Page:Lazarus, a tale of the world's great miracle.djvu/366

354 the beloved head rolled from side to side, or one arm hung over ever so little. They would give Him, dead, all the loving care they fain would have lavished on Him living. With what love they washed the body, then anointed it with the sweet spices brought by Nicodemus! With what gentle, reverent touch they wound round those sacred limbs the finest linen that could be had! In death no one disputed Him with them. He had lived as a carpenter, they might bury Him as a King. It was nearly dark when they had finished their solemn task. The two Marys knelt down, intending to spend the night in prayer, while Lazarus and the disciples watched. A great stone had been rolled before the sepulchre by the disciples.

Meanwhile Martha, ever anxious over household matters and mindful that she had been away from home two days, wended her way to Bethany, both to set matters in order there, and also to prepare fresh spices with which to fill the sepulchre on the Sabbath morning; for they knew not of the guard that Pilate had placed to forbid all access. On her way home in the darkening evening she was joined at intervals by friends, sympathisers, and the curious, all echoing in the cry which consumed her inwardly: "Dost not fear now for Lazarus also?"

Could she, she wondered, bear the loss of the one she held so dear? Would it not be doubly hard, now that all the world seemed slipping from her with the death of Him who had been her support so many months? Then suddenly an idea flashed on her, and she turned in at the gates of Jerusalem, instead of taking the outer road to Bethany. Through