boys were trying to drown. Will you save
me, though I am beneath a dog in your eyes?"

"Who are you?" asked astonished Bertha.

"I am Hester, the daughter of Aaron," said the girl, "and there is a
deadly raid on our quarter. They accuse us of poisoning the wells. O
Bertha, they lay things to us that we never do! Save me, for my
womanhood's sake!"

"Poor soul!" said Bertha, looking down at her. "Come with me to Aunt
Avice. Maybe she will let thee tarry in some corner till the tumult is
over. I dare say it will not be much."

Bertha spoke in rather contemptuous tones, though they were not wanting
in pity. Everybody in England was taught then to rank Jews with vermin,
and to look upon it as a weakness to show them any kindness.

The two girls reached the door in safety, and Bertha led Hester in.

"Aunt Avice," she said, "there is a commotion in the Jews' quarter, and
here is a Jew maiden that wants to know if we will shelter her. I
suppose she won't hurt us much, will she?"

The very breath of a Jew was fancied to be poisonous.

Avice looked at the pale, terrified face and trembling limbs of the girl
who had cast herself on her mercy.

"Well, I dare say not," said she; "at any rate, we will risk it.
Perhaps the good Lord may not be very angry; or if He is, we must say
more prayers, and beg our Lady Saint Mary to intercede for us. Come in,
child."

Poor Avice! she knew no better. She had been taught that the Lord who
died for her was a stern, angry Judge, and that all the mercy rested in
His human mother. And the Jews had crucified Christ; so, thought Avice,
He must hate them! Perhaps, of such Christians as she was, He may have
said again, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Hester came in quietly. "May God bless you!" she said. "I will try not
to breathe on you, for I know what you think." And she sat down meekly
on the floor, in a dark corner, not daring to offer any help, lest they
should imagine that she would pollute anything she touched. Avice threw
her a cake of bread, as she might have done to a dog; and Hester knew
that it was a kinder act than she would have received from most of the
Christians around.

It was not yet quite bed-time, and Bertha sat down again to her work,
begging her aunt to finish the tale. They took no notice of Hester.

"It is almost finished," said Avice; "there is little more to tell. The
winter got over, but spring was scarcely begun wh