All had been determined, even though Rachel was not
yet able to utter a single word, and that her distraction
was a negative proof of the innocence of her father. Her
presence, however, in the Court was deemed necessary ;
and she, too, was brought to the bar to assist at this last
sacrifice to injustice. At length, she appeared , and then
pity-which seemed to have fled from the hearts of all
-took possession of them, and asserted her supremacy .
A murmur of compassion accompanied her on her way
from the prison cell to the court-house. To look at her,
so innocent, so pure, so completely thoughtless of self,
and, dressed, as she was, she looked in her white robes,
contrasted with the blood-red robes of her judges, like an
angel in the midst of the flames of purgatory. The
change produced by this apparition was terrible. The
hapless Jew made a movement, as if he would approach
to her, but the chains-the cruel chains- with which
his arms were bound, would not permit him to open
them, in order that he might clasp his child-his dear,
his only child to his heart. He could not kiss his
daughter, but his groans could be heard by every one.
She was asked several questions, but to none did she give any answer. She only waved her hands, and made some unintelligible motions with her fingers.
The judges then consulted for a moment, and the president arose to declare that they awarded the punishment of death to Solomon Levi, as one guilty of the wilful and deliberate murder of the Count Louis. Even as the sentence was pronounced, a noise was heard at the lower end of the court-house. Rachel shrieked, and then, with one bound, she was in the midst of the spectators, holding, as it were, with a grasp of iron, the mountaineer, who made many efforts to flee, and to disengage himself from her grasp.
" Here !" she shrieked out, " here-here is the assassin of the Count Louis-of my Louis ! Ah, what has happened to me, wretched girl that I am ? Methinks, I still see the dagger that this monster plunged into the heart of my beloved ! I see the ruffian enclose my Louis in the embrace of death ! I see the villain bear him toward the precipice ! My Louis disappears,—and, now, all is darkness-all is obscurity-all is horror ! My Louis fought valiantly, but this wretch-this miscreant-this tiger-drank his blood ." And as she uttered these words, the Jewess was seized with the convulsions of death. She fell in the midst of the crowded court. She lay stretched before the eyes of all, lovely, beautiful, but as destitute of all the powers of vitality as the full ear of corn that the sickle has just stricken down. When they raised her from the pavement, their hands were cumbered with a corpse. , there was a On the first of January, in the year large crowd collected around the principal gate of the city, for before it were erected two gibbets-one was for the Jew, and the other for the mountaincer. -15 VOL. I.-
WOMAN'S LOVE . AN HISTORICAL
ROMANCE.
"GERALD LORTON ! Gerald Lorton !" exclaimed a tall thin female far advanced in life, to a young man, who stood dauntlessly before her, " I warn you, as you are my son, my first-born child - to shun the society of that dark-browed noble. He is a man of deep villainy and desperate designs ; he fears neither God nor man ; he loves not his country or his Sovereign ; he regards not the laws of honor or the land : and, yet, you seek his society and his presence, to the destruction of all virtuous principles, and your present and future welfare." "Nay, mother, nay," answered the son somewhat haughtily, " you love him not, and, therefore, you speak as a prejudiced woman speaks, without either knowledge or reason ; but let me entreat you to go up to the Hall this once, and if he persists in speaking evil of his Sovereign, I will go no more." " Go not, my child, even for an hour- not for a moment to meet those desperate men ; they will lead you on to ruin, and laugh you to scorn, when they see how easily you become their dupe, and embrace their rebellious designs. My son ! -my Gerald !-go not !" "Mother," was the answer, "I cannot stay ; my honor- my word is pledged, and were I to break my faith with Lord Manvers, how should I dare to meet Emily again. I seek not Lord Manvers' society for his own sake, but that of his child. Mother, farewell !" and Gerald Lorton raised his plumed hat from off his fine shaped head, and, bowing lowly to his distracted parent, left the apartment and the house, to ride over to Manvers Hall. Manvers Hall was an irregular building, composed almost entirely of stone, and situated down in a deep vale ; and concealed from view by thick trees which grew around. A cascade fell between two lofty hills, and flowed into a small streamlet, which meandered through the domain, and, excepting where a natural pass presented itself from the summit of a greyfrowning rock, Manvers Hall was inaccessible. Here it was that Gerald prepared to descend , and, leaping from his horse, caught the reins, and walked gently to the Hall , giving his steed to a groom, who was in waiting at the bottom of the pass. On entering the house, a range of doors met the eye on either side, and a chill air pervaded the whole, for it was then late in the month of October. A door, somewhat larger than the rest, opened into a spacious room, hung with crimson and black velvet, and lighted by two immense chandeliers of brass, and placed over long narrow tables, which went partly down the room. A thick cloth was folded on the upper table, and here Lord Manvers sat reading a manuscript with great attention, and a smile now and then crossed his
