Ivanhoe

Gurth grinned, which was his nearest approach to a laugh, as he replied,

"About the same quantity which thou hast just told over so carefully."

He then folded the quittance, and put it under his cap, adding,--"Peril

of thy beard, Jew, see that this be full and ample!" He filled himself

unbidden, a third goblet of wine, and left the apartment without

ceremony.

"Rebecca," said the Jew, "that Ishmaelite hath gone somewhat beyond me.

Nevertheless his master is a good youth--ay, and I am well pleased that

he hath gained shekels of gold and shekels of silver, even by the speed

of his horse and by the strength of his lance, which, like that of

Goliath the Philistine, might vie with a weaver's beam."

As he turned to receive Rebecca's answer, he observed, that during his

chattering with Gurth, she had left the apartment unperceived.

In the meanwhile, Gurth had descended the stair, and, having reached the

dark antechamber or hall, was puzzling about to discover the entrance,

when a figure in white, shown by a small silver lamp which she held in

her hand, beckoned him into a side apartment. Gurth had some reluctance

to obey the summons. Rough and impetuous as a wild boar, where only

earthly force was to be apprehended, he had all the characteristic

terrors of a Saxon respecting fawns, forest-fiends, white women, and

the whole of the superstitions which his ancestors had brought with them

from the wilds of Germany. He remembered, moreover, that he was in the

house of a Jew, a people who, besides the other unamiable qualities

which popular report ascribed to them, were supposed to be profound

necromancers and cabalists. Nevertheless, after a moment's pause, he

obeyed the beckoning summons of the apparition, and followed her into

the apartment which she indicated, where he found to his joyful surprise

that his fair guide was the beautiful Jewess whom he had seen at the

tournament, and a short time in her father's apartment.

She asked him the particulars of his transaction with Isaac, which he

detailed accurately.

"My father did but jest with thee, good fellow," said Rebecca; "he owes

thy master deeper kindness than these arms and steed could pay, were

their value tenfold. What sum didst thou pay my father even now?"

"Eighty zecchins," said Gurth, surprised at the question.

"In this purse," said Rebecca, "thou wilt find a hundred. Restore to

thy master that which is his due, and enrich thyself with the remainder.

Haste--begone--stay not to render thanks! and beware how you pass

through this crowded town, where thou mayst easily lose both thy burden

and thy life.--Reuben," she added, clapping her hands together, "light

forth this stranger, and fail not to draw lock and bar behind him."

Reuben, a dark-brow'd and black-bearded Israelite, obeyed her summons,

with a torch in his hand; undid the outward door of the house, and

conducting Gurth across a paved court, let him out through a wicket in

the entrance-gate, which he closed behind him with such bolts and chains

as would well have become that of a prison.