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THE TORTUBt
8Y HOPE.
Many years ago, as evening
was closing in, th<- venerable Pedro
Arbuez d'Espila, sixth prior of the
Dominicans of Segovia, and third
Grand Inquisitor of Spain, fol
lowed by a fra redemptor, and
preceded by two familiars of the
Holy Office, the latter carrying
lanterns, made their way to a sub
terranean dungeon.
The bolt of a massive door creak
ed, and they entered a mepl;:ti *
in-pace, where the dim light re
vealed between rings fastened to
the wall, a btood-stai led rack, a
brazier, and a jug. Ona pile of
straw, loaded with fetters and his
neck encircled by an iron carcan,
sat a haggard man, of uncertain
age, clothed in rags.
The prisoner was no other than
Rabbi Aser Abarbanel, a Jew of
Arragon, who —accused of usury
and pitiless scorn for the poor
had been daily subjected to torture
f?r more thana year, Aet “his
blindness was as dense as his hide,”
and he had refused to abjure his
faith.
Proud of a filiation dating back
thousands of years, proud of his
ancestors —for all Jews worthy o
the name are vain of their blood
he descended Talmudically from
Othoniel and consequently from
I .siboa. the wife of the last judge
Israel, a circumstance which
>d sustained his courage amid in-
■ ssant torture.
With tears in his eyes at the
ought of this resolute soul re
ding salvation, the venerable
, ;dro Arbuez d’Espila, approach
ing the shuddering rabbi, address
ed him as follows: “My son, re
joice: your trials here below are
about to end.
If in the presence of obstinacy I
was forced to permit, with deep re
gret, the use of great severity, my
task of fraternal correction has its
limits. You are the fig-tree which,
having failed so many times to
bear fruit, at last withered, but
God alone can judge your soul.
Pehaps Infinite Mercy will shine
• .on you at the last moment! We
must hope so. There are examples.
So sleep in peace to-night. To-mor
row you will be included in the
auto da fe: that is, you will be ex
osed to the quemadero, the sym
bolical Hames of Everlasting Fire:
it burns, as you know, only at a
distance, my son; and Death is at
]east two hours (often three) in
coming, on account of the wet, iced
bandages, with which we protect
the heads and hearts of the con
demned. There will be forty-three
of you. Placed in the last row, you
will have time to invoke God and
offer to Him this baptismal of fire
which is of the Holy Spirit. Hope
in the Light, and rest.”
With these words, having signed
to his companions to unchain the
prisoer, the prior tenderly embrac
ed him. Then came the turn of the
fra redemptor, who, in a low tone,
enter ated the Jew's forgiviness for
what Jie had made him suffer for
the purpose of redeeming him;
then the two familiars silently
kissed him. This ceremony over, the
captive was left, solitary and be
wildered, in the darkness.
Rabbi Aser Arabianel, with
parched lips and visage worn by
suffering, at first gazed at the
closed door with vacant eyes.
Closed? The word unconsciously
roused a vague fancy in his mind,
the fancy that he had seen for an
instant the light of the lanterns
through a chink between the door
and the wail .A morbid idea of hope,
due to the weakness of his brain,
stirred his whole being. He dragged
himself toward the strange appear
ance. Then, very gently and cau
tiously, slipping one finger into
the crevice, he drew the door
toward him. Marvelous 1 By an ex
traon in ry accident the familiar
who closed it had turned the huge
key an instant before it struck the
stone casing, so that the rusty bolt
not having entered the hole, the
door again rolled on its hinges.
The ra' 'bi ventured to glance out
side. By the aid or a sort of lumi
nous dusk he distinguished at first
a semi-circle of walls indented by
winding-stairs; and opposite to
him, at th* top of five or six stone
steps, a sort of black portal, open
ing into an immence corridor,
whose first arches only were visible
from below.
Stretching himself flat he crept
I'.- the threshold. Yes, it was r»aly
a corridor, but endless in length.
A wan light illumined it: lamps
suspended from the vagi ted ceiling
lightened at intervals th* dull hi
<!’ th 1 atm >spher >—‘ n ■ dud ii •
was veiled in shadow. Not single
door : p wared in the wl o’eec'ent!
Only on one side, the lett, heavily
grated loop-holes, sunk in the walls
admitted a light which must be
that of evening, for crims m bars
at intervals rested on the flags of
tlio pav mient. What a terrible si
lence! Yet, yonder, at the tar end
of that passage there might be a
doorway of escape [The Jew’s vacil
lating hope was tenacious, for it
was the last.
Without hesitating he ventured
on the (lags, keeping close under
the loop-holes, trying to make
himself part of the blackness of
the long walls. 11“ advanced slow
ly, dragging himself along on his
breast, forcing back the cry of
pain when some raw wound sent a
ke m pang through h s whole body.
Suddenly the sound of a sandal
led foot approaching reached his
ears. He tremble violently, fear
stifled him, his sight grew dim.
Well, it was over, no doubt. He
pressed himself into a niche and,
half lifeless with terror, waited.
It was a familiar hurrying along.
