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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

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GIFT OF
The Rev. Oscar E. Maurer, D. D.
Pastor
First Church, New Haven

The love- watch

By
WILLIAM ALLEN KNIGHT
Author of
" The Song of Our Syrian Quest "

Zbc pilgrim press
New York BOSTON Chicago

Copyright, 1904
By William Allen Knight

Set up and electrotyped January, 1904
fc'hr JFort $tll iiress
Samuel Usher
Boston

TO THE MEMORY OF
ARTHUR BYRON RUSSELL
OUR BROTHER IN HEAVEN

A Foreword

Here is a story of love, always a sacred
theme when a story is truly told. But if you
would follow these pages, friend, remove
from your feet the dust of the street ; for here
is holy ground indeed. My story enters the
sanctities of the home which the Nazarene
seems to have found the most congenial of
all the homes he knew on earth; it leads
through Gethsemane and out to Calvary; it
crosses the threshold of paradise.
How else could I write this story? For in
every line of it I have felt the pulsation of
these questions: What did it mean in the
Bethany home when it was learned that their
Friend was in the hands of his enemies? What
did it mean to each member of that house
hold separately, including the brother?
My kinsman who helped to kindle these
questions in my heart will not forget the night

in this study when he spoke the single sen
tence which is set like a pearl in the pages of
this little book.
Nothing can express my thought of the
story I now give to my friends, known and
unknown, more truly than Browning's words :
" I spoke as I saw.
I report as a man may of God's work — all's Love,
yet all's Law."
This story would picture the working of
the laws of love and the love within all law.
Friend of mine, whose heart makes quiet
somewhere in the noisy world while your eyes
rest on these pages, let me speak this word
only: Our feverish times need a fresh conscious
ness of the life beyond the things that crowd
us so, — the life that now is, the life of which
God is
" The happy center and calm heart of all."
— W. A. K.
Boston, February, 1904.

The Love- Watch

The Love- Watch

" Brother, do you think he is not com
ing home to-night? "
It was Martha who broke the wordless
quiet in which her brother and sister
were sitting while the evening came on.
As she spoke she was placing the bowl-
shaped, terra-cotta lamp on the stand by
the open door. It was long since the sun
had gone down behind Olivet, but the
twilight had not deepened into dark until
now. The soft radiance of the carefully
trimmed wick beamed on the face of
the younger sister who sat in silence
by the little table. The glow revealed
Martha's question written in its oval

THE LOVE-WATCH
lines, and half answered; but with Mary
that question had become too deep for
words. At the sound of the older sister's voice,
Mary's youthful face, framed in its Jew
ish abundance of dark hair, was turned
to her brother, and her full, lustrous eyes
were fixed intently on his motionless
features; but she spoke not a word. In
the silence Martha moved to the open
door and peered into the dark.
Presently Mary turned to the lamp-
stand and went on as she had been doing
before the twilight faded. Moving her
slender, tapering finger from right to
left she traced the lines in a roll of Hebrew
parchment long treasured in the family.
In the glow of the lamp the spiritual
beauty of her countenance shone clear

THE LOVE-WATCH
of the night shadows which hovered about
the table and out-of-doors hid the path
from the village street quite to the lighted
threshold. The brother stood now a little removed
from the sisters, who seemed to have
forgotten his presence in the eagerness
of their common concern for the friend
who came not. He was watching the
sweet face turned to the light.
He did not fail to notice the quick
intake of breath and the noiseless move
ment of the lips as with a start she bent
her head nearer the parchment and set
her eyes on a line fixed by a delicate finger.
Then he saw her features lifted to the
light with the eyes riveted on the line;
saw the lips inaudibly fashioning the
words : "'He hath poured out his soul unto

THE LOVE-WATCH
death.' " At once he knew the passage
which his sister was pondering. He knew
too, as he had not realized before, what
fears had awakened in her sensitive heart.
Manlike, Lazarus had been aware of
the perils for their friend which were
lurking in the city over the hill and had
shut his thoughts in his own breast. In
deed, he had such an intense memory of
the thrill of power which once passed
through his own being at the sound of
that friend's voice, that it had been hard
to bring himself to the point of anxiety
for him even when overhearing the mut-
terings of his bitter and powerful foes.
For in the midst of such scenes, which
had come to be more and more frequent
of late, the sight of his friend's face always
awoke in Lazarus a strangely blissful

