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out calling, or business, or friend, or kinsman. She whom thou seekest tarried not at Tréves; for it having been discovered that she endeavoured to send thee tidings of her whereabout, they carried her on to Mayence by the valley of the Nahe."

"Did you see her, my friend ?" asked the lover, with a flush of hope and delight; "was she well,-in good spirits?"

"I know not the woman," replied the Jew coldly. "By whom then are you employed?"

"By my master. Ere yet the cock croweth, it is our purpose to go forth, that we may cross the HoheWald when the sun is high, and reach our destination in the valley of the Nahe before the shadows of the night begin to fall. If thou wilt journey with us, there will be mutual protection in our numbers; for in these last days there are evil men upon the earth, who walk to and fro upon the hills like unto strong lions."

"What assurance can I have that you mean me no foul play?"

"Thy poverty ought to be sufficient; but, moreover, Christian though thou be, we will break bread with thee, and drink of the cup of peace."

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"Then I consent, said Carl, who would have been satisfied with a pledge still less substantial. A candle was then lighted, and a cloth laid upon the table, when, to the surprise of the guest, who expected to sup upon black bread and a draught of water, a large loaf was set down as white as snow, together with a cold fowl, and a stone bottle of wine from the banks of the Main, worth its weight in gold.

The men ate and drank heartily, although without much speaking; but the women did not draw near the table at all, but "brake bread" where they sat, without raising their veils. Carl, who had now an opportunity of observing his companions for the first time, was greatly struck with the contrast exhibited in the physiognomies of Adonijah, the aged master of the house, and Ishmael, his young conductor. In that of the former, all the meanness, and cunning, and treachery attributed to the Jewish character were conspicuous;

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while the face of the latter, which in a woman would have been called perfectly beautiful, expressed a loftiness of mind and a manly sincerity, that, to the prejudiced eyes of our adventurer, were hardly compatible with the oriental cast of the features. On his part, Ishmael, after he had looked for some moments at Carl Benzel, appeared to have made a discovery equally pleasing; but at length his eyes fell beneath those of the Christian; they rested for a moment upon the face of Adonijah, then wandered rapidly round the apartment, and drawing his cloak more closely round him, he leant back in his chair with a sigh, which seemed to say, "I am of the blood of a degraded people !"

"Thou hast a guitar at thy shoulder," said one of the women, who spoke for the first time, "sing us a song, young stranger, even a new song, that our hearts may be glad within us.”

Carl hesitated for a moment; he had never before exercised his art for the delectation of this unbelieving race; but reflecting that he had eaten and drank at their cost, he could not refuse the only payment it was in his power to give.

As he swept the chords of the instrument with an uncertain hand, he looked at Ishmael, and drew unconsciously as he looked, from the strings that trembled to his touch, a wild and melancholy sound.

"I will sing thee an old song," said he suddenly, and falling into the oriental form of expression, "Listen, children of the captivity, to a song of Zion!

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By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.

"We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

"For there they that carried us away captive requir ed of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

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If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

"If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave

to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.'

The women had raised their veils, and put back their caps from their ears to listen more intently; and as the strain went on, large bright drops rolled down their faces, and they kept time by waving their hands to and fro before them, as if representing the action of beating their breasts. The minstrel paused, and looked round, half in minstrel pride, half in curiosity; but before he could resume, the Song of the Captivity was taken up by Ishmael, in a low, deep voice, breathing the earnestness and enthusiasm of passion :

"Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

"O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

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Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones!' "

The whole atmosphere seemed to vibrate sensibly with the power of a voice that was scarcely heard louder than a whisper. The eye of the singer blazed; his cheek flushed; his bosom heaved convulsively; and as he concluded, his hand clutched, as if by an unconscious motion, the handle of a long knife that appeared, for the first time, beneath his cloak.

At this moment, a sound of sobbing was heard from a corner of the room where one of the women sat apart; and Ishmael, starting from his trance, flew towards the mourner, and stealing his arm round her waist, appeared to whisper some words of consolation or assurance in her ear. She wept, however, for some time "as one who would not be comforted," but at length, ceasing suddenly at something he said, she turned round to look in his face, and in the action the veil fell from her head.

Carl saw with surprise that she was not " a daughter of their people." She was a young creature, apparently under sixteen, delicately fair and exquisitely beautiful; and when, after gazing for a moment, she rested her head confidingly upon her supporter's shoulder, the

mingled expression of meekness, helplessness, and woman's devotion, that sat like moonlight upon her face, brought the tears into his eyes. Adonijah looked upon the scene with a peculiar malignity of expression; and the young Jewess who had requested the song, and who seemed to be his grand-daughter, turned away her head. Carl could see her clenched hand tremble with emotion, as it touched without resting on her knee.

Reflecting at length, that, in his present state of exhaustion, arising from fatigue both of body and mind, he should prove but a sorry escort in a journey which seemed to promise danger, our adventurer signified his wish to lie down to rest, if not to sleep, till he should be called upon to depart. This was thought nothing more than reasonable; and unnoticed by the two lovers-for such they seemed-who were now too much engaged with each other to observe what was passing, he retired into the next apartment, and stretched himself upon a mattress that lay invitingly upon the carpetless floor.

His eyes were closing, his thoughts wandering, and the clouds of slumber descending upon his brain, when suddenly he was aroused by a light tread at a few paces distance, and looking up he saw the Gentile girl, followed by Ishmael the Jew, pass across the room towards a door in the farther end.

"I will call thee," said the latter, "when it is time, and in the meantime sleep, for the sake of mercy, as soon as thou canst, for I dread the effect of this journey on so fragile and beautiful a frame !"

"How can I sleep, O Ishmael?" she replied in a tremulous voice; I already feel as if I were asleep, and walking in some terrible dream. Strange things and strange forms are around me; I am hurried into circumstances of which I know not the nature, nor the beginning, nor the end; and he who swore to love and cherish me, and divide with me his house and home, his heart and soul, and the inmost thoughts of his mind-his lips are silent, and his brow cold and dark?"

"If thou knewest my heart," said Ishmael, in strong agitation, "thou wouldst not torture me thus!"

"Let me know it then! I have shown you mine to

the very bottom. I have forsaken all for you-home, family, friends, country, religion. I have addressed you in the words and in the spirit of your own Ruth, whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me!'"

"Light of mine eyes!" exclaimed Ishmael clasping her in his arms: "thou hast so spoken; thou hast so done. Like the gentle Moabitess herself thou hast left thy kinsfolk behind, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. Thou hast loaded me with the gifts of thy love, which are more precious than the gold of Ophir ; and what man can give in return, that will I give, to the last drop of blood in my veins !"

"I demand not blood; the very name makes me shiver, and the sight of yours would kill me. Give me your confidence; I have a right to ask it. Whither go we? Why tarried we so long for the young minstrel, whose delicate white hand seems better acquainted with the harp than with the sword? On what errand so momentous and rapid are we sped, that to perform it we must cross the wildest tract of the country, where no name of power is heard save that of the demon Schinderhannes ?"

"He will not harm us," said Ishmael, quickly. "How are you assured of this ?”

"Because he dares not."

"Why dares he not?"

"Because-"

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Say on! Entire confidence or nothing!" "Because--" and after an internal struggle that blanched his cheek with the whiteness of death, he placed his lips to her ear. A stir took place, the nature of which Carl could not at once distinguish by the puny light of their taper; but in another instant he saw that the young woman had fainted. As Ishmael carried her silently into the inner room, the folds of a species of coarse drapery that covered the part of the

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