was standing at the door without." John was doubtless familiar
with the place and the servants, and went in with the crowd. He kept as
near as he could to his Master during the dark hours of His trial, as he
was to do during the yet darker hours at the cross.

But the disciple within could not forget the one without. They must not
be separated in their common sorrow. Peter too must show by his presence
his continued love for his Master. He must have opportunity to show in
the palace something of the faithfulness of which he had boasted in the
Upper Room, though it had faltered in Gethsemane.

"Then went out that other disciple which was known unto the high priest
and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter." That
doorkeeper was not Rhoda--she who with a different spirit joyfully
answered Peter's knocking at another door--but was a pert maiden who,
sympathizing with the enemies of Jesus, "saith unto Peter, Art thou also
one of this man's disciples?" She understood that John was such. Her
contempt was aimed at them both. But it was not her question so much as
Peter's answer--"I am not"--that startled John. Was it for this denial
that he had gained admission for his friend? It would have been better
far if Peter had been kept "standing at the door without" though "it was
cold," than to be brought into the court of temptation and sin, where he
"sat with the servants" in his curiosity "to see the end," warming
himself at the fire they had kindled.

Meanwhile we think of John hastening back to the judgment hall, from
which he anxiously watched the movements of Peter "walking in the
counsel of the ungodly, and standing in the way of sinners, and sitting
in the seat of the scornful."

Poor Peter! He fears to look into any man's face, or to have any one
look into his. He has obeyed the Master's bidding, "Put up thy sword
into the sheath," but Malchus has not forgotten it; nor has his kinsman
who saw Peter in the garden with Jesus,--though he may have forgotten
the healing of Malchus' ear by his prisoner.

Three Evangelists tell how Peter "sat" with the enemies of Jesus. John
tells how at different times he "stood" among them. Thus does he report
as an eye-witness, and show his own watchfulness of Peter's
restlessness;--of the conflicting emotions of shame and fear, the
scornful frown, the enforced and deceiving smile, the defiant look, the
vain effort to appear indifferent, and the storm of anger. Amazed at t