Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/102

90 Entranced, and faint with wonder and emotion, the Magdalene watched the fading of the beloved form; then, as the voices grew more distant and the face more indistinct, a regret that pierced came over her, in that she had failed to ask for guidance how to gain eternal life.

"Lazarus, Lazarus, rabbi," she exclaimed, "tell me before thou goest how must I die that I may die in Christ?" But he made no answer. Then faintly, from the distance came the voices chanting: "Truth and love. Truth and love."

And, overcome with all she had gone through, full of penitence, remorse, and wonder and devotion, the Magdalene fell upon her face, caring nothing that her beautiful hair caught in the roots and branches and tanglewood beneath her; conscious only that Jesus loved her, and that for her sins His life was to be yielded up, that to wash away her stains, His blood, the blood of the Innocent, the Perfect One, must flow.