THE JEW.
JEAN DEL' PEYRA left the Bishop's castle, which stood on rising ground
above the town, and was well fortified against attack, and entered the
city to find Levi. The Jew lived in the little square before the
cathedral.
The Bishop might well say that his episcopal seat was shabby, for the
minster was small and rude in structure, a building of the Romanesque
period such as delighted the monks to erect, and of which many superb
examples exist in Guyenne. The monastic body at Sarlat had not been rich
enough or sufficiently skilled in building to give themselves as stately
a church as Souillac, Moissac, or Cadouin. It consisted, like nearly
every other sacred dwelling of the period, of an oblong domed building,
consisting of three squares raised on arches surmounted by Oriental
cupolas, with an unfinished tower at the west end. The visitor to Sarlat
at the present day will see a cathedral erected a century and more after
the date of our story, in a debased but not unpicturesque style.
The Jew was not at home. His wife informed Jean that he had gone to La
Roque to gather in a few _sols_ that were owing to him there for money
advanced to needy personages, and that she did not expect him home till
the morrow. Christians were ready enough to come to her husband for
loans, but were very reluctant to pay interest, and it cost Levi much
pains and vexation to extract what was his due from those whom he had
obliged. Accordingly Jean remounted his horse, and rode over the hills
due south, in the direction of the Dordogne.
About halfway between Sarlat and La Roque, at the highest point of the
road, where the soil is too thin even to sustain a growth of oak
coppice, and produces only juniper, Jean passed a singular congeries of
stones; it consisted of several blocks set on end, forming an oblong
chamber, and covered by an immense slab, in which were numerous cup-like
holes, formed by the weather, or whence lumps of flint had been
extracted. It was a prehistoric tomb--a dolmen, and went by the name of
the Devil's Table. To the present day, the women coming to the market at
Sarlat from La Roque rest on it, and if they put their fish which they
have to sell into the cups on the table, are sure of selling them at a
good price. Yet such action is not thought to bring a blessing with it,
and the money got by the sale of the fish thus placed in the Devil's
cups rarely does good to those who receive it. The monument is now in
almost total ruin: the supports have been removed or are fallen, but at
the time of this tale it was intact.
Jean did not pay it any attention, but rode forwards as hastily as he
could on his somewhat fatigued horse.
On reaching the little town of La Roque, Jean was constrained to put up
his horse outside the gates. There was not a street in the place along
which a horse could go. The inhabitants partook of the nature of goats,
they scrambled from one house to another when visiting their neighbours.
Only by the river-side was there a level space, and this was occupied by
strong walls as a protection against assault from the water.
Jean inquired whether the Jew had been seen, and where, and was told
that he had been to several houses, and was now in that of the Tardes.
The family of Tarde was one of some consequence in the little place, and
had its scutcheon over the door. It was noble--about three other
families in the place had the same pretensions, or, to be more exact,
right. Jean, without scruple, went to the house of the Tardes and asked
for admission, and was at once ushered into the little hall.
The Jew was there along with Jean and Jacques Tarde, and they were
counting money. To Del' Peyra's surprise, Noémi was also present and
looking on.
Jean del' Peyra gave his name, and asked leave to have a word with
the Jew. He stated the circumstances openly. There was no need for
concealment. Le Gros Guillem had fallen on Ste. Soure, and after
committing the usual depredations, had carried off seven men, and
held them to ransom. The sum demanded was a hundred Bergerac livres.
Unless that sum was produced immediately, the men would be
mutilated--hamstrung.
As Jean spoke, with bitterness welling up in his heart, he looked
straight in the eyes of Noémi. She winced, changed colour, but resolved
not to show that she felt what was said, and returned Jean's look with
equal steadiness.
"And you want the money?" said the Jew. "On what security?"
"The Bishop will grant an indulgence to eat butter in Lent at a fee.
That will raise more than is required."
"The Bishop!" Levi shook his head. "You Christians are not men of your
word. You will promise it--and never pay."
"You lie, Jewish dog!" said Jacques Tarde. "Have I not paid you what was
owing?"
"Ah, you--but the Bishop!"
"Is he false?"
"He may think it righteous to cheat the Jew."
"He will give you what security you require that the money be
forthcoming," said Jean.
"Will not the Christians eat butter without paying for the
dispensation?" asked the Jew. "If they think that the butter-money is
coming to me they will not scruple. I do not like the security. The
Bishop is old; he may die before Lent; and then what chance shall I have
of getting my money? The next Bishop will not allow butter, or, if he
does, will pocket the money it brings in. He will not be tied by this
Bishop's engagement. I will not have the butter-money."
"Will you take a mortgage on Ste. Soure?" asked Jean.
