e I have
no cause for fear. Trust, then, in my innocence, and think upon my love
till I return to your arms, innocent and uninjured as I now leave them."

The impatient threats of the soldier allowed no more time for these
filial protestations. The victim was carried off, and her mother,
following with her eyes the retreating steps of her trembling daughter,
wept unconsoled at the prospect of the bitter future.

When Arbi Esid was apprised of the arrival of the lovely prisoner, he
ordered that she should be at once brought into his private hall of
audience.[9] He was, on her entrance, so captivated by the sight of her,
that feelings arose in his heart greatly at variance with the outward
gravity of his demeanor.

"Enter," said he, "and divest yourself of all fear. I am he who, in the
name of the Prophet, will protect your resolution, and promote your
happiness. The great Allah has sent forth a ray from his transcendent
light to win you to his religion, and to turn you from the errors of
your own. This hour gives birth to your happiness."

The Hebrew maiden heard with amazement the words of the governor; and
without removing her eyes from the ground, where they had remained fixed
ever since her first entrance, she preserved the deepest silence.

"Answerest thou not, bewitching Sol?" continued Arbi Esid; "fair as the
Houris of the Prophet's Paradise, canst thou refuse to embrace his
faith? What then have I heard from thy friend and neighbor Tahra."

"You have been deceived, sir," replied the Jewess; "never did I express
such a wish; never did I yield to the entreaties and proposals of Tahra
Mesmundi. I was born a Hebrew, and a Hebrew I desire to die."

These words, uttered with inimitable sweetness and modesty, so far from
raising the anger of the governor, rendered him only the more anxious to
convert her. He commanded that Tahra, the Moor, should be brought into
his presence, that she might ratify her deposition; and, before long,
she arrived, perfidy and deceit depicted in her countenance. "Enter,"
said Arbi Esid, "and recapitulate, in the presence of the prisoner, the
important deposition you urged upon me this morning."[10]

"Sir," replied the false witness, "this young Jewess, who took refuge in
my house to escape the rigorous treatment of her mother, declared to me
this morning her desire of embracing our religion; and it was by her
consent I gave your excellency notice of this resolution, that you might
ex