THE LOVE-WATCH

sensation as of bands breaking and the
enkindling kiss of light on his eyes. Fear
was done away.
But now that delicate face haloed there
in the lamp's light, forgetful of his gaze,
touched by the first pangs of love in trav
ail, resolutely looking down into the
black depths of the prophet's meaning —
this tender bravery of his sister awoke
the deeper, innermost memories of his
strange experience. For the pain and
bewilderment of earth evermore make
men mindful of what they have learned
of heaven, be it little or much.
So Lazarus now recalled how in those
hours in paradise his spirit's quest had
been to share the watch kept by all who
were gathered there; he remembered how
every act of his sisters' friend, every move-

THE LOVE-WATCH
ment of his foes, were things they desired
to look into; he remembered, too, how
with brooding sympathy they communed
together of his sufferings and the glories
that should follow.
" Would that I might tell her of these
things ! " he said deep within himself.
So vivid now were the recollections of
those four days, so consoling was the insight
they imparted, that it became hard for
him to realize that he was once more
within earth shadows save as he fixed his
eyes on the sister's countenance there in
the beams of the evening lamp.
" 0 lights of earth that fail the heart! "
he sighed.
Then there came to him a memory, a
memory distinct, but touched with peace
eluding words; a memory of how once

THE LOVE-WATCH
he looked down on that same dear face
when it was wrung with grief and wet
with tears for him, and how his spirit's
joy fell into a rhythm as of words :
" She would wonder why she wept could
she come for an hour where I am."
Turning softly to the shadowy wall to
hide his emotions, the man took down
his walking staff as he whispered: "0 all
hearts that grope through shadows here,
could you but know what light awaits
you there ! "
So it was that Lazarus resolved to put
himself where he could receive the com
ing shock and transmit it gently to his
sisters. For this is the way of good men
with those they love.
" Did not our friend himself give them
warning? " he reflected. " Did not he

THE LOVE-WATCH
speak in their presence last Sabbath eve
of ' the day of his burying '? And he is
but three and thirty! "
With a longing too deep to be fathomed
by words, the brother looked once again
on Mary's face and said : " The love- watch
has begun on earth ! "
Then he moved toward the door, touched
Martha's arm as he passed out, and to
gether they disappeared in the darkness
of the spring night.
As soon as they were alone under a
familiar old tree, the anxious woman
brought her face close to her brother's
and said in a hushed voice : " Lazarus, he
sat under this very tree as yesterday's
sun went down! Tell me, brother, do
you know whether he is coming home
to-night? "

THE LOVE-WATCH
Lazarus looked down on his sister's
eager eyes and was still speechless.
" You know he came back to us in the
evening of the first day of the week, Laz
arus, that day when the people made a
procession, and we here at home could
hear them shout Hosanna over the top
of Olivet even until they crowded into
the city gates across the Kedron; and on
the evening of the second day he came,
and then at the close of the third day
also; and last night he was with us. Oh,
how worn he looked each night, and how
glad he seemed to enter our door!"
The man put his arm about his sister,
but was still silent.
" Did you notice, Lazarus, how once
the strain left his face when he looked
down and smiled on me? It was the

THE LOVE-WATCH
evening of the third day; I can never
forget it. I was washing the dust of the
mountain road from his quivering feet.
He was so weary, so weary! My hands
feel their trembling yet! But his sad
eyes brightened and he smiled on me.
And do you remember, brother, how he
laid his hand in Mary's and closed his
eyes and left it so, saying not a word till
I had finished? Lazarus, once as I glanced
up from that dear work, I saw a tear
glistening through his closed lashes and
falling slowly in the dark hollows about
his eyes. Tell me, good Lazarus, if you
know what all this means; or at least
tell me whether you think he will come
home and be with us to-night."
The man glanced through the lighted
door. Mary was still bending over the

