servant?"

"Thou art a subtle reasoner, my friend," said Ferdinand, smiling gently.
"Peace go with thee! our conference for the time is ended. What ho,
Perez!" The attendant appeared.

"Thou hast left the maiden with the queen?"

"Sire, you have been obeyed."

"Conduct this stranger to the guard who led him through the camp. He
quits us under the same protection. Farewell! yet stay--thou art
assured that Muza Ben Abil Gazan is in the prisons of the Moor?"

"Yes."

"Blessed be the Virgin!"

"Thou hast heard our conference, Father Tomas?" said the king, anxiously,
when the Hebrew had withdrawn.

"I have, son."

"Did thy veins freeze with horror?"

"Only when my son signed the scroll. It seemed to me then that I saw the
cloven foot of the tempter."

"Tush, father, the tempter would have been more wise than to reckon upon
a faith which no ink and no parchment can render valid, if the Church