of Zion, whither our feet tend. But between this calm
and holy place and the towers of snow and gold that shine in glory from
the City of God, lieth Kedron. Quiet with the hush of long silenced
tongues, and dark with the shadow of tombs, lieth Kedron. . . . . . . .
. . . . Mary, if it be that for a little time I should go on ahead of
thee, even to the battlements of the New Jerusalem where the saved of
Levi send their glad songs ringing over all earth's valley, will I
watch for thee, my beloved. And if through the Valley of the Shadow
thou shouldst be called to go alone, remember that I am with thee."

"Remember will I? Yea, ever will I remember that there is not in the
universe that which can destroy love. But thou wilt come again on the
morrow night. I feel it in my heart, and may the Lord watch between
thee and me while we are absent one from the other."

"It shall be even so for what God hath joined together none can put
asunder. The peace of God that passeth understanding and His
Everlasting Arms of Strength, tender as those about a bride, protect
thee. Farewell, my Mary. Woman, fare thee well."

"Farewell, my soul's beloved. Until the morrow, fare thee well."

CHAPTER XXVI

CLAUDIA AND PILATE

While Mary the Jewess was sitting with the Galilean Rabbi in the
moonlit garden at Bethany, Claudia Procula, the Roman noblewoman, was
spending her last evening before the Passover in her gorgeously
appointed apartment in the palace of Herod the Great. On one side of
this pillared chamber, high-hung heavy curtains drawn apart, disclosed
a sleeping apartment with a bed and couches. At the foot of the bed a
swinging window opened out above the street and through its mullioned
outlines the fading pink of a springtime sunset could be seen.
Claudia's two Greek slaves, Zenobe and Margara, were lounging on the
couches discussing a new robe that had been brought from Rome, when
their mistress, followed by her eunuch, entered the apartment.

"Light thou the lamps," Claudia commanded as, without unfastening her
outer wrap, she sat down and watched the big slave. When he had
applied fire to the oil held high in silver basins set on polished
cedar standards, he turned to his mistress. For a moment she did not
heed him. Then she said, "Say to the servants, Pilate cometh soon.
When thou hast done so, return to me drawing the curtains at thy back
when thou hast entered."

When the eunuch returned to the room