"Ay, Jew," said Prior Aymer; "kneel to God, as represented in the servant of his altar, and who knows, with thy sincere repentance and due gifts to the shrine of Saint Robert, what grace thou mayst acquire for thyself and thy daughter Rebecca? I grieve for the maiden, for she is of fair and comely countenance, I beheld her in the lists at Ashby. Also Brian de Bois-Guilbert is one with whom I may do much—bethink thee how thou mayest deserve my good word with him."
"Alas! alas!" said the Jew, "on every hand the spoilers arise against me—I am given as a prey unto the Assyrian, and a prey unto him of Egypt."
"And what else should be the lot of thy accursed race?" answered the Prior; "for what saith holy writ, verbum Domini projecerunt, et sapientia est pulla in eis—they have cast forth the word of the Lord, and there is no wisdom in them; propterea dabo mulieres eorum exteris—I will give their women to strangers, that is to the Templar, as in the present matter; et thesauros eorum hæredibus alienis, and their treasures to others."
