you expend beyond this, I will repay you.'

'Now,' inquired Jesus of his disciples, 'which of these three men, think
you, was the neighbor of him who had fallen into the hands of the
robbers?'

'It is he,' they replied to Jesus, 'who was merciful to the wounded
man.'

'Go in peace, then, and do likewise,' replied Jesus, with a heavenly
smile.

Genevieve the slave, on hearing this recital, could not restrain her
tears, for Jane had accented with ineffable sweetness the last words of
Jesus: 'Go, then, in peace, and do likewise.'

'You are right, Jane,' said Aurelia, musing; 'a child would comprehend
the meaning of these words, and I feel myself moved.'

'And yet, this parable,' continued Jane, 'is one of those which have the
most irritated the high priests and the doctors of law against the young
man of Nazareth.'

'And why?'

'Because in this narrative he shows a Samaritan, a heathen, more humane
than the Levite, than the Priest, since this idolator, seeing a brother
in the wounded man, succored him, and thus renders himself more worthy
of heaven than the two holy men of hard hearts. This, you see, is just
what the enemies of Jesus call blasphemies, sacrileges!'

'Jane, let us go to the tavern. I have no longer any fear of entering
this place. People for whom such narratives are invented, and who listen
to them with avidity, cannot be wicked.'

'You see, my dear Aurelia, the words of the Nazarene already act upon
you; they give you confidence and courage. Come, come.'

The young woman took the arm of her friend; both, followed by the slave
Genevieve, turned their steps towards the tavern of the 'Wild Ass,'
where they soon arrived.

This tavern, a square built house, like most in the East, was composed
of an interior court surrounded with stout pillars, supporting a terrace
and forming four galleries, beneath which the drinkers could retire in
case of rain; but the night being mild and serene, the majority of the
customers were at tables in the court, lighted by a large iron lamp in
the middle of the court. This unique luminary, but feebly lighting the
galleries, in which were also some drinkers, they remained completely
obscured.

It was to one of these gloomy retreats that Jane, Aurelia and the slave
Genevieve, directed their steps; they saw in passing through the crowd,
then somewhat noisy, many persons in rags or poorly clad, women of
immoral life, miserably attired, had as a turban, a scrap of white