Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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?” 108 DOSES ' ONE DOLLAR. Th* Thousands Who Hav* Used DR KING’S ROYAL GARMETUER FOR INDIGESTION DYSPEPSIA NERVOUSNESS DEBILITY LaGRIPPE FEMALE TROUBLES Etc., Etc., Will te glad to learn that they can now get this great remedy, at the same old price, one dollar, in a new and larger package, which contains about 63 per cent, mor* medicine than the old bottle. This makes the best medicine on th* market as cheap as the cheapest, and gives more value for the mon ey than anytning else in its line. Its matchless pre-eminence is be yond question, with those who have given it fair trial. Its cheap ness will now greatly enlarge the scope of its healing and health giving work. It is as pleasant to take as lemonade, harmless al ways, and CURES WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS. 108 DOSES ONE DOLLAR. Mrs. R. V. Bidez. of Carrolton, is visiting her mother, Mrs.L.D.A Felton of East Rome, ' MOIfM-SSirCo THE BIGGEST THING AT ROM Jw /OH I Ef®WWW it- - u ! q S ill '• i IMnw Rppgl./ i t , c t a / € * Soid Oak Suit, $20,00, Oak Table, $2, 0 I 1 1 ciam /7J I? Li jraMnOTi v| -I b Li -II I ■ Sj ffiSSSEBj (/-I La I II ■■jSSnSI i I JiSl £?:.i w tIL | y* f 1 __\ ||. I Rattan Rocker, $2,00, Rattan Seat Chair, 40e. • Cane deaf 50c. t 114 Marble Bureau, $4.50. ; wife' IfTyj ■ l!S M ■ I ■' l , ■ 1 z— p| ■ -| ] " I -a, fife Hl! 3 Oak Chevalle Dresser, Bevel nil. n , Glass, 18x40, SIO,OO j Oak Dresser. Beval Glass 22jt24 ’ « 7 - 50 u nWIhrT rfiTrrfiT' //A lH Marble Top Dresser, $6.00 j H re I § it, : Crib, SI.OO W 11 II I I wV - P-‘ I I I Centre Table, 75c. PML ItBBWi “TlT\ fl V bbi rn\ Wood Top Bureau, $3,50 Rocker CenUe I&Ue> sl . 2 5 THE ABOVE SHOWS ONLY A FEW OF OUR THOUSAND BARGAINS IVlcDoiiald-S THWART Co Carpets, Furniture Undertakingßome.Ga.