n indescribable
color. He was clad in a sort of great-coat fastened around the waist.

This old man trafficked every where and in every thing; he might have
been a descendant of the Judas who sold his Master for thirty pieces of
silver. He had been a resident of Lima ten years; his taste and his
economy had led him to choose his dwelling at the extremity of the
suburb of San Lazaro, and from thence he entered into various
speculations to make money. By degrees, Samuel assumed a luxury uncommon
in misers; his house was sumptuously furnished; his numerous domestics,
his splendid equipages betokened immense revenues. Sarah was then eight
years of age. Already graceful and charming, she pleased all, and was
the idol of the Jew. All her inclinations were unhesitatingly gratified.
Always elegantly dressed, she attracted the eyes of the most fastidious,
of which her father seemed strangely careless. It will readily be
understood how the mestizo, Andre Certa, became enamored of the
beautiful Jewess. What would have appeared inexplicable to the public,
was the hundred thousand piasters, the price of her hand; but this
bargain was secret. And besides, Samuel trafficked in sentiments as in
native productions. A banker, usurer, merchant, ship-owner, he had the
talent to do business with everybody. The schooner _Annonciation_, which
was hovering about the mouth of the Rimac, belonged to the Jew Samuel.

Amid this life of business and speculation this man fulfilled the duties
of his religion with scrupulous punctuality; his daughter had been
carefully instructed in the Israelitish faith and practices.

So, when the mestizo had manifested his displeasure on this subject, the
old man remained mute and pensive, and Andre Certa broke the silence,
saying:

"Do you forget that the motive for which I espouse Sarah will compel her
to become a convert to Catholicism? It is not my fault," added the
mestizo; "but in spite of you, in spite of me, in spite of herself, it
will be so."

"You are right," said the Jew sadly; "but, by the Bible, Sarah shall be
a Jewess as long as she is my daughter."

At this moment the door of the chamber opened, and the major-domo of the
Jew Samuel respectfully entered.

"Is the murderer arrested?" asked the old man.

"We have reason to believe he is dead!"

"Dead!" repeated Andre, with a joyful exclamation.

"Caught between us and a company of soldiers," replied the major-domo,
"he was obliged to leap o