THE LOVE-WATCH
parchment in the lamplight. " Did you
see what Mary was reading? " he asked,
without returning his eyes to Martha's.
" Yes, Lazarus," was the answer, sof=
tened by a sigh.
The brother knew that the meaning of
the words, little or much, lay in that sigh.
He knew not how to interpret its subtle
disclosure of his sister's heart. Was it
only the forbearance of the busy care
taker, or was it a sign that she, too, was
entering the shadow of the mystery? He
could not tell. Love finds a by-path at
such times, and so it was now.
" Sister, do you know he did not go
into the city yesterday, but abode on our
side of the mount all day? I chanced to
come upon him several times under our
Bethany trees. There seemed to be great

THE LOVE-WATCH
heaviness of spirit at times; then the
light would come again in his eyes and he
would smile and talk in the most tender
way with some one who was going by. I
never heard him talk so eagerly and so
strangely sweet as he did toward evening
with a lad whom he passed just before he
came into our home at twilight. Sister,
he talked to the boy about a son being
true to his father ! Laying his hand on the
youth's head — I could but mark his words,
so hushed was his voice — he said, ' A son
should say, Father, not my will but thine.'
Then we came home to you and Mary."
" 0 brother, but will he not come to
our home this night also? "
Lazarus then told how he had heard
their friend talking with his companions
during the day just past, that Thursday

THE LOVE-WATCH
of long ago. " This morning when some
of them were going into the city he told
them about a room which would be ready
for them somewhere within the gates,"
he began. " I heard him say it was the
room where he must eat the feast with
his disciples, and to-night ! "
Martha startled. " Why to-night? The
passover is to be eaten on the eve of the
morrow! "
" But he said he must eat with his dis
ciples to-night," was the low answer.
Martha's features were set; perplexity
and half-awakened dismay were in her
face together; soon her breast was swell
ing and sinking with the deep, sudden
breathing of a woman with an agitated
heart. " He said he must eat it to-night ! "
she murmured.

THE LOVE-WATCH
Lazarus felt a shudder pass through her
whole frame. " Sister, the night is damp
with dew and the air is chill. Go in and
be with Mary. Ask her to read to you
the words of the old parchment. You
know how long our family has cherished
it." Gently pressing his lips to her brow
he added: "The gates may be passed at
night when the passover multitudes are
gathered. I will try to go into the city,
sister, and when I have found him I will
bring you word."
" And will you not bring him home,
dear heart, if you can? "
Slowly the man answered, " Yes — if I
can." Lazarus soon left the houses of the
village behind and took the open road.
Its darkness, deepened at many places by

THE LOVE-WATCH
clumps of the palm-tree, was somewhat
relieved now, for the passover moon was
mounting the sky. "Ah, if I can!" he
repeated as he lifted his eyes to the paling
stars. Following the road around the southern
slope of Olivet, he saw the few scattered
lights of Bethphage off to the left and
reflected on the service rendered by a
friendly villager on the day of the pro
cession. Being himself one of a circle of
private friends, he felt sure that he knew
with practical certainty " the good man
of the house " mentioned in the morning
conversation, who would provide the room
made ready for the feast.
" There is no household in all the city
more likely to be trusted thus, in such
perilous days, than that of brother Mark,"

THE LOVE-WATCH
he mused. " Thither will I go. Yet, alas,
what avails my going? The hour is come.
Mary has found the truth; she has read
aright the olden words, ' despised and re
jected of men.' And now Martha has
discerned all in the necessity of the feast
to-night, if at all. I, whose spirit has
understood by such strange experience, I
who have been in paradise and heard un
speakable words, which it is not lawful
for a man to utter, I have kept the seal
of silence on my spirit. But they have
divined it all. ' He hath poured out his
soul unto death.' "
Lazarus was filled with these thoughts
when he reached the point where the road
rounded the shoulder of Olivet, and Jeru
salem spread its venerated beauty on the
hills across the Kedron valley.

