
among whom they chanced to live; and she really did believe that
eventually, such was the progressive spirit of the age, a difference
in religion would cease to be regarded, and that a respectable Hebrew,
particularly if well dressed and well mannered, might be able to
pass through society without being discovered, or at least noticed.
Consummation of the destiny of the favourite people of the Creator of
the universe!

Notwithstanding their practised nonchalance, the Mesdemoiselles Laurella
were a little subdued when they entered the palace of Besso, still more
so when they were presented to its master, whose manner, void of all
art, yet invested with a natural dignity, asserted in an instant its
superiority. Eva, whom they saw for the first time, received them like
a queen, and in a dress which offered as complete a contrast to their
modish attire as the beauty of her sublime countenance presented to
their pretty and sparkling visages.

Madame Laurella, the mother of these young ladies, would in Europe have
been still styled young. She was a Smyrniote, and had been a celebrated
beauty. The rose had since then too richly expanded, but even now, with
her dark eyelash charged with yamusk, her cheek touched with rouge, and
her fingers tipped with henna, her still fine hair exaggerated by art
or screened by her jewelled turban, she would have been a striking
personage, even if it had not been for the blaze of jewels with
which she was suffused and environed. The existence of this lady was
concentred in her precious gems. An extreme susceptibility on this head
is very prevalent among the ladies of the Levant, and the quantity
of jewels that they accumulate far exceeds the general belief. Madame
Laurella was without a rival in this respect, and resolved to maintain
her throne; diamonds alone did not satisfy her; immense emeralds, rub