gloomy thoughts with which both their souls were filled.

"Gabriel," said Rebecca, recovering breath, "I will go to free you from
the stain of blood, for if it remain it would not merely poison the
Electoral Prince but your whole life. My father gave you only the half of
my dowry, as he called it. The other half he retained and gave me. After
he had presented you with the poison, and I was alone with him in his
chamber, he held out to me the sacred volume, and required me to take
three oaths, by the memory of my murdered mother and by the hatred and
revenge which we had sworn to the whole world upon her beloved body.
First, I must swear that I would never abjure the faith of my fathers and
become a Christian. Secondly, I must swear that I would rear the child
that God would give me in our own religion, and never while I lived
consent to its being made a Christian. Thirdly, I must swear to preserve
the sealed packet he intrusted to me as my greatest treasure, my most
precious possession, and only to tell you of it in case of the most
extreme danger and necessity; that I was only to make use of the contents
to purchase wealth or happiness. 'I have given death into your dear
Gabriel's hand,' he said, 'into your hand, my daughter, I give life, and
surely that is something much more rare and precious. He has the poisons;
I give you the antidotes. They are worth tons of gold; they are my most
precious treasure, and twenty years have I labored ere I discovered them.
When I succeeded, I thanked God for this glorious discovery, and then
thrice I swore upon the sacred volume, with my face turned to the East and
with loud voice, that never should a Christian obtain these priceless
antidotes through me, that never would I impart knowledge of them to a
Christian. I will keep my oath, and divulge the holy secret only to you,
my Rebecca. Guard it in your bosom under three sacred seals, and only in
the most perilous hour of your life break the seal, which I herewith lay
upon your lips. But never may you transfer this precious treasure to other
hands; no Christian may ever touch it. Would you save life, then you must
do it yourself, and only from your own hands may the one smitten with
death receive life.'

"Those were the words spoken by my father, when he handed me the sealed
packet. Then he instructed me how to apply the contents, and what I would
have to do in order to render ineffective the three poisons given you.
'Only,' said h