THE LOVE-WATCH
The scene threw a spell upon him. He
stood still in awed reverie. The full moon
of the passover season poured its light on
the city, illuminating it as with the glories
of a thousand years of sacred destiny.
" 0 city of David," he whispered, " would
that light from heaven might dispel the
dark shadows which this night shall fix on
thy holy hills forever!"
The dumb walls that rose as from the
valley beneath him seemed in the moon
light to huddle their massive forms as if
at this season specially guarding and
cherishing their ancient trust. " And the
Hope of Israel is within your guard to
night, despised, rejected ! " He groaned
in spirit and stood with his gaze fixed on
the moonlit city.
Straight before him rose from the

THE LOVE-WATCH
blackness of the valley the ridge, five
hundred feet in height, on which stood
the temple of Israel's God, a vast pile of
marble and gold. In the soft radiance of
the night its august mass of whiteness
was touched at points by the glint on
wall or roof where the moonlight found
gold and seemed to smile.
Then a vision broke on his spirit; a
vision of the city's life, for a thousand
years clinging about that temple hill.
His eyes saw all as in panorama. South
ward lay the steeps marking the most
ancient part of the city's enclosure. There
of old was Mount Zion whose towers
and bulwarks and palaces were the sub
ject of exultant song.
Westward, beyond the temple-crowned
hill, rose through the night the higher

THE LOVE-WATCH
slopes included in " the city of David "
by the valiance of his arm. As his gaze
rested there Lazarus saw the dim outlines
and glimmering lights of the now disem-
powered palace of the Maccabees, and far
up in the western background the palace
of the hated Herods, with its high towers
in silhouette against the night sky.
Sweeping to the north he could trace
the city crowding up the hill of Acra,
while far beyond the olden wall, north
ward and around to the east, the populous
suburbs of later growth filled the slopes
of Mount Bezetha, until the city closed
in again near to the north side of the
temple hill.
Thus Jerusalem seemed to Lazarus
that night to lie like a jeweled girdle
clasped about the rock-crowned ridge,

THE LOVE-WATCH
whereon her temples had stood since
David's soul enshrined those hills. The
vision flooded his mind with the imme
morial longings of his race.
" God of Israel," he groaned, " canst
thou bear with thy people's blindness in
the things that will come to pass among
these sacred hills before the dawn — and
after it? "
In anguish of heart he fell to watching
the myriad lights. Some were clustered,
as where the black bulk of the tower of
Antonia, headquarters of the guards,
loomed beside the white majesty of the
temple; some were moving alone, appear
ing and disappearing, as busy men were
hurrying on public or private duty; and
some, like the stars for number, spread afar,
marking the sweep of the city's dwellings.

THE LOVE-WATCH
He reflected how the Holy City was
now teeming to her gates with the sons
of Israel. " To keep in remembrance
Jehovah's mercy in that night of long
ago, have ye come hither. Could ye
but know the crowning mercy of all the
centuries which ye shall this night despise
and reject!" He was speaking in a
deep whisper. " Could ye but know it,"
he went on with growing fervency, " as
do they who have entered into rest ! "
Suddenly a rush of emotion came upon
him. Lifting his voice to a full shout
that carried far down the black depths of
the valley, he cried : " 0 brethren, men
of the stock of Abraham, I who have
been with those who are in Abraham's
bosom " — Here the flood of feeling choked
his utterance. In the pause he was

THE LOVE-WATCH
startled by the reverberations of his cry
in the still night air. Listening thereto
he heard faintly a shout of response come
up through the darkness of the valley
from a spot outside the walls where tents
were spread for the night. Thus calmed,
he bethought himself and in hushed utter
ance said : " But, no, I may not speak to
them." Like one who raises his hands in prayer,
lifting his face to the stars he whispered:
" Oh, that they might see it all as it is seen
there! Would that they could know how
legions of angels are near him, ready if he
but call, ready to thwart his foes if he but
turn from bearing the sin of the world
to-night !"
Looking once more toward the city, a
sudden flashing of lights about the tower
28

