"A good many, madam. You see this infernal old shelling, although it's pretty pesky business, hasn't done much harm, after all. It battered down a few fine houses, and killed some men, but then I don't believe the Queen City will never surrender; and by Erin I hope it never will. If the soldiers, to a man, possessed the heart of Michael Moran, they would stand out till—"
"Can you tell me anything of the Le Grande family-Judge Le Grande, I mean?" again interrupted Leah bravely.
"The judge? Oh, yes; I think they went to France some months ago," replied Michael, with an air of profound satisfaction at possessing some slight acquaintance with so distinguished a man as the judge; and patting his knee with his plump hand, he continued, "You see the judge was not particularly a war man, and—"
"Do you know anything of the Levys?" again cut short the old inn-keeper's volubility.
"The Levys? Oh, yes; they fled long ago, and are now roving the face of the earth. The bombs well-nigh tore down old Levy's house, and I guess that will about kill him, as he is as stingy as a man well can be. If he had stayed by his suffering city, as Michael Moran has—"
"But Mrs. Levy was a widow," interrupted Leah, seeing that the old man was coining his information as he went, for the purpose of his own exaltation. "Her husband has been dead these many years."
Determined not to be baffled in this quiet way, Michael replied, "Well, this was another man, madam," and fearing Leah might discredit his fabricated story, he added, "I swear by Erin it was another man."
"Well, sir, can you tell me anything of the Mordecai family-Mr.
Benjamin Mordecai?" said Leah, with a slightly tremulous voice.
The old man's eye brightened up, and he slapped his fat hand upon his knee with renewed force and rapidity, and replied, with an inquisitive squint in his face, "Are you a Jew?"
"I am a Jewess, sir," she said softly. "I feel an interest in my people. What can you tell me of the Mordecais."