He passed swiftly by, holding in
his clenched hand an instrument
of torture —a frightful figure—and
vanished. The suspense which the
rabbi had endured seamed to have
suspended the functions of life,
and he lay nearly an hour unable
to move. Fearing an increase of
tortures if he were captured, he
thought of returning to his dun
geon. But th* o'd hope whispered
in his soul that divine perhaps,
which comforts us in our sorest
trials. A miracle had happened. He
cwuld doubt no longer. He began to
crawl toward the chance of escape.
’Exhausted by suffering and hunger
trembling with pain, he pressed
onward. The sepulchral corridor
seemed to lengthen mysteriously,
while he, stil advancing, gazed in
to the gloom where there must be
some avenue of escape.
Oh ! oh ! He again heard foot
steps, but this time they were
♦lower, more heavy. The white
and black forms of two inquisiti
tors appeared, emerging from the
obscurity beyond. They were con
versing in low tones, and seemed
to be discussing some important
subject, for they were gesticula
ting vehemently.
At this spectacle Rabbi Aser
Abarbanel closed his eyes: his
heart beat so violently that it al
most suffocated him; his rags
were damp with the cold sweat of
agony; he lay motionless by the
wall, his mouth wide open, under
the rays of a lamp, praying to the
God of David.
Just opposite to him the two in
quisitors paused under thelight on
the lamp -doubtless owing to some
accident du* to the course of thsir
argument. One, while listening to
his companion, gazed at the rabbi!
And beneath the look—whose ab
sence of expression the hapless man
did not at first notice—he fancied
he again felt the burning pincers
scorch his flesh, he was to be once
more a living wound. Fainting,
breathless, with fluttering eyelids
he shivered at the touch of the
monk’s floating robe. But—strange
yet natural facts—the inquisitors
gaze was evidently that of a man
deeply absorbed in his intended
reply, engrossed by what he was
hearing; they fixed—and seemed
to look at the Jew without seeing
him.
In fact afterihe lapse of a few min
utes, the two gloomy figures slow
ly persued their way, still convers
ingin low tones, toward the place
whence the prisoner had come; he
had notbeen seen ! Amid the hor
rible confusion of the rabbi’s
through his brain : “Can I be al
ready dead that they did not see?”
A hideous impression roused him
from his lethargy: in looking at
the wall against which his face was
press, he imagined he beheld two
fierce eyes watching him ! He flung
his head back in a sudden frenzy
of fright, his hair fairly bristling!
Yet, no.! No. His hand groped
oyer the stones:it was the reflec
tion of the inquisitor's eyes, still
retained in his own, which had
been refract from two spots on the
wall.
Forward! He must hasten to
ward that goal which he fancied
(absurdly,no doubt) to be deliver
able, towards the darkness from
which he was now barely thirty
paces distant. He pressed forward
faster on bis knees, and hands, at
full length, dragging himself pain
fully along, and soon entered the
dark portion of this terrible cor
ridor.
THE HU STIER CF EC ME SUNDAY DECEMBER, 16 1894.
Suddenly the poor wretch felt a
gust of cold air on the hands rest
ing upon the flags; it came from
under the little door to which the
two walls led.
Oh, Heaven, if that door should
open ©utward. Every nerve in the
miserable fugitives body thrilled
.with h ( pe, He examined it from
top to bottom,though sear ely able
to distinguish its outlines in the
surrounding darkness. He passed
hss hand over it:no bolt, no lock!
A latch! He s'arted up. the latch
yielded to the pressure of his
thumb: the door silently swung
open before him.
“Halleluial” murmured the
rabbi in a gratitude as
standing on the threshold, he be
held the scene before him.
The door had opened into the
gardens, above which arched a star
lit sky, into spring liberty, life!
It revealed the neighboring fields
stretching toward the sierras, whose
sinuous blue lines were relieved
against the horizon. Yonder lay
freedom! Oh, to escape! He would
journey all night through the
lemon groves, whose fragrance
reached him. Once in the moun
tains and he was safe! He inhaled
the deliciou i air; the breeze reviv
ed him, his lungs expanded! He
felt in his swelling heart the Teni
foras of Lazarus! And to thank
once mor? the G had be
stowed this mercy upon him, he
extended his arms raising his eyes
toward Heaven. It was an *cstacy
of joy!
Then he fancied he saw the shad
ow of his arms approach him—
fancied that he felt these shadowy
arms inclose, embrace him—and
that he was pressed tenderly to
some ene's breast. A tall figure
actually did stand directly before
him. He lowered his eyes —and re
mained motionless gasping for
breath, dazed with fixed eyes,fair
ly driveling with terror.
Horror! He was in the clasp of
til's Grand Inquisitor himself, the
venerable Pedro Arduez d’Espila,
who gazed at him with tearful eyes
like a good | shepherd who had
found his stray lamb.
The dark-robed priest pressed the
hapless Jew to his heart with so
fervent an outburst of love, that
the edges of the monachal hair
cloth rubbed the Domnican’s
breast. And while Aser Abarba
nel with protruding eyes gasped
in agony in the ascetic’s embrace,
vaguely comprehending that all
the phrases Jof this fatal evening
were only a pre-arranged torture,
that of hope, the Grand Inquisi
tor with an accent of touching re
proach and a look of consterna
tion, murmured in his ear, his
breath parched and burning from
long fasting:
“What my son ! On the eve,per
chance of salvation—you wished to
leave us?”
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