TEMPLAR: I've nothing against Nathan, But I am angry with myself alone For dreaming that a Jew could be no Jew. He was so cautious of my suit that I, In swift resentment, though unwitting, gave Him over to the Patriarch's bloody rage. Sultan, the maiden is no child of his; She is a Christian whom the Jew hath reared In ignorance of her faith. The Patriarch Foredooms him to the stake. SALADIN: Go to, go to. The case is scarcely hopeless. Summon Nathan, And I shall reconcile you. If indeed You're earnest for the maid, she shall be thine. SCENE III.--_The hall in_ NATHAN'S _house_. NATHAN _and the friar,_ BONAFIDES. BONAFIDES: The Patriarch hath ever work for me, And some I like not. Listen. He hath heard That hereabouts there dwells a certain Jew Who hath brought up a Christian as his child. NATHAN: How? BONAFIDES: Hear me out. I fear me that I gave Occasion for this sin, when I, a squire, Brought you, full eighteen years ago, the babe, The orphan babe of Leonard, Lord of Filnek. He fell at Askalon. NATHAN: Ay so; and I, Bereft by Christians of my wife and sons, Received the infant as a gift from Heaven, And made it mine. And now, belike, I suffer For this my charity. But tell me now, Was not the mother sister to a Templar, Conrade of Stauffen? BONAFIDES: Let me fetch a book, In Arabic, I had from my dead lord. 'Tis said to tell the lineage of the babe. NATHAN: Go, fetch it quickly. [_Exeunt._ SCENE IV.--_A place of palms._ NATHAN _and the_ TEMPLAR. NATHAN: Who hath betrayed me to the Patriarch? TEMPLAR: Alas! 'twas I. You took my suit so coldly That when from Daya I had learned your secret, I fancied you had little mind to give A Christian what from Christians you had taken. I thought to use my knowledge as a lever, And so, not having you, I put the matter In problem-wise before the Patriarch. Suppose he find you out. What then? He cannot Seize Recha, if she be no longer yours. Ah! give her then, to me, and let him come. NATHAN: Too late! You are too late, for I have found Her kinsfolk. Hark you, Recha has a brother. TEMPLAR: Well, he's the man to fit her with a husband. Of thee and me she'll have no longer need. SCENE V.--SALADIN'S _palace_. SALADIN _and his sister_, SITTAH, _are talking with_ RECHA. SITTAH: Ah! I guessed it. RECHA: Guessed it? What? that I Am Christian and not Nathan's daughter? [_She swoons_. SALADIN: What! Whose cruelty hath sown this sharp suspicion In thy fond heart? Ah! if there be two fathers At strife for thee, quit both, and take a third. Take Saladin for father! I'll be kind. SITTAH: Brother, you make her blush.