absent.

Yusuf sought untiringly to solve the mystery of the gold cup.
Circumstantial evidence was certainly against Nathan. Awad, a rich
merchant of Mecca, had placed the cup near a window in his house, and
had forgotten to remove it ere retiring for the night. A short time
before dawn he had heard a noise and risen to see what it was. He had
gone outside just in time to see a figure passing hurriedly across a
small field near his house. Even then he had not thought of the cup. But
in the morning it was missed, and tracks were followed from the window
as far as the ruined house to which Nathan's family had gone in their
poverty. The house was searched, and the cup was found hidden in a heap
of rubbish in an unused apartment.

Nathan had just returned with little save the clothes he wore; it was
well known that his wife and children had been verging on starvation,
and the public, ever ready to judge, formed its own conclusion, and
turned with Nemesis eye upon the poor Jew.

No clue whatever remained, except a small carnelian, which Yusuf found
afterwards upon the floor, and which he took possession of at once. For
hours he would wander about, hoping to find some trace of the robber,
who, he firmly believed, had fancied himself followed by Awad, and had
hurriedly secreted the cup, trusting to return for it later, and to make
his escape in the meantime.

All this, however, did not help poor Nathan, who, chained and fettered,
languished in a close, poorly-ventilated cell, with little hope of
deliverance. Yusuf knew the rancor of the Meccans against the Jews, and
somewhat feared the result, yet he did not give up hope.