Page:Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ.djvu/556

Rh Receiving no reply, they went closer.

&quot;If thou be King of the Jews, or Son of God, come down,&quot; they said, loudly.

At this, one of the thieves quit groaning, and called to the Nazarene, &quot;Yes, if thou be Christ, save thyself and us.&quot;

The people laughed and applauded; then, while they were listening for a reply, the other felon was heard to say to the first one, &quot;Dost thou not fear God? We receive the due rewards of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss.&quot;

The bystanders were astonished; in the midst of the hush which ensued, the second felon spoke again, but this time to the Nazarene:

&quot;Lord,&quot; he said, &quot;remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.&quot;

Simonides gave a great start. &quot;When thou comest into thy kingdom!&quot; It was the very point of doubt in his mind; the point he had so often debated with Balthasar.

&quot;Didst thou hear?&quot; said Ben-Hur to him. &quot;The kingdom cannot be of this world. Yon witness saith the King is but going to his kingdom; and, in effect, I heard the same in my dream.&quot;

&quot;Hush!&quot; said Simonides, more imperiously than ever before in speech to Ben-Hur. &quot;Hush, I pray thee! If the Nazarene should answer—&quot;

And as he spoke the Nazarene did answer, in a clear voice, full of confidence:

&quot;Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise!&quot;

Simonides waited to hear if that were all; then he folded his hands and said, &quot;No more, no more, Lord! The darkness is gone; I see with other eyes—even as Balthasar, I see with eyes of perfect faith.&quot;

The faithful servant had at last his fitting reward. His broken body might never be restored; nor was there riddance of the recollection of his sufferings, or recall of the years embittered by them; but suddenly a new life was shown him, with assurance that it was for him—a new life lying just beyond this one—and its name was Paradise.