ny of them took refuge here, where John II. gave them
shelter, on condition that they should quit the kingdom in a limited
time. This king endeavored to keep faith with them. Nevertheless, in
his and the following reign, they were subjected to unceasing
persecutions, being required to become Christians, or leave the
country; at the very time every obstacle was put in the way of their
escape. At length their children were taken from them to be reared in
the Christian faith, and numbers abjured Judaism in order to recover
possession of their own offspring. But such a conversion failed not to
furnish for many a generation a crowd of hapless inmates for the
'Tremendous House of the Inquisition' in every town. Even in the last
century, no diversion delighted the Lisbon mob like the burning of a
relapsed Jew. The usage of them of old still influences the condition
of the country and the term New Christian is yet a by-word common in
the mouths of people."

"We certainly see a great many Jewish faces among the Portuguese
Christians," said Mrs. Shortridge.

"So the great Marquis de Pombul thought," L'Isle answered; "for when a
great crowd had assembled to see him open a fountain he had erected in
Lisbon, on a courtier's saying, 'See, my Lord, like Moses, you make
water flow from the rock!' 'Yes,' replied the marquis, 'and here are
the Jews looking at me.'"

"And our host," said Mrs. Shortridge, "is doubtless one of these New
Christians."

"But has the commissary," Lady Mabel asked, "a right to make the
requisition with which he threatens him?"

"Not on his own authority," said L'Isle, laughing. "But these people
would well deserve that we should sweep off every mule and yoke of
oxen around Evora. Last year when we were collecting materials for the
siege of Badajoz, the ungrateful rascals would not send a single cart
to help us."

"Why, were we not fighting their battles?" Lady Mabel exclaimed.
"Would they not assist in their own defence?"

"Badajoz is not within sight of Evora, and that was enough for these
short-sighted patriots."

"Has such blind selfishness a parallel?" asked Lady Mabel.

"Many," said L'Isle. "We may at times find one at home, in the wisdom
of a whig ministry, which consists in taking a microscopic view of the
wrong side of things just under their noses."

They now mounted their horses, and leaving the _praca_, had entered on
a narrow and somewhat crooked street, where they suddenly met a
funera