"Then, guards, place him in irons to await our further pleasure. In the meantime forty lashes of the scourge. Next!" Nathan walked out with firm step and head erect. A low sob burst from some one in the crowd. It was the wife of Nathan, weeping, while little Manasseh and Mary clung to her weeping too. Yusuf touched her on the arm. "Hush! Be calm!" he said. "All will yet be well. I, for one, know that he is innocent, and I will not rest until he is free." "Thank God! He has not forsaken us!" exclaimed the woman. Yusuf put a piece of money into Manasseh's hand. "Here, take your mother home, and buy some bread," he said. "And here, pretty lad, know you the touch of gold?" said Amzi, as he slipped another coin into the child's hand. "Now, Yusuf," he went on, "come, let us see your Jewish friends of yester-even." "Alas, Amzi, these are they," returned the priest, sadly, "and I fear yon poor woman feels little like talking to us in the freshness of her grief." Amzi laughed, mysteriously. "So your teacher has proved but a common Jew thief," he said. Yusuf turned almost fiercely. "Do you believe this vile story?" he exclaimed. "Did you not see truth stamped upon Nathan's face?" "You must admit that circumstances are against him. The proof seems conclusive." "I will never believe it, were the proof produced by their machinations ten times as conclusive! There is some mystery here which I will unravel!" "My poor Yusuf, you are too credulous in respect to these people. So be it. You believe in your Jews, I shall believe in my Mohammed, until the tale told is a different one," laughed Amzi; and for the moment Yusuf felt helpless. CHAPTER VII. YUSUF STUDIES THE SCRIPTURES.--CONNECTING EVENTS. "Surely an humble husbandman that serveth God is better than a proud philosopher who, neglecting himself, is occupied in studying the course of the heavens."--_Thomas a Kempis._ For many weeks, even months, after this, Yusuf's life, to one who knew not the workings of his mind, seemed colorless, and filled with a monotonous round of never-varying occupation. Yet in those few weeks he lived more than in all his life before. Life is not made up of either years or actions--the development of thought and character is the important thing; and in this period of apparent waiting, Yusuf grew and developed in the light of his new understanding. He read and thought and studied, and yet found time for paying some attention to outer affairs. In Persia he had amassed a considerable fortune, which he had conveyed to Mecca in the form of jewels sewn into his belt and into the seams of his garments, hence he was abundantly able to pay his way, and to expend something in charity; and between his and Amzi's generosity the family of Nathan lacked nothing.