Still Daniels believed it prudent, if not polite, to make no
compromising admission. But the speaker was not offended. He smiled
wisely, not without good humor, and offered his hand so frankly that the
Jew again took it and this time slightly returned the generous pressure.

But on the way to the door, he was stopped by the entrance of Rebecca.
Although she was clad in the plain garments affected by the Jewess in
ordinary days, and they were in the most striking contrast with the
stage flippery in which the officer had previously seen her, her
loveliness was as manifest as the stars when even a fleecy cloud veils
them on an autumnal eve. In her anxiety as regarded her father--or,
perhaps, the student, who can tell?--she must have stooped to listening
to some portion of the singular and one-sided dialogue. For she said,
without any prelude:

"Herr Officer, you have acted a noble part and it would be a grief if I
had not taken the occasion to accept your apology and thank you for the
warning which may save the life of one who--believe me--is no longer
your foe, if he had been one. I am not able to judge the greatness and
loftiness of your act from your people's point of view, but I shall no
longer have a mean opinion of the creed which can perform such a
conversion as yours--that is, making you a true gentleman instead of
leading one to believe you a heartless libertine."

She held out her hand and he took it so reverently, without haste and
with tenderness, and kissed it so respectfully that her last doubt
vanished--although she scarcely had the ghost of one.

He had triumphed completely, and he retired with an airy step and a