ld
apprise their companions and assemble them to release Jesus;
consequently she said to one of these men:

'Know you not that these soldiers are leading away the young man of
Nazareth, the friend of the poor and afflicted? They would kill him;
hasten to defend him; release him; raise the people. These soldiers of
Jerusalem will fly perhaps, but the soldiers of Pontius Pilate are
tougher; they have good lances, thick cuirasses, and well tempered
swords.'

'What could we attempt?'

'Why you can rise in a mass; you can arm yourselves with stones, with
sticks!' exclaimed Genevieve, 'and at least you can die to avenge him
who has consecrated his life to your cause!'

The beggar shook his head and replied whilst one of his companions
approached him:

'Wretched as life may be, we cling to it, and 'tis running to meet death
if we stake our rags against the cuirasses of the Roman soldiers.'

'And then,' said another vagabond, 'if Jesus of Nazareth is a Messiah,
as so many others have been before him, and so many others will be after
him, 'tis a misfortune if they kill him; but Messiahs are never wanting
in Israel.'

'And if they put him to death!' said Genevieve, 'it is because he has
loved you; it is because he pitied your wretchedness; it is because he
has shamed the rich for their hypocrisy and their hardness of heart
towards those who suffer!'

'It is true; he constantly predicted for us the kingdom of God on
earth,' replied the vagabond again, reclining on his bench, as also his
companion, to warm themselves by the rays of the morning sun; 'yet these
fine days he promised us do not arrive, and we are just as poor to-day
as we were yesterday.'

'Eh! and what tells you that these fine days, promised by him, will not
arrive to-morrow?' continued Genevieve; 'does not the harvest require
time to take root, to grow, and to ripen? Poor, blind and impatient that
you are, recollect that to leave him to die, whom you call your friend,
before he has fertilized the good seeds he has sown in so many hearts,
is to trample under foot, is to destroy whilst yet only grass, a harvest
perhaps magnificent.'

The two vagabonds remained silent, shaking their heads, and Genevieve
left them, saying to herself with profound grief:

'Shall I encounter, then, everywhere nothing but ingratitude,
forgetfulness, treason and cowardice? Oh! it is not the body of Jesus
that will be crucified, it will be his heart.'

The slave hastened to