Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/36

24 What was it that riveted her gaze and made her tremble? This Man, who knew her not, seemed to unearth the secrets of her soul, and as He passed, for an instant, she saw herself as she was, a brazen, flaunting hypocrite, joining with a believing, enthusiastic crowd, not to worship or to learn, but to seek out a man who cared not for her, and who, in moral worth, was as far removed from her as were the stars. Then, while she looked, she saw the face she sought, pure, pale, and passionless, gazing either at his Master or at heaven, but thinking not of her.

"Lazarus!" The voice that called was full of tenderness and piteous appeal, but it had a sensuous, luring tone which filled him to whom it was addressed with terror. He fell from his grand musings on things of heaven, as one who catches his foot upon a stone falls down a mountain side. An impatient: "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" was on his lips; but, as he turned, his gaze met two deep, unfathomable eyes that searched his in the darkness. His heart beat quickly. 'T was as though an enemy had caught hold of him and would not let him follow Christ.

"Lazarus, 't is I, the daughter of Caiaphas, the High Priest."

"What wouldst thou?" he asked impatiently. "What seekest thou ?"

" 'T is thee I seek," rose all but to her lips, in her mad frenzy to be wooed and loved by the young ruler; but something in his face, something solemn in the surroundings, a purified, restraining atmosphere, something she could not account for, checked the words that were on her lips, and rapidly, as an