Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/105

Rh when he had hoped, if not to lay hands on Jesus, to get tidings of His movements; when he had also seen the body of Lazarus.

An endless multitude of people thronged all day the road from Jericho; great rabbis, followed by their retinue, mules laden with spices and myrrh, ointment and spikenard. The room in which Lazarus lay, now bound in grave clothes by the tender hands of Martha and Mary, was like an ever-moving panorama. According to Jewish custom, all the friends and relatives came to bid farewell to the corpse and to mourn with the sisters; and the ever-active Martha forgot some of the poignancy of her grief in the dispensing of hospitality and in attending to the comfort of the thronging crowd. Nicodemus was there, in attendance on Annas, glad to have so good an excuse for coming to the house at Bethany, without appearing to be attracted by curiosity or devotion. The two men were allowed the first access to the corpse; and, while Annas let his eyes wander curiously around him, as if he dreaded some juggling or chicanery, Nicodemus looked across the corpse at him and said: "Methinks he is dead in very truth."

But the wily father-in-law of Caiaphas would risk no answer, lest, perchance—for all words of Nicodemus seemed borne out by facts—he still might be the dupe of circumstances.

Then others thrust themselves within the room, some curious, some interested, but all, with ready Eastern sympathy, eager to comfort the bereaved women. Those belonging to the nobler grades of Jewish social life were doubtless struck with the