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Suddenly a dusky form, clad in the garb of a fisherman, entered, and drawing near Phenee, glanced nervously around. "I wish to sell that. How much will you give me for it?" laying a jeweled poignard, with a golden chain attached, on the desk. Phenee took it up and examined it attentively, then looked searchingly at the man.
Vincent, true to his word, gathered his few belongings together, and when the evening came, went softly to the cells in which his prisoners lay, and, setting them free, told them to follow him. Wondering, yet glad, Phenee, leaning on Diniz's arm for support, slowly obeyed the jailer, who, accompanied by his two children, led them toward the hotel Miriam had named.
Until then adieu," she said softly. And, with a graceful bow, she departed. Her next step was in the direction where Phenee was confined.
If innocence gives strength, I shall soon be at liberty." Henrique smiled scornfully, and hurried the young man away. "You will not be alone; your prison-cell is shared by another Phenee, the Jew. An old friend of yours, is he not?" Henrique asked. "Friend no! I have only spoken to him once in my life. What is he arrested for?" "Being a receiver of stolen goods," grimly.
When you know it is the weapon I bought from Phenee, the Jew, as proof against the murderer." "So you said; but we have heard another tale to that. Anyhow, if you are innocent, you will be set free as soon as you are tried." "But the man Jarima? Have you not been for him?"
Diniz thought suddenly of Miriam, and wondered how she would bear this blow. Her only relative and dearly-loved parent torn from her side, to linger in a damp cell. How bitterly he blamed himself for having been the cause of Phenee's capture! If he had not disclosed the secret of Phenee having bought the poignard from Jarima, no one would have suspected him. "Poor girl!
Diniz took it up and examined it attentively, then a low cry broke from his lips, and his face grew pale. "Where did you get this?" "I have just bought it. It is a very pretty toy for a gentleman," Phenee broke in persuasively. With almost eager haste Diniz bargained for the poignard, and at last managed to bring the Jew down to ten times the sum he had given the fisherman.
Inside, seated by the counter, writing in a large ledger, was an old man, whose hooked nose and piercing eyes proclaimed him at once to be from the tribe of Israel. This Jew, Phenee, was not alone. Flitting about the shop, arranging the antique curiosities, was a young and very beautiful girl, with delicate features and lustrous, black eyes.
There, sure enough, the young Jewess was waiting, and after tenderly embracing Phenee, and smiling softly at Diniz, she turned to Vincent and placed a bag of gold in his hand. "This is your reward. May you and your little ones live in happiness!" she said earnestly. "We leave Goa to-night, senora. My life would be worth nothing if I stayed here after this.
Satisfied at his scrutiny, the Jew named a very low price, one which his customer had some hesitation in accepting; but at last, seeing Phenee was obdurate, he took the offered money, and glided off like a spectre. "What a curious poignard, and how pretty!" Miriam said, lifting it from the scales, where Phenee had placed it. "I am surprised he took so little for it." "I'm not.
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