"There is something great about him!" the woman declared. "He seems to be the instrument of miracle."
"Is it that?" John asked in an amused tone.
She studied him for a moment that was tense with meaning.
"Do you know," she began slowly, "that neither you nor Simon, nor any of these who aspire to the control of Jerusalem, have come upon the plan which will best appeal to your distracted subjects?"
"Have we not?" he repeated. "We have bought them and bullied them; we are fighting the Romans for them; we are preaching patience in the will of the Lord. What more, lady?"
"What have you to offer them in their hope of a Messiah?" she said pointedly.
"Messiah! What else is preached in the Temple but the Messiah, or in the proseuchæ or the streets or on the walls? We eat, drink, sleep, fight, buy, sell, rob or restore in the name of the Messiah! They are surfeited with religion."
"Are they?" she asked sententiously. "But you haven't given them a Messiah."
He looked at her without comprehending.
"You have a mad city here; you can not reason with it; indulge it, then, as you indulge your lunatics," she suggested.