'Oh, yes!' observed another old mendicant; 'to us who have despaired since our birth, he gives eternal hope.'
'Jesus teaches us that we are not below our masters,' said a slave of gloomy appearance.
'Now, since we are as good as our masters, by what right do they keep us in slavery?'
'Is it because if there are a hundred masters on one side, we are ten thousand slaves on the other?' observed a second.
'Patience, patience! a day will come when we shall reckon our masters, and reckon ourselves afterwards; after which will be accomplished the words of Jesus, 'The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.' He has said to us artizans, who, by the burden of taxes and the avarice of sellers, are often in want of bread and garments, as also our wives and children, 'Be not disquieted; God, our father, provides apparel for the lilies of the valley, and food for the young sparrows: a day will come in which you shall want nothing.' Yes, for Jesus has also said this, 'Put neither gold, nor silver, nor money in your purse, nor sack for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, for he who works deserves to be maintained.'
'Here's the master! here's the master!' said several persons, placed near the door of the tavern; 'there's our friend!'
At these words there was a great movement in the tavern. Aurelia, not less curious than her slave Genevieve, mounted on a stool, the better to see the young man. Their expectation was disappointed; it was not yet him; it was Peter, one of his disciples.
'And Jesus!' they all demanded of him in one voice: 'where is he?'
'Will not the Nazarene come then?'
'Shall we not see our friend, the friend of the afflicted!'