to save
my darling!"

"Accursed are all the infidels!" said the man who seemed slightly the
younger of the two. "Daughter, how earnest thou by such a child, and
how darest thou give him such a name?"

Countess made no answer. She was busy feeding little Rudolph with bits
of bread sopped in warm broth.

"Where am I?" asked the child, as sense and a degree of strength
returned to him. "It isn't Isel's house."

"Wife, dost thou not answer the Cohen?" said the elder man angrily.

"The Cohen can wait for his answer; the child cannot for his life. When
I think him safe I will answer all you choose."

At length, after careful feeding and drying, Countess laid down the
spoon, and covered the child with a warm woollen coverlet.

"Sleep, my darling!" she said softly. "The God of Israel hush thee
under His wings!"

A few moments of perfect quiet left no doubt that little Rudolph was
sound asleep. Then Countess stood up, and turned to the Rabbi.

"Now, Cohen, I am ready. Ask me what you will."

"Who and what is this child?"

"An exile, as we are. An orphan, cast on the great heart of the
All-Merciful. A trust which was given to me, and I mean to fulfil it."

"That depends on the leave of thy lord."

"It depends on nothing of the sort. I sware to the dead father of this
boy that I would protect him from all hurt."

"Sware! Well, then--" said the elder Jew--"an oath must be fulfilled,
Cohen?"

"That depends on circumstances," returned the Rabbi in Jesuitical wise.
"For instance, if Countess sware by any idol of the Goyim, it is void.
If she sware by her troth, or faith, or any such thing, it may be
doubtful, and might require a synod of the Rabbins to determine it. But
if she sware by the Holy One (blessed be He!) then the oath must stand.
But of course, daughter, thou wilt have the boy circumcised, and bring
him up as a proselyte of Israel."

The expression in the eyes of Countess did not please the Rabbi.

"Thus I sware," she said: "`God do so to me and more also, if I bring
not the child to you unhurt!' How can I meet that man at the day of
doom, if I have not kept mine oath--if I deliver not the boy to him
unhurt, as he will deem hurting?"

"But that were to teach him the idolatries of the Goyim!" exclaimed the
Rabbi in horror.

"I shall teach him no idolatry. Only what his father would have taught
him--and I know what that was. I have listened to him many a day on
Presthey and Pary's Mead