Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/128

116 have seen Him, Mary, I have entreated Him this day, but He hath asked too much of me. Mary, I cannot do as He would have me."

And overwrought with weariness of soul and body, already attacked by the fever which was soon to bring about his death, Lazarus had laid his head on the marble supports of the seat and sobbed like a little child. And Mary, wondering truly, but loath to ask, had clasped him to her bosom and let him sob out his heart there in the solitude and darkness of the garden he was so soon to leave. Then, in the growing darkness, she had raised her eyes inquiringly to the pale lamps of heaven and, with tears pouring down her cheeks, had sought for words with which to calm the troubled soul of the dear brother; and softly, like one who soothes an ailing child, she had murmured the words that had come uppermost: "Seek the Lord, and ye shall find Him. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you." And, as if in answer to her words and to the unuttered prayers that struggled in the heart of each, a voice had called with yearning, "Lazarus, Lazarus!"

And from the deepening shadows, standing with feet that gleamed brightly on the dew-bathed turf, had appeared the form divine of the Nazarene.