the
fame of a fair and mighty Princess, a daughter of their Caliphs, which
they would gladly clear. I mark all this, observe and work upon it. So,
could we devise some means by which thy lingering followers could be for
ever silenced, this great scandal fairly erased, and the public frame
brought to a sounder and more tranquil pulse, why, they would concede
much, much, very much.'

'Thy meaning, not thy means, are evident.'

'They are in thy power.'

'In mine? 'Tis a deep riddle. Pr'ythee solve it.'

'Thou wilt be summoned at to-morrow's noon before this Arslan. There
in the presence of the assembled people who are now with him as much as
they were with thee, thou wilt be accused of magic, and of intercourse
with the infernal powers. Plead guilty.'

'Well! is there more?'

'Some trifle. They will then examine thee about the Princess. It is
not difficult to confess that Alroy won the Caliph's daughter by an
irresistible spell, and now 'tis broken.'

'So, so. Is that all?'

'The chief. Thou canst then address some phrases to the Hebrew
prisoners, denying thy Divine mission, and so forth, to settle the
public mind, observe, upon this point for ever.'

'Ay, ay, and then----?'

'No more, except for form. (Upon the completion of the conditions,
mind, you will be conveyed to what land you please, with such amount of
treasure as you choose.) There is no more, except, I say, for form, I
would, if I were you ('twill be expected), I would just publicly affect
to renounce our faith, and bow before their Prophet.'

'Hah! Art thou there? Is this thy freedom? Get thee behind me, tempter!
Never, never, never! Not a jot, not a jot: I'll not yield a jot. Were
my doom one everlasting torture, I'd spurn thy terms! Is this thy high
contempt of our poor kind, to outrage my God! to prove myself the vilest
of the vile, and baser than the basest? Rare philosophy! O Honain! would
we had never met!'

'Or never parted. True. Had my word been taken, Alroy would ne'er have
been betrayed.'

'No more; I pray thee, sir, no more. Leave me.'

'Were this a palace, I would. Harsh words are softened by a friendly
ear, when spoken in affliction.'

'Say what they will, I am the Lord's anointed. As such I should have
lived, as such at least I'll die.'

'And Miriam?'

'The Lord will not desert her: she ne'er deserted Him.'

'Schirene?'

'Schirene! why! for her sake alone I will die a hero. Shall it be said
she loved a craven slave, a