"And, should it be proved that thy throne or life were endangered, and
that magic was exercised to entrap her royal son into a passion for a
Jewish maiden, which the Church holds a crime worthy of excommunication
itself, surely, instead of counteracting, she would assist our schemes."

"Holy friend," said Ferdinand, with energy, "ever a comforter, both for
this world and the next, to thee, and to the new powers intrusted to
thee, we commit this charge; see to it at once; time presses--Granada is
obstinate--the treasury waxes low."

"Son, thou hast said enough," replied the Dominican, closing his eyes,
and muttering a short thanksgiving. "Now then to my task."

"Yet stay," said the king, with an altered visage; "follow me to my
oratory within: my heart is heavy, and I would fain seek the solace of
the confessional."

The monk obeyed: and while Ferdinand, whose wonderful abilities were
mingled with the weakest superstition, who persecuted from policy, yet
believed, in his own heart, that he punished but from piety,--confessed
with penitent tears the grave offences of aves forgotten, and beads
untold; and while the Dominican admonished, rebuked, or soothed,--neither
prince nor monk ever dreamt that there was an error to confess in, or a
penance to be adjudged to, the cruelty that tortured a fellow-being, or
the avarice that sought pretences for the extortion of a whole people.