THE LOVE-WATCH
of Antonia drew his attention. It was
caused by the opening of doors. The
guards were aroused. Then lights were
seen in the region where he knew the
house of the high priest, Caiaphas, stood.
Quickly they disappeared.
" But of these things I may not speak
to them," the distant watcher went on.
" How strange that by mere chance he
fixed that story in my mind above all
others ! "
Then he fell to pondering the memory —
how one day the patient Teacher stood
talking to a crowd in the open air, and
they were dull of heart, and his enemies
spurred them on to be noisy and trouble
some, until a pallor came over his eager face
and his eyes painfully scanned the crowd;
how he suddenly raised his voice and began

THE LOVE-WATCH
telling them a story. Then as they fell
to listening again and all was quiet, a
strange thing happened; though he never
used a name in any other story, he told
them now of a certain poor man who died,
and he said his name was Lazarus ! Hark-
ening closely, as any man would do at the
sound of his own name, he heard him tell
ing how one pleaded that Lazarus, who was
in Abraham's bosom, might go back to
earth to warn men; and the story ended:
" Neither will they be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead." So ran his
memory, a silent stream that broke now
into sound:
" I cannot forget that story, cannot for
get it. But, oh, how strange that now I
understand it as only they who have been
in paradise can! I, a man named Laza-

THE LOVE-WATCH
ras, walk the earth again with heaven's
silence on my lips; for I have seen how,
more than wise men dream, even the good
of earth are able to know only in part,
and the bad are wholly blind. Even my
sisters who love him so, even they cannot
know fully, cannot know as all is known
in heaven. Therefore are they silent, the
loved ones who keep their peaceful watch
in paradise looking down on those they
love. Thou, too, must hold thy peace,
my heart. Be bearer of thy heavenly
memory — alone — as one who bears a
shaded lamp through dark rooms and
longs for morning."
Slowly he turned and started back
toward Bethany. Like a still, blue ocean
the silence of the night skies lay bound
less around the top of Olivet. His foot-

THE LOVE-WATCH
fall sounded in his ear like the lap of
sleeping waters on a sandy beach. He
looked out over the hushed expanse of
country eastward, where he knew his
beloved village lay. Then he thought
of his sisters; they were surely awake
and waiting for him there in that deep
quiet. What should he say to them?
He must bring them word of their friend;
and he would. Resolutely he turned
about and soon stood once more in full
view of the city's mysterious beauty,
veiled in darkness and gemmed with
lights. " If thou hadst known," he began to
whisper unawares. " Ah, those were his
own words spoken but five days since at
this very spot! 0 thou whose great
heart is aching somewhere in yonder

THE LOVE-WATCH
city, didst thou call my spirit back to
earth for the sake of my sisters only?
Or can it be that it was for this also,
that thou shouldst have at least one to
walk near thee whose heart is able to
share thy heavenly yearning? "
At that moment Lazarus saw lights as
of flaring torches far down in the dark
ness of the valley. As he watched he
could descry a band of men, and then he
made out that the gate leading to the
Kedron valley was open, and a company
was coming out bearing torches.
" Perhaps I may gain entrance there,"
he said, " and I will go to stand beside thee,
thou lone One, that thou mayest see one
man in all the city's throng who under
stands thy yielding, one who sees all as
they see it in heaven."

THE LOVE-WATCH
So saying he started down the road
into the valley where, wrapped in dark
ness, there was a garden.

THE LOVE-WATCH

H
During the hours of this spiritual strug
gle on Olivet, midnight had come in the
Bethany home. In the hush of its ap
proach the sisters had been finding that
way through lonely watching under the
shadow of overhanging sorrow which
women have had to learn since the world
of men began. Different in temperament
and impulse, they had ministered each to
the other, and the crucible of sorrow had
found their love the same and melted it
into one. Martha had replenished the
shallow lamp more than once; Mary had
singled out line after line from the old
parchment and held them up to the light
of her spirit's flame until both saw all.
35