"I don't know. It is not on the Bishop's lands. It is face to face with
the stronghold of the big Guillem. If I wanted to sell and realise, who
would buy in such proximity? Whom are you under? The King of France? He
is a long way off and his arm is weak. No, I will not have a mortgage on
Ste. Soure. Besides, I am poor; I have no money."
"You lying cur!" exclaimed Jacques Tarde; "we have paid you up all the
capital lent us. We would no longer have our blood sucked at
twenty-eight per cent, and we have sold the little land at Vézac to pay
you."
"That was easy land to sell," said the Jew. "With Beynac Castle on one
side and La Roque on the other! But Ste. Soure"--he shook his head. "It
is under the claw of Guillem. He has but to put down his hand from the
Church and he scratches through the roofs, and picks out all that he
desires."
"And you refuse the Bishop's guarantee?"
The Jew looked furtively at the two Tardes and at Jean and said--"Who is
to guarantee the Bishop? On his lands he sees that I draw in my little
_sols_, but then I pay him for that, I pay heavily, and for that heavy
price he allows me to lend moneys and pick up interests. But I do not
pay the King of France to ensure me against the Bishop. That is why I
will not let him be in debt to me."
"Our land is devoured by two evils," said Jacques Tarde. "The _routier_
and Jew, and I do not know which is worst! We shake ourselves, and kick
out, and for a moment are free, and then they settle on us again. The
carrion crow and the worm--and so we die."
"Ah, Monsoo Tarde!" answered Levi. "Why do you speak like this? You
wished to build you a grand house and paint it and carve and gild--and
for that must have moneys. Did I come and force you to borrow of me my
poor pennies? Did you not come and beg me to furnish what you needed? I
did not say to you, 'Your old house is not worthy of a Tarde. It is mean
and not half fine enough for a fine man like you!' It was your own pride
and vanity sent you to me. And now, if I could find the moneys would not
this young gentleman bless me, and the seven families I might be the
saving of, call down the benediction of the skies on me and mine? Here
has he come all the way from Ste. Soure to seek me, and he is in despair
because I am so poor."
"You poor! Levi! you thief!"
"I am poor. I lay by grain on grain; and such as you scatter and
destroy. Why should I spend my painfully gathered pennies to save some
of your villains, young Sir? What if there was a riot in Sarlat as there
was fifteen years ago--and the mob fell on the Jews? How was it then?
Did you not fire our houses, and throw our children into the flames, and
run your pikes into the hearts of our mothers and wives? You think we
care for you after that! Let your own Christian thieves hamstring their
own brothers. Why do you come to poor Levi to help you--to Levi who is
helpless among you, and is only suffered to live because he is necessary
to you? You cannot do without him, as now--now, amidst the violences of
Le Gros Guillem!"
"And you will not help me," said Jean, despairingly. He had no thought
for the wrongs endured by the Jews, no thought for what made them a
necessity, no thought of the incongruity that while the Church denounced
usury, the usurers were only able to carry on their trade by the Pope
and the prelates extending their protection to them--for a consideration
in hard cash, paid annually.
Again Jean's eyes met those of Noémi; he was pale, his brow clouded, his
lips trembled, as though about to address some words to her.
"What would you say?" she asked. "Speak out. I am not afraid to hear.
Levi has been making my father responsible for his bloodsucking."
"I would," said Jean sullenly, "I would to Heaven you could come with me
and see the work wrought at Ste. Soure; and if after that you were able
to laugh and lightly talk of your father as a great man and one to be
proud of because he is in every mouth--then, God help you!"
"I will come!" answered the girl impulsively. "When? At once?"
Jean looked at her incredulously.
"Aye!" said she. "Jacques Tarde has nothing to engage him now that he
has shaken off the horse-leech. He will ride with me, and we will take
another, though I reckon my presence would suffice as a protection. None
will lay hands on the daughter of Le Gros Guillem." She reared her head
in pride.
"Be not so sure of that," said Jean. "At Ste. Soure they would tear you
to pieces if they knew who you were."
"And you--would look on and let it be?"
"No; on my lands, whilst under my protection, you are safe."
"Under your protection!" jeered the girl! "Bah! If I stood among a
thousand, and shouted, 'Ware! Le Gros Guillem is on you!' they would fly
on all sides as minnows when I throw a stone into the water." She
altered her tone and said: "There, I go to do good. I will see my father
if he is at his church, and I will whisper good thoughts unto him, and
get him to reduce the ransom. Now, will you take me with you?"
"You will trust yourself with me?"
"Jacques Tarde shall come also. Let anyone dare to touch Noémi! I will
come. When shall we start?"
"At once," answered Jean.
"So be it; at once."