Jesus still remained placid, but he turned to the officer and said to him mildly:
'If I have spoken evil show me the evil I have done; but if I have spoken well, why strikest thou me?'
These words and his angelic sweetness did not disarm the persecutors of the young man; coarse laughter again burst from the hall and the insults recommenced on all sides.
'Oh! the Nazarene, the man of peace, the enemy of war, does not belie himself; he is a coward and allows himself to be struck in the face.'
'Call your disciples, then; let them come and avenge you if you have not the courage.'
'His disciples,' said one of the soldiers who had arrested Jesus. 'His disciples! ah! if you had but seen them! At sight of our lances and our torches the vagabonds fled like a flight of owls!'
'They were glad enough to escape the tyranny of the Nazarene, who kept them near him by magic!'
'As a proof that they hate and despise him, not one dared accompany him hither.'
'Oh!' thought Genevieve, 'how Jesus must suffer from this base ingratitude of his friends! It must be more cruel than the outrages of which he is the object.' And turning her head towards the street door, she saw at a distance Peter, still seated on a bench, his face hidden in his hands and not having even the courage to assist and defend his kind master before this tribunal of blood. The tumult produced by the violence of the officer being somewhat appeased, one of the emissaries continued in a loud voice:
'I swear, lastly, that this man has horribly blasphemed by saying that he is Christ, the son of God!'