d coil of bear's-breech, in which, among the ruffled
leaves, one bud remained; it was white, the opening edges flecked with
pink, perhaps with blood, for from the temples and about the ear a rill
ran down and mixed with the purple of the laticlave below. And in this red
parody of kingship the Christ stood, unmoved as a phantom, but in his face
and eyes there was a projecting light so luminous, so intangible, and yet
so real, that the skeptical procurator started, the staff of office
pendent in his grasp.

"Ecce homo!" he exclaimed. Instinctively he drew back, and, wonderingly,
half to himself, half to the Christ, "Who are you?" he asked.

"A flame below, a soul above," Jesus answered, yet so inaudibly that the
guards beside him did not catch the words.

To Pilate his lips had barely moved, and his wonderment increased. "Why do
you not answer?" he said. "You must know that I have the power to condemn
and to acquit."

With that gentleness that was the flower of his parables Jesus raised his
voice. "No," he replied, "you can have no power against me unless it come
from above."

Again Pilate drew back. Unsummoned to his lips had sprung the words,
"Behold the man!" and now he exclaimed, "Behold the king!"

But to the mob the vision he intercepted was lost. They saw the jest
merely, and with it the stains that torture leaves. The sight of blood is
heady; it inebriates more surely than wine. The mob, trained by the
elders, and used by them as a body-guard, fanatic before, were intoxicated
now. With one accord they shrieked the liturgy again.

"Sekaph! Sekaph! Let him be crucified."

In that gust of hatred Pilate recovered. He turned to Caiaphas:

"I have released one prisoner; I will release another too."

"My lord, be warned by one who is your elder."

"One whom I can remove."

"No doubt, my lord; but suffer him while he may to warn you not to cause a
revolution on the day of the Paschal feast. You hear that multitude. Then
be warned."

"But your feast is one of mercy."

The high-priest gazed curiously at his silk-gloved hands. You would have
said they were objects he had never seen before. Then he returned the
procurator's stare.

"We know of no such god."

"Ah!" And the procurator drew a long breath of understanding. "It is that,
I believe, he preaches."

"And it is for that," Caiaphas echoed, "that he must die. Yes, Pilate, it
is for that. There is no such doctrine in the Pentateuch. We have done our