me quieter, and I heard him repeat that he
was the bread of life, adding, 'Your fathers ate manna and are dead, but
this bread a man may eat of and never die.' At this there was new
contention. A woman fainted--the one to whom Judas had spoken. They carried
her out. As she passed I could see her face. It was Mary of Magdala. Judas
held her by the waist, another her feet."

Antipas drew a hand across his face. "It is impossible," he muttered.

"Not impossible at all. I saw her as plainly as I see you. The man next to
me said that the Rabbi had cast from her seven devils. Moreover, Johanna
was there--yes, yes, the wife of Khuza, your steward; it was she, I
remember now, who had her by the feet. And there were others that I
recognized, and others that the man next to me pointed out: Zabdia, a
well-to-do fisherman whom I have seen time and again, and with him his
sons James and John, and Salome his wife. Then, too, there were Simon
Barjona and Andrew his brother. Simon had his wife with him, his children,
and his mother-in-law. The man next to me said that the Rabbi called James
and John the Sons of Thunder, and Simon a stone. There was Mathias the
tax-gatherer, Philip of Bethsaida, Joseph Barsaba, Mary Clopas, Susannah,
Nathaniel of Cana, Thomas, Thaddeus, Aristian the custom-house officer,
Ruth the tax-gatherer's wife, mechanics from Scythopolis, and Scribes from
Jerusalem."

The fingers of Antipas' hand glittered with jewels. He played with them
nervously. The sky seemed immeasurably distant. For some little time it
had been hesitating between different shades of blue, but now it chose a
fathomless indigo; Night unloosed her draperies, and, with the prodigality
of a queen who reigns only when she falls, flung out upon them uncounted
stars.

Pahul continued: "And many of them seemed to be at odds with each other.
They wrangled so that often I could not distinguish a word. Some of them
left the synagogue. The Rabbi himself must have been vexed, for in a lull
I heard him say to those who were nearest, 'Will you also go away?' Judas
came in at that moment, and he turned to him: 'Have I not chosen twelve,
and is not one of you a devil?' Judas came forward at once and protested.
I could see he was in earnest, and meant what he said. The man next told
me that he was devoted to the Rabbi. Then Simon Barjona, in answer to his
question, called out, 'To whom should we go? Thou art Christ, the Son of
God.' "

Antipas had ceased