r silence speaks for me!" cried Mendel, almost joyfully.
"Jacob, it is true! I could not be mistaken. Your image has never left
me since we parted on the highway, and I recognized you at once by your
resemblance to our father, and by your torn ear and crippled arm."

"Marks which I received at the hands of the accursed Jews," cried the
priest, fiercely.

"Not so, Jacob! Whoever told you that did not tell the truth. It was not
the Jews, but a Christian, who tortured you because you were a Jew."

Again Mikail confronted the Countess.

"Madam, I demand to know whether this man speaks the truth or not?" he
exclaimed, wildly.

"He does, Mikail," replied Louise, nervously. "For the sake of your own
happiness, we endeavored to keep you in ignorance of the facts. You were
a Jew when we found you insensible on the road near Poltava. I took you
to my home, and to save you from the misery and degradation of being a
Jew, and also to bring a new soul into our holy church, I had you
brought up in a convent as a Catholic priest."

"And these injuries," asked Mikail, pale and trembling, "the marks of
which I shall carry to the grave, were they not the work of the Jews?"

"Of that I know nothing," answered the Countess, carelessly. "This man,"
pointing to Mendel; "can tell you more about that than I."

The face of the priest became livid. "I am a Jew," he cried; "I, a Jew!
Oh God," he moaned, convulsively, "why did you send me this agony? My
life has been one living falsehood, my whole existence a lie. My tongue
has been taught to execrate my religion, my mind to plan the destruction
of my father's people. Ha! ha! ha! you are right; the Jews are an
accursed race, and I am accursed with them!" The priest broke into a
wild laugh which sent a chill through the blood of his hearers.

Mendel endeavored to speak to him, to grasp his hand; but Mikail looked
at him with a meaningless stare, and turning, without another word, he
fled like a maniac from the apartment.

General Drentell turned furiously upon the Israelites.

"Go!" he cried; "leave the palace! You have done mischief enough!"

Mendel's strong form shook with emotion; he was weeping. He collected
himself for a final appeal.

"If your excellency would send us a regiment of soldiers," he said,
preparing to leave; "our lives and our property might still be saved."

"What care I for your property or your wretched lives?" shouted the
Governor, in a frenzy. "I shall not trou