My evidence is valueless.
I belong to that race whose word is never taken as witness, for or against, in a court of justice.

I cannot take the oath required, for I deny the faith in which it is administered.

I am a JEWESS!" A wild cry, in every variety of intonation--astonishment, horror, wrath, and perhaps terror, ran through the hall--from Sovereign, Noble, Monk, and Citizen, simultaneously.

Father Francis staggered back several paces, as if there were contamination in remaining by her side, and then stood as rooted to the ground, his hand convulsively grasping the crucifix which had nearly fallen from his hold; his lips apart, his nostrils slightly distended, and his eyes almost starting from their sockets, in the horrified and astonished gaze he fixed upon the pale and fragile being who had dared speak such impious words.

The attendant fathers rose simultaneously, and formed a semicircle round their superior, ready, at his slightest signal, to hurl down on her the anathema of the church; reverence to the Sub-Prior alone preventing the curse from instantly bursting forth.