Yusuf touched her on the arm. "Hush! Be calm!" he said. "All will yet be well. I, for one, know that he is innocent, and I will not rest until he is free."
"Thank God! He has not forsaken us!" exclaimed the woman.
Yusuf put a piece of money into Manasseh's hand. "Here, take your mother home, and buy some bread," he said.
"And here, pretty lad, know you the touch of gold?" said Amzi, as he slipped another coin into the child's hand. "Now, Yusuf," he went on, "come, let us see your Jewish friends of yester-even."
"Alas, Amzi, these are they," returned the priest, sadly, "and I fear yon poor woman feels little like talking to us in the freshness of her grief."
Amzi laughed, mysteriously. "So your teacher has proved but a common Jew thief," he said.
Yusuf turned almost fiercely. "Do you believe this vile story?" he exclaimed. "Did you not see truth stamped upon Nathan's face?"
"You must admit that circumstances are against him. The proof seems conclusive."
"I will never believe it, were the proof produced by their machinations ten times as conclusive! There is some mystery here which I will unravel!"
"My poor Yusuf, you are too credulous in respect to these people. So be it. You believe in your Jews, I shall believe in my Mohammed, until the tale told is a different one," laughed Amzi; and for the moment Yusuf felt helpless.