"It is useful," said the great cabalist, "to know the peculiar
qualities of precious stones. Rubies soothe resentments, and you'll
soon see the Abbe Coignard regain his natural suavity."

My dear tutor smiled already, less by virtue of the stone than by
the influence of a philosophy which raised this admirable man above
all human passions, for I feel it my duty to say, at the very moment
my narrative becomes clouded and sad, that M. Jerome Coignard has
given me examples of wisdom under circumstances in which it is but
rarely met with.

We inquired the cause of the quarrel, but easily understood by the
vagueness of his embarrassed replies that he did not intend to
satisfy our curiosity. I surmised at once that Jahel was mixed up
with it in some way, when I heard with the gnashing of Mosaide's
voice the grating of locks and bolts, and later on the noise, in the
lodge, of a violent dispute between uncle and niece. When we tried
again to bring my tutor to some explanation, he said:

"Hate for Christians is deeply rooted in every Jew's heart, and
yonder Mosaide is an execrable example of it. I fancy I discovered
in his horrible yelpings some parts of the imprecations the
Amsterdam synagogue vomited in the last century on a little Dutch
Jew called Baruch or Benedict, but better known under the name of
Spinoza, for having framed a philosophy which has been perfectly
refuted, as soon as it was brought to public knowledge, by excellent
theologians. But this old Mordecai has added to it, so it seems to
me, many and much more horrible imprecations, and I confess to
having somewhat resented them. For a moment I thought of escaping by
flight this torrent of abuse, when to my dismay I found myself