"Why?" exclaimed Nizza. "But it is in vain to argue with you. I must appeal to your avarice, since you are deaf to the pleadings of humanity. I have just bethought me that I have an old gold coin, which was given me years ago by my father. He told me it had been my mother's, and charged me not to part with it. I never should have done so, except in an emergency like the present."
As she spoke, she drew from her bosom a broad gold piece. A hole was bored through it, and it was suspended from her neck by a chain of twisted hair.
"Let me look at it," said Judith taking the coin. "Who gave you this?" she asked, in an altered tone.
"My father?" replied Nizza; "I have just told you so. It was my mother's."
"Impossible!" exclaimed Judith!
"Have you ever seen it before?" inquired Nizza, astonished at the change in the nurse's manner.
"I have," replied Judith, "and in very different hands."
"You surprise me," cried Nizza. "Explain yourself, I beseech you."
"Not now—not now," cried Judith, hastily returning the coin. "And this is to be mine in case I cure the youth?"
"I have said so," replied Nizza.