"Nay! Nay! He is no conspirator, my Lord Pilate," cried Claudia, hurrying from behind the curtains as she wrapped her shoulders in a veil. "He is no conspirator! Naught save a teacher of Truth is he."
"Thou sayest he hath been taken?" Pilate asked of the officer.
"Yea, by the soldiers which thou didst despatch before midnight with the guard of the Temple. He was betrayed by one of his followers, and his hiding-place discovered. Already hath he been before Annas who did send him to Caiaphas. Now waiteth he at the Judgment Hall around which a crowd is gathered, and they say thou art not Caesar's friend unless thou cometh."
"They say I am not Caesar's friend?" he exclaimed in excitement. "Hasten thou to the Judgment Hall and say thou to the right and to the left, as a trumpeteer doth lead thee, 'Pilate is already on the way!'" When the officer had made a hurried exit, Pilate in great haste shouted: "Up, laggards! Move! My coat! Quick with the royal ensign and the eagle! Pilate is a friend of Caesar and this conspirator for the throne of our Tiberius shall be stretched on a cross ere the new-day sun reach the mountain top."
"Calm thyself, my Lord Pilate," Claudia said. "Nor let the words of the rabble spoil thy reason. No conspirator is this Jew. He is a teacher of the Truth. Quell thou this uproar and come thou back to bed. Hearest thou my words?"
"Nay. No words I hear save the words 'He is not Caesar's friend.' Caesar's friend would I be though all the Jews in Palestine are hung on wooden crosses. Farewell, Claudia. Thou art the wife of Caesar's friend."
Pilate turned to go, but Claudia lay hold of him saying, "Nay, my Lord Pilate, thou shalt not go until my words thou hearest. Forever will Rome bear the brand of shame should it stretch on a wooden cross one who teacheth such wisdom as doth this Jew. Thou shalt not go until a promise is made me."
"What promise?" he asked hurriedly.
"If he come before thy judgment seat, judge him of the words of his own mouth and by the words of his own mouth free or condemn him."
"I promise, Claudia—I promise."