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160 this, so the message brought comfort but no wonder.

"He waiteth for thee just without the gates of the village," resumed Martha. "I know not why He calleth for thee, but there is that in His words and look that is like prophecy. I know not what hath come to me, but this day doth seem full of import, and I feel strangely comforted for the death of our dear brother."

"It is surely because thou hast been with the Lord, and He hath comforted thy soul," said Mary. Then, perceiving that the court was crowded with mourners, she whispered to Martha, nervously: "How shall we keep this crowd from following us?"

Then, with Eastern disregard for any privacy, with that gloating over horrors which is the characteristic of all the lowly classes throughout the world, the crowd of mourners, seeing the two women pass out silently and with veiled faces, murmured: "They go unto the grave to weep there." And, as if the sisters' grief was theirs, and the necessity of sustaining them with sympathy amounted to a religious law, they followed them.

Then, when the sisters took the opposite road to that which led to Lazarus's grave, they fell a-murmuring. Some said: "Their grief hath made them mad." Others, "Whither go they?" And one derisive voice said scoffingly: "Maybe that Lazarus is risen and they go forth to meet him." And so, murmuring, quarrelling, and wailing, the Jewish people followed the two women; till, O wonder unexpected and to be marvelled at indeed, they led them