a remote family connection between the unhappy lady and his much venerated friend, not even an affront of the slightest character could have been offered to Eudocia or her husband. Under present circumstances, as Lord Boppo believed Ladislaus to be guilty, how could he be approached with a commission of any kind from the king?
How must he fulfill his promise? Could he believe, as now the facts seemed to indicate, that Brother Primus had received no direct commission whatever to perpetrate any severities at Gran? Had the king only issued a decree ayainst heresy, without authorizing extremities or any punishment without formal trial and sentence from himself? This dreadful alternative created in the calm temper of the Hebrew philosopher a sense of indignation at the possible combination of cruelty and violent assumption of authority wholly illegal and atrocious presented by the violent proceedings at Gran. “Surely,” he reflected, “the king must be innocent of any direct order, or of any order; and only a demoniac fanaticism could have assumed so much without authority.” On the other hand, Solomon well knew that in many countries, if not all through Europe, the simple denunciation of a Jew by any ecclesiastic, on his bare word and order, compelled every magistrate to imprison that Jew for a time indefinite. Only by subsidies sternly exacted could this peril be avoided. Solomon decided to ascertain the condition of Lord Boppo’s belief before he should venture to present his commission; and having cleared away possible
