stion of a servant-maid. It is so often thus. We
lock and bolt the main door, and the thief breaks in at a tiny window
which we had not thought of. We would burn at the stake; but in an
hour of social intercourse with our friends, or a trivial business
transaction, we say the word which fills our life with regret.
Confused at the sudden pause in the conversation, and the turning of
all eyes toward himself, Peter's first impulse was to allay suspicion,
and he said bluntly, "I am not." Such was his _first_ denial.

After this, as Matthew and Mark tell us, he went out into the outer
porch or gateway, perhaps to avoid the glare of the light and the
scrutiny of those prying eyes. He remembered afterward that, at the
same moment, a cock was heralding the dawn--the dawn of the blackest,
saddest day that ever broke upon Jerusalem, or the world. But its
warning notes were just then lost on him; for there another maid,
speaking to some male acquaintances, pointed him out as one of the
Nazarene's friends. "This man also was with Jesus the Nazarene."
Probably no harm was meant, but the words alarmed Peter greatly, and he
denied, as Matthew says, with an oath, "I know not the man." This was
the _second_ denial.

An hour passed; Peter, as we learn from the twenty-fifth verse, was
again at the fire, and it was hardly possible for him to talk in a
large company without unconsciously, and by force of character, coming
to the front and taking the lead. His perturbed spirit was perhaps the
more vehement to drown conscience. But now he is challenged by many at
once. They say unto him, "Art not thou also one of His disciples?"
And another saith, "Of a truth, thou wast with Him"; and another, a
kinsman to Malchus, and therefore specially likely to remember his
relative's assailant, saith, "Did I not see thee in the garden with
Him?" Beset and badgered thus, Peter begins to curse and to swear,
saying, "I know not the man of whom ye speak." When men lose their
temper, they drop naturally into their native speech; and so, as
Peter's fear and passion vented themselves in the guttural _patois_ of
Galilee, he gave a final clue to his identification. "Thou art a
Galilean, thy speech betrayeth thee." And again he denied with an
oath, "I know not the man." This was his _third_ denial. And
immediately the cock crew.

It may have happened that, at this moment, Jesus was passing from Annas
to Caiaphas, and cast on Peter that marvello