"Enter!" said the senator, betraying no surprise at the apparition; "the
hour is past, and I wait for thee."
The flowing dress, the grey and venerable beard, the noble outline of
features, the quick, greedy, and suspicious eye, with an expression of
countenance that was, perhaps, equally marked by worldly sagacity, and
feelings often rudely rebuked, proclaimed a Hebrew of the Rialto.
"Enter, Hosea, and unburden thyself," continued the senator, like one
prepared for some habitual communication. "Is there aught new that
touches the public weal?"
"Blessed is the people over whom there is so fatherly a care! Can there
be good or evil to the citizen of the Republic, noble Signore, without
the bowels of the senate moving, as the parent yearneth over his young?
Happy is the country in which men of reverend years and whitened heads
watch, until night draws towards the day, and weariness is forgotten in
the desire to do good, and to honor the state!"
"Thy mind partaketh of the eastern imagery of the country of thy
fathers, good Hosea, and thou art apt to forget that thou art not yet
watching on the steps of the Temple. What of interest hath the day
brought forth?"
"Say rather the night, Signore, for little worthy of your ear hath
happened, save a matter of some trifling import, which hath grown out of
the movements of the evening."
"Have there been stilettoes busy on the bridge?--ha!--or do the people
joy less than common in their levities?"
"None have died wrongfully, and the square is gay as the fragrant
vineyards of Engedi.
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