‘Why, he will go there in any case, the accursed Gentile!’
‘So I hinted to him, as delicately as I could; but, like the rest of the world, he had a sort of partiality for getting thither by his own road.’
‘Coward! And whom shall I get now? Oh, if that Pelagia had as much cunning in her whole body as Hypatia has in her little finger, I’d seat her and her Goth upon the throne of the Caesars. But—’
‘But she has five senses, and just enough wit to use them, eh?’
‘Don’t laugh at her for that, the darling! I do delight in her, after all. It warms even my old blood to see how thoroughly she knows her business, and how she enjoys it, like a true daughter of Eve.’
‘She has been your most successful pupil, certainly, mother. You may well be proud of her.’
The old hag chuckled to herself a while; and then suddenly turning to Raphael—‘See here! I have a present for you;’ and she pulled out a magnificent ring.
‘Why, mother, you are always giving me presents. It was but a month ago you sent me this poisoned dagger.’
‘Why not, eh?—why not? Why should not Jew give to Jew? Take the old woman’s ring!’
‘What a glorious opal!’