ave imparted to
thee such of our science and our history as may fit thy mind to aspire,
and thy heart to feel for a sacred cause. Thou listenest to me, Leila?"

Perplexed and wondering, for never before had her father addressed her
in such a strain, the maiden answered with an earnestness of manner
that seemed to content the questioner; and he resumed, with an altered,
hollow, solemn voice:

"Then curse the persecutors. Daughter of the great Hebrew race, arise
and curse the Moorish taskmaster and spoiler!"

As he spoke, the adjuror himself rose, lifting his right hand on high;
while his left touched the shoulder of the maiden. But she, after gazing
a moment in wild and terrified amazement upon his face, fell cowering
at his knees; and, clasping them imploringly, exclaimed in scarce
articulate murmurs:

"Oh, spare me! spare me!"

The Hebrew, for such he was, surveyed her, as she thus quailed at his
feet, with a look of rage and scorn: his hand wandered to his poniard,
he half unsheathed it, thrust it back with a muttered curse, and then,
deliberately drawing it forth, cast it on the ground beside her.

"Degenerate girl!" he said, in accents that vainly struggled for calm,
"if thou hast admitted to thy heart one unworthy thought towards a
Moorish infidel, dig deep and root it out, even with the knife, and to
the death--so wilt thou save this hand from that degrading task."

He drew himself hastily from her grasp, and left the unfortunate girl
alone and senseless.

CHAPTER V. AMBITION DISTORTED INTO VICE BY LAW.

On descending a broad flight of stairs from the apartment, the Hebrew
encountered an old man, habited in loose garments of silk and fur,
upon whose withered and wrinkled face life seemed scarcely to struggle
against the advance of death--so haggard, wan, and corpse-like was its
aspect.

"Ximen," said the Israelite, "trusty and beloved servant, follow me to
the cavern." He did not tarry for an answer, but continued his way with
rapid strides through various courts and alleys, till he came at length
into a narrow, dark, and damp gallery, that seemed cut from the living
rock. At its entrance was a strong grate, which gave way to the Hebrew's
touch upon the spring, though the united strength of a hundred men could
not have moved it from its hinge. Taking up a brazen lamp that burnt in
a niche within it, the Hebrew paused impatiently till the feeble steps
of the old man reached the spot; and then, rec