Ivanhoe

The yell which Isaac raised at this unfeeling communication made the

very vault to ring, and astounded the two Saracens so much that they let

go their hold of the Jew. He availed himself of his enlargement to throw

himself on the pavement, and clasp the knees of Front-de-Boeuf.

"Take all that you have asked," said he, "Sir Knight--take ten times

more--reduce me to ruin and to beggary, if thou wilt,--nay, pierce

me with thy poniard, broil me on that furnace, but spare my daughter,

deliver her in safety and honour!--As thou art born of woman, spare the

honour of a helpless maiden--She is the image of my deceased Rachel,

she is the last of six pledges of her love--Will you deprive a widowed

husband of his sole remaining comfort?--Will you reduce a father to wish

that his only living child were laid beside her dead mother, in the tomb

of our fathers?"

"I would," said the Norman, somewhat relenting, "that I had known

of this before. I thought your race had loved nothing save their

moneybags."

"Think not so vilely of us, Jews though we be," said Isaac, eager to

improve the moment of apparent sympathy; "the hunted fox, the tortured

wildcat loves its young--the despised and persecuted race of Abraham

love their children!"

"Be it so," said Front-de-Boeuf; "I will believe it in future, Isaac,

for thy very sake--but it aids us not now, I cannot help what has

happened, or what is to follow; my word is passed to my comrade in arms,

nor would I break it for ten Jews and Jewesses to boot. Besides, why

shouldst thou think evil is to come to the girl, even if she became

Bois-Guilbert's booty?"

"There will, there must!" exclaimed Isaac, wringing his hands in agony;

"when did Templars breathe aught but cruelty to men, and dishonour to

women!"

"Dog of an infidel," said Front-de-Boeuf, with sparkling eyes, and not

sorry, perhaps, to seize a pretext for working himself into a passion,

"blaspheme not the Holy Order of the Temple of Zion, but take thought

instead to pay me the ransom thou hast promised, or woe betide thy

Jewish throat!"

"Robber and villain!" said the Jew, retorting the insults of his

oppressor with passion, which, however impotent, he now found it

impossible to bridle, "I will pay thee nothing--not one silver penny

will I pay thee, unless my daughter is delivered to me in safety and

honour!"