ndeth in greater
miracles."

"Methinks ofttimes that love is a miracle."

"Thou thinkest well."

"And oft my heart hath longed to open my lips to thee."

"Speak on."

"Thou art a man--not a youth, neither womanish. Yet when my eyes did
first behold thee, in thy face shone the love of a mother for a child.
Herein lieth a great mystery to my heart."

"As all life is one life, so all love is one love. Hath thine own love
never exceeded the bounds of thy understanding?"

"Yea. Yea," she answered quickly. Then she paused.

"Say on, Mary," he said, listening with interest.

"Once an infant, brown and foreign, did mistake me for its mother. And
on that selfsame day did a brood of motherless nestlings do likewise.
Strange sensations came to me, and the strange thought that mayhap
there be one motherhood for all creatures as there be a Father to all
mankind, and the strangeness of my feeling was the heart-throb of it."

"Wilt thou turn thy face to me, Mary?" he asked. And when she had done
so he said, "Thy feet are on the threshold of the mystery thy heart
wouldst know."

"And wilt thou lead me across?"

"Dost thou love me, Mary--more than all these?"

"Yea, my master, thou knowest that I love thee."

"Wilt thou drink the cup given me to drink?"

"The cup, though I know not what thou meanest, with thee will I drink."

"Ho! Ho! Ho! The new wine cometh," called Lazarus on the steps, and
laughing voices told the two on the housetop that the hour for words of
wisdom was at an end. Lazarus and Joel brought the wine and the cups.
Anna and Martha followed, carrying trays with sweetmeats and fruit. In
the moonlight they set a table for a feast and after they ate and
drank, Mary made music on the harp and they sang psalms.

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors, that the King of Glory may come in," their voices sang in
unison. Then the women sang "Who is the King of Glory?" and the rich
bass of the men's voices answered "The Lord strong and mighty!" Ever
and again they sang, until Jerusalem lay dark and the red fires in the
valleys had burned out.

"The night is far spent for one who hath come the way from Ajalon,"
Lazarus said at last.

"Bearing orange boughs," Joel added.

"Yet a sweet burden," laughed Anna as the three men turned to the
stairs.

"My heart is eager for the festivities of to-morrow night," Martha said
as she gathered the cups and bottles. "Li