THE LOVE-WATCH
At length Mary's weary head was in
folded on Martha's breast; and so the
night wore away while their hearts com
muned in tender words or more tender
silence. So they kept watch together.
It was far toward the time when the
gray of dawn would appear that they heard
a sound as of one approaching their
house. They were startled. Till now
they had forgotten the exposure of the
open door. " It is our brother," said
Martha soothingly, as she saw a form in
the path. " And he brings no one with
him," was Mary's answer, without open
ing her eyes or lifting her head from her
sister's arms.
Worn and pale, with the marks of dust
and perspiration on his face, the brother
stopped in the light of the door. The

THE LOVE-WATCH
sight of his sisters, motionless in their
loving embrace and speechless as if under
standing all and needing not to question
him, deepened the aching at his heart.
Entering, he bent over them in silence.
He laid a trembling hand on Mary's hair
and stroked it softly. With eyes still
closed, and her voice muffled in her
sister's embrace, she was trying to speak.
But these were the only words uttered:
" ' As a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb ! ' "
The brother's thought finished the
prophet's sentence, and so in deep per
plexity he did not open his mouth to
speak. Presently Martha raised herself with
out a word and left the room. When she

THE LOVE-WATCH
returned it was with a towel and a basin
of water, and a tray of dates and bread
with a cup of wine. This simple act of
ministry to their exhausted brother, in
stinctive and akin to common life, made
it possible for them to talk of what had
been seen in the journey over the hill.
0 little acts of love that fill the common
day, how you make home for us and
nurse our spirits till they master life and
reach their heaven!
So it was that Lazarus told them this
narrative and relaxed the tension of word
less grief. For this is ever the way of
love with sorrow.
" It was in the garden near the cross
ing of the Kedron that I found him. I
had lingered long where the road turns
down the western slope; for the city
38

THE LOVE-WATCH
seemed so vast, so mighty, and I, alas, I
knew not how to baffle its blind hate of
him. " Near the beginning of the third watch,
seeing the Kedron gate open and a band
of men with torches passing out, I has
tened down the road resolved to go within
the walls and find him if I could.
" At the bridge over the Kedron I saw
a man pausing at the roadside. He had a
linen cloth thrown about him and seemed
to have come forth in haste and to be
following I knew not what.
" ' Friend, didst thou see a band with
torches pass this way? ' I asked.
"As he turned I saw it was none other
than Mark, to whose house I thought of
going. ' Lazarus, are you indeed here? '
he exclaimed in a whisper. ' Ah, brother,

THE LOVE-WATCH
what a night is this for us who love him! '
With eager haste I asked : ' Have you
seen him, brother? Where is he? ' ' He
is in yonder garden, I fear; and the band
with torches has just passed therein, and
Judas is at their head ! ' Then we two
hurried into the garden.
" We lingered under an old olive-tree ; for
the men with their torches were huddled
together a little way within the inclosure,
and some were laughing under their breath
as Judas puckered his face and made as
though he would kiss a tall man of the
band and gestured as if to say, ' So ! ' "
As her brother thus spoke Mary closed
her listening eyes, buried her face in her
hands and shuddered.
" While we waited Mark told me in
whispers how the night had been spent at

THE LOVE-WATCH
his mother's house. He and the Twelve
were alone in the upper room, Mark said,
only Judas passed down the stair early.
He said there was a deep quiet in the
room a long time with only one voice
sounding. During this stillness he fell
asleep. Once he was aroused by the sound
of a hymn, he thought, but it seemed so
broken and subdued as he remembered it
that it may have been only a dream. At
length he was awakened suddenly by the
sound of many feet on the stairs. He
hurried out with the cloth wrapped about
him, and saw a band of men with swords
and torches at the foot of the stairway ;
but he found the upper chamber empty
and dark. ' And I have followed them
here,' Mark said, starting up as the band
began to move on into the garden."

