resplendent that
they could not look at it, and I believe their intention in throwing
the dirty rag over his head was to deaden its brightness.

CHAPTER X.

The Denial of St. Peter

At the moment when Jesus uttered the words, 'Thou hast said it,' and
the High Priest rent his garment, the whole room resounded with
tumultuous cries. Peter and John, who had suffered intensely during the
scene which had just been enacted, and which they had been obliged to
witness in silence, could bear the sight no longer. Peter therefore got
up to leave the room, and John followed soon after. The latter went to
the Blessed Virgin, who was in the house of Martha with the holy women,
but Peter's love for Jesus was so great, that he could not make up his
mind to leave him; his heart was bursting, and he wept bitterly,
although he endeavoured to restrain and hide his tears. It was
impossible for him to remain in the tribunal, as his deep emotion at
the sight of his beloved Master's sufferings would have betrayed him;
therefore he went into the vestibule and approached the fire, around
which soldiers and common people were sitting and talking in the most
heartless and disgusting manner concerning the sufferings of Jesus, and
relating all that they themselves had done to him. Peter was silent,
but his silence and dejected demeanour made the bystanders suspect
something. The portress came up to the fire in the midst of the
conversation, cast a bold glance at Peter and said, 'Thou also wast with
Jesus the Galilean.' These words startled and alarmed Peter; he trembled
as to what might ensue if he owned the truth before his brutal
companions, and therefore answered quickly, 'Woman, I know him not,' got
up, and left the vestibule. At this moment the cock crowed somewhere in
the outskirts of the town. I do not remember hearing it, but I felt
that is was crowing. As he went out, another maid-servant looked at
him, and said to those who were with her, 'This man was also with him,' and
the persons she addressed immediately demanded of Peter whether her
words were true, saying, 'Art thou not one of this man's disciples?' Peter
was even more alarmed than before, and renewed his denial in these
words, 'I am not; I know not the man.'

He left the inner court, and entered the exterior court; he was
weeping, and so great was his anxiety and grief, that he did not
reflect in the least on the words he had just uttered. The exterior
court was quit