'But patience,' observed the first, 'patience, Nazarene, thy hour
approaches; thy still increasing audacity will soon draw down upon thee
a terrible punishment!'

Whilst Genevieve listened to the two wicked men thus conversing, she saw
Magdalen, after the affectionate words of Jesus, rise up radiant; the
tears chased each other down her handsome face, but these tears no
longer seemed bitter. She distributed to all the poor women who
surrounded her, her precious stones and jewels, unfastened even to the
magnificent robe she wore over her tunic of fine cloth from Sidonia, and
put on the mantel of coarse brown wool of a young woman to whom she gave
in exchange a rich robe embroidered with pearls of great value. She then
said to Simon, that she would not again quit these humble garments, and
that on the morrow all her wealth should be distributed to poor
families, and to the courtezans whom misery alone prevented returning to
a better life.

At these words Oliba, joining her hands in a burst of gratitude, threw
herself at the feet of Magdalen, took her hands, kissed them whilst
sobbing and said to her--

'Blessed be thou, Magdalen! oh, blessed be thou! Thy bounty hath saved
me, me and so many of my poor companions of shame; but we repented at
the voice of the son of Mary; that voice penetrated our hearts; we hoped
for pardon. But, alas! the necessity of living retained us in wickedness
and contempt. Blessed be thou, Magdalen, thou who renderest possible our
return to good.'

'Sister, it is not I you must bless,' replied Magdalen; ''tis Jesus of
Nazareth; his words inspired me.'

And Magdalen mingled amongst the crowd to listen to the words of the
young master.

Some of his disciples having said in speaking to him of Magdalen, that
she had been seduced and then abandoned by a young doctor of the law,
the figure of Jesus became grave, severe, and almost menacing, and he
exclaimed---

'Woe to you, doctors of the law! Woe to you, hypocrites! You are like
unto whitened sepulchres; the outside appears gay, but within all is
bones and putridity. Thus, outwardly you appear just in the eyes of men,
but inwardly you are full of iniquity and hypocrisy. Woe to you blind
leaders who take great care as to what you drink, lest you should
swallow a camel.'

This familiar satire made several of the auditory smile, and Banaias
exclaimed---

'Oh, but you are right, my friend. How many of these swallowers of
camels we know. But