THE LOVE-WATCH
Lazarus paused.
" But did you see him, good Lazarus?
We would know all," Martha exclaimed.
" Yes, sister, I saw him and — he saw
me ! " He quickly checked the emotion
that welled up as the last words were
uttered. A smile broke in Mary's eyes, unspeak
ably loving, but it faded ere it touched
her lips.
Martha found voice to say : " If he saw
thee — there — then, he would under
stand, he would think of our home; that
would give a touch of comfort ! "
" He would be reminded of a better
home," Lazarus reflected, " and of the
deeper interest of hearts that keep watch
for him there." But he said naught of
this.

THE LOVE-WATCH
" As we followed the band, keeping in
the dark and a little to one side, we sud
denly came upon several men asleep under
the trees. Fearing an outcry we fell
back; the men with torches passed on.
" Then out of a dark recess we saw a
tall form approach the sleepers. Bend
ing over them a few words were spoken.
It was something about keeping watch
with him, but I could not hear all he said,
so low was the voice, so mellow and even
its tones. But at once I knew that it was
he and that he was talking to friends.
" I was about to go near and speak with
him. Oh, the longing that seized me for
a touch of his hand! But it could not be.
The band had turned about and was com
ing toward him rapidly. The flare of the
torches was beginning to play upon his
43

THE LOVE-WATCH
garments; soon his figure stood sharply
outlined in the dark.
" Sisters, I have seen his face sweet
with peace as he watched the light run
up the sky and tint the clouds when the
sun had set; but never, on earth, have I
seen repose like that on his countenance
as he stood facing the glare of those
torches. His hands were still, his tall
form at ease, his eyes pensive and gentle
as a nursing mother's.
" When they had come near and stopped,
he waited in silence. The suspense was
almost more than I could bear; but he
was standing in complete repose in the
full blaze of the upraised torches!
"At length, slowly moving from the band,
a man stood forth ; he crossed the lighted
space between the men and the Master;

THE LOVE-WATCH
he paused an instant, then, at a sup
pressed murmur from the band, raised
himself on tiptoe and kissed him!
"He did not lower his head to receive
it; his body was motionless; his eyes
were lifted, not lowered. The stillness
was so intense that all heard the sound
of the coarse lips.
" It was Judas, the man who found
fault with Mary last Sabbath evening."
Martha put her arm around her sister,
but did not so much as shift her gaze
from their brother's face.
Lazarus lowered his voice almost to a
whisper as he went on : "In the hush
that followed our friend spoke. * Com
panion, that for which thou art come ! '
he said. His voice was like the sound of
a deep harp-string softly touched.

THE LOVE-WATCH
" Presently he moved a few steps toward
the band, leaving Judas at his back, and
stood in silence. Then he said : ' Whom
seek ye? '
" A voice from the midst of the torches
answered : 'Jesus of Nazareth.' And with
out a tremor or a motion he replied: 'I
am he.'
" There was such majesty in his pres
ence that they seemed to quail and fall
back before him. But it was only for a
moment. I can hardly tell what fol
lowed. Suddenly confusion broke. They
were closing around him. I found my
self in the midst of the tumult, so near
him that I touched his hand. Serenely
he turned and looked in my face. A light
broke over his countenance as though a
smile or a word to me were coming. Oh,
46

THE LOVE-WATCH
that I might have had that word! But
at that moment they seized the hand that
I had touched, drew it down and bound
him. He bowed his head and stood
speechless and submissive.
" As the night wind fanned his hair, I
caught the fragrance of pure spikenard,
rare and sweet, mingling with the smell
of the torches. Mary, I think it was the
fragrance of your alabaster still lingering
on his head.
" Then they led him away — alone."
Silence fell on the bowed heads. Un
noticed Martha's lamp smoldered till its
flame flickered out.

