"Oh! no, only a letter from a Jew."

"Possibly the father of some fair daughter!"

"Wrongly guessed--as wrong as possible!"

"You excite my curiosity."

"Mine has already been satisfied by this roll. Horace is wise when he
says that man should never trouble himself about the future."

"An oracle!"

"Something of the kind."

"And can that darken this lovely morning to you? Did you ever see me
melancholy? Yet my future is threatened by a prophecy--such a hideous
prophecy."

"The fate of men is different to the destiny of women."

"Would you like to hear what was prophesied of me?"

"What a question!"

"Listen then; the saying I will repeat to you came to me from no less an
oracle than the Delphic Pythia:

"'That which thou boldest most precious and dear
Shall be torn from thy keeping,