alling anxiously, "Lazarus!"
There was no reply. "I like not this sleep. It is too heavy--too
heavy. Rub thou his hands while I summon the physician."

"Aye, but, Martha, three days hath the physician poured potions between
the lips of our brother to no avail. Let us despatch a swift messenger
for him we love, who hath more healing in his voice and touch than have
all the physicians in Jerusalem. Beside the couch of Lazarus hath my
heart cried for Jesus."

"Aye, so doth my heart cry out for Jesus. Yet hath he taken a far
pilgrimage to Peraea. The physicians of Israel were good enough for
our father and mother."

"Even so. Yet rest their bones in the tombs of their fathers! Is this
good enough for our brother Lazarus?"

"Thou dost alarm my heart. With speed will I summon the physician."

"And send thou to me the servant."

Quickly on Martha's departure Eli came into the sick chamber. "With
haste lend thine hand to help awaken thy master Lazarus," Mary said.
"Rub thou his feet diligently while I rub his hands." After a few
moments of effort which brought no response, Mary gave fresh orders.
"He doth not awaken. Take thou the rue and the pennag and make a brew
over the coals. Bring it steaming! Hasten."

"Doth our brother awake?" Martha asked, reentering the room. "Nay? A
messenger is well on his way with a command of haste and the promise of
thrice his fee if the physician is swift."

"Thou art wise. The promise of gold putteth wings on slow heels. But,
Martha, my sister, would that the servant, Eli, had wings and were
flying toward Peraea. Through the night as I did watch beside my
brother, I did think of the many suffering ones the Master hath healed.
And not one of them all did he love as he loveth our brother."

"Aye, he loveth Lazarus. And if death crosses our threshold will it
not be as if death entered his own abode?"

"Lazarus--oh, my brother--wouldst thou lie so silent if the Master
called thy name?" Mary pleaded, bending over the couch. Then to Martha
she said, "The minutes pass like aged oxen turning rocky soil."

"The physician will not be long coming. With haste must I set the
house in order." And Martha hung several garments on hooks in the
wall, smoothed the couch covers, straightened the cups and bowls on the
table, blew out the lamp and pulled back the curtains. Looking out the
window she gave a short cry, exclaiming, "The sky is red--red as if a
great veil had been d