THE LOVE-WATCH

HI
It was morning on the hills that are
round about Jerusalem; morning, too,
in her narrow, crowded streets; morning
where lone sentries paced her far-lying
walls, and morning full and radiant on
the glittering uplift of her temple.
Along the roads leading to the city's
main gates the Roman guards on the
walls beheld long lines of people coining
in. They marveled and swore sullenly
by pagan names; for little did they know
of the ancestral joy of that pilgrim song:
"Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem."
Toward nine o'clock the stream of
people coming by the north road was
48

THE LOVE-WATCH
checked. There was an execution on
hand; by the Roman method, that is, on
a cross, and at the usual place. That
was all.
But an unusual number of people were
surging out through the gate that morn
ing, and they moved with such slowness
that the guards watching along the wall
wondered why it was allowed. Little did
they dream of the weight that bore down
the doomed man's steps!
So it was that the two streams of peo
ple presently swelled to a human sea
around the place called " The Skull."
But the guards on the walls saw the
spears and helmets of the Roman soldiery
in the throng, and so looked on only occa
sionally as a pastime.
At length a sudden clamor of voices as

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in raillery drew their gaze along the whole
line of the wall.
" By all the gods of Olympus, there are
three of them," said one and another
gruffly, as three crosses were raised to view
a little above the throng. Then they took up
their beat heedlessly, watching the crowd
ebb and flow, while the hours wore on.
0 nameless men, imperial Caesar's
guards, pacing the walls of a detested
city in a distant province, could you
but know it, there before your eyes in the
morning light is the scene that shall draw
the gaze and gently master the heart of
the ages, when Jerusalem and Rome are
buried in the dust !
The glare of midday was now stream
ing from all the fleckless Judaean sky.

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While the throngs surged in and out the
gate and round about the spot of the
execution, there were some who stood
and watched in silence; some, too, who
pressed nearer to the suffering men when
an opportunity was found and fixed their
eyes on the central cross. Among these
was a man supporting two women.
They gave little heed to the unpitying
jests of the crowd; they seemed not to
hear the hoarse cries of men who moved
among the people zealously, men clad in
robes with broad bands and borders. But
not a word from the cross before which
they stood escaped them; and not a groan.
Indeed, the sensitiveness of the little
group seemed greatest when the low
sounds of suffering ceased for a time.
Once, in such a case, they learned that

THE LOVE-WATCH
the hushing of his moans was because
he was trying to talk with one of a group
of women standing near his cross.
" He called her mother; I know no
more! " was the answer a soldier gave
Lazarus as he strode by.
Suddenly the soldier turned; he frowned
darkly as he stood staring back at the
crosses. One of the men on a side cross
was uttering a cry of bitter mockery; the
other was calling out something in re
buke. The muscles of the soldier's face
showed that his teeth were clenched;
he quickly riveted his gaze on the central
cross. His frown vanished as he saw
that the sufferer's eyes were resting lin-
geringly on the upturned face of her to
whom he had spoken.
His was not the only heart touched by

THE LOVE-WATCH
that sight. In the moment's hush that
fell on the scene, words from one of the
side crosses were heard; they seemed to
be spoken reverently.
Then a response was heard. A voice of
wondrous sweetness was sounding over
the heads of the bystanders:
" This day shalt thou be with me in
paradise." A shout of derision went up from the
men clad in the robes with broad borders.
But the people for the most part did not
join them. The soldier ground his teeth
together and stood motionless and silent.
The heart of Lazarus leaped in his
breast. " Paradise ! Thou too art think
ing of paradise amid this Babel pain!
And I alone of all this throng know the
bliss that comes when eyes are closed to

THE LOVE-WATCH
the things of earth." But not a word
escaped his lips. He only put his arms
more firmly about his sisters and moved
a little nearer the cross.
At length in a voice raised by great
effort above the muffling of agony, their
friend uttered a cry.
" I thirst ! " were the words he suc
ceeded in forming.
Martha started up, but Lazarus tight
ened his arm about her.
" Never again, sweet ministries for him
in our Bethany home ! " she murmured.
Through all that followed they stood
transfixed. A great darkness settled on
their spirits. At last they saw his head
fall forward, and hang — heavily — un
moved. Stillness spread through the crowd.

THE LOVE-WATCH
It was Mary who broke the hush of
their little group. " ' He hath poured out
his soul unto death, ' " she whispered.
How long they lingered they did not
realize. But at last Lazarus felt the chill
of the sunless air of night. Without a
word he turned away and slowly led his
sisters out to Bethany.
Their love-watch was over.

ss