prise, observed, towards the summit of Calvary, two other
crosses erected besides the one intended to be erected for Jesus. In
her astonishment, she inquired of a person in the crowd, who replied to
her:

'These crosses are intended for two thieves, who are to be crucified at
the same time as the Nazarene.'

'And why do they execute these thieves at the same moment as the
Nazarene?' inquired the slave.

'Because the pharisees, men of justice, wisdom, and piety, have resolved
that the Nazarene shall be accompanied even in death, by the miserable
wretches whose company he frequented during his life.'

Genevieve turned round to ascertain who had made her this reply; she
recognized one of the two emissaries. 'Oh! the merciless wretches!'
thought she; 'they find means of outraging Jesus even in his death.'

When the Roman soldiers who had escorted the young man arrived, followed
by the crowd, more and more silent and mournful, at the summit of
Calvary, as also Doctor Baruch, Jonas the banker, and Caiphus the high
priest, all three, anxious to assist at the agony and death of their
victim, Genevieve perceived the two thieves destined to be crucified,
bound and surrounded with guards; they were livid, and awaited their
fate with a terror mingled with an impotent rage. At a sign from the
Roman officer, chief of the escort, the executioners drew the two
crosses from the holes in which they had been erected, and threw them on
the ground; then seized the condemned, despite their cries, their
blasphemies and desperate resistance, they stripped them of their
garments and extended them on the crosses; then, whilst the soldiers
held them there, the executioners, armed with long nails and heavy
hammers, nailed to the crosses, by the feet and hands, these poor
wretches who howled with pain. By this refinement of cruelty they made
the young man of Nazareth a witness of the torture he was himself about
to suffer; consequently, at sight of the sufferings of these two
companions of punishment, Jesus could not restrain his tears; he then
buried his face in his hands to shut out the painful vision.

The two thieves crucified, the executioners again erected their crosses,
on which they writhed and groaned, thrust them some way into the ground,
and strengthened them by means of stones and piles.

'Come, Nazarene,' said one of the executioners to Jesus, approaching
him, holding in one hand his heavy hammer, and in the other several long