my open palm, leaning
forward, I smote him full upon cheek and jaw. My hand covered the face
of him, and a hearty will of weight was in the blow. The dwellers in
Jerusalem are not used to man's buffets. I have often wondered since if
I broke the fellow's neck.

* * * * *

Next I saw Miriam was the following day. I met her in the court of
Pilate's palace. She seemed in a dream. Scarce her eyes saw me. Scarce
her wits embraced my identity. So strange was she, so in daze and amaze
and far-seeing were her eyes, that I was reminded of the lepers I had
seen healed in Samaria.

She became herself by an effort, but only her outward self. In her eyes
was a message unreadable. Never before had I seen woman's eyes so.

She would have passed me ungreeted had I not confronted her way. She
paused and murmured words mechanically, but all the while her eyes
dreamed through me and beyond me with the largeness of the vision that
filled them.

"I have seen Him, Lodbrog," she whispered. "I have seen Him."

"The gods grant that he is not so ill-affected by the sight of you,
whoever he may be," I laughed.

She took no notice of my poor-timed jest, and her eyes remained full with
vision, and she would have passed on had I not again blocked her way.

"Who is this he?" I demanded. "Some man raised from the dead to put such
strange light in your eyes?"

"One who has raised others from the dead," she replied. "Truly I believe
that He, this Jesus, has raised the dead. He is the Prince of Light, the
Son of God. I have seen Him. Truly I believe that He is the Son of
God."

Little could I glean from her words, save that she had met this wandering
fisherman and been swept away by his folly. For surely this Miriam was
not the Miriam who had branded him a plague and demanded that he be
stamped out as any plague.

"He has charmed you," I cried angrily.

Her eyes seemed to moisten and grow deeper as she gave confirmation.

"Oh, Lodbrog, His is charm beyond all thinking, beyond all describing.
But to look upon Him is to know that here is the all-soul of goodness and
of compassion. I have seen Him. I have heard Him. I shall give all I
have to the poor, and I shall follow Him."

Such was her certitude that I accepted it fully, as I had accepted the
amazement of the lepers of Samaria staring at their smooth flesh; and I
was bitter that so great a woman should be so easily wit-addled by a
vagrant wonder-worker.

"Follow