Matthew Phipps Shiel

The Lord of the Sea Matthew Phipps Shiel

In the Calle Las Gabias-one of those by-streets of Lisbon below St. Catherine-there occurred one New Year a little event in the Synagogue there worth a mention in this history of Richard, Lord of the Sea. It was Kol Nidrè, eve of the Day of Atonement, and the little Beth-El, sweltering in a dingy air, was transacting the long-drawn liturgy, when, behind the curtain where the women sat, an old dame who had been gazing upward smote her palms together, and let slip a little scream: "The Day is coming...!" She then fainted, and till near ten lay on her bed, lit by the Yom Kippur candle, with open eyes, but without speech, her sere face still beautiful, on each temple a little pyramid of plaits, with gold-and-coral ear-rings: a holy belle. About ten P. M. three women watching heard her murmur: "My child, Rebekah...!"