"These be nowise like their brethren,
Ben Jehudah is accounted
Saragossa's first physician,
Loved by colleague as by patient.
"And his daughter Donna Zara
Is our city's pearl of beauty,
Like the clusters of the vineyard
Droop the ringlets o'er her temples.
"Like the moon in starry heavens
Shines her f a«e among her people,
And her form hath all the languor,
Grace and glamour of the palm-tree.
"Well thou knowest, thrice reverend master,
This is not their first affliction.
Was it not our Holy Office
Whose bribed menials fired their dwelling ?
"Ere dawn broke, the smoke ascended,
Choked the stairways, filled the chambers.
Waked the household to the terror
Of the flaming death that threatened.
"Then the poor bed-ridden mother
Knew her hour had come ; two daughters.
Twinned in form, and mind, and spirit.
And their father — who would save them ?
