ribe, he hastened to report what he had done to his
parents. Scarcely less than the pain that agitated the prostrate Sol, in
her loathsome dungeon, was the heart-rending emotion endured by her
unhappy parents; all were anxious for the morning, and longed for dawn
to dispel the gloom of this terrible night. Never did the glorious sun
describe his orbit so slowly as on that weary day--never did human
hearts so long for its termination--hours seemed like years--the day
like an endless century; at length, for all things below must end, the
day closed and the night set in, when the afflicted parents and brother
a second time repaired to receive the consolation of gazing on the
pallid countenance of the imprisoned Sol.

Who shall describe these afflicting interviews? tears, sighs, broken
words, every emotion of love and pity succeeded each other in quick
succession; but the night vanished as rapidly as the day had wearily
withdrawn, and the moment of separation arrived--the Mahometan
prison-keeper admonishing them to depart. They did so, torn with
emotions that none but those who have loved, none but those who have
suffered, none but those who are parents, can comprehend, and this
night, and the day that followed, were spent in grief and agony. Haim
Hachuel sought by various means to discover the intentions of the
governor, but learnt only that the mere recollection of the Hebrew
captive sufficed to excite him to fury, and to call forth resolutions of
the most barbarous character. The agonized father, well nigh
heart-broken at such information, harassed his imagination to find a way
to save his child.

The governor, Arbi Esid, forgot not for a moment the Jewish captive; for
each day information was brought to him respecting the state of apparent
dejection in which she was; and, at the expiration of the third day of
her imprisonment, he sent to inquire whether she would now consent to
embrace the Law of the Prophet? The bearer of this message was one of
his secretaries, who, on entering the dungeon, was astonished at the
beauty of the maiden he beheld. He put to her several inquiries
respecting her condition, which were answered with amiability and
modesty: but upon his telling her that he was secretary to the governor,
Arbi Esid, and that he had come, in his name, to know whether she had
yet decided to become a Mahometan, the prisoner's countenance and
attitude suddenly changed, and assumed an expression of imposing
dignity