The mother's face flushed hotly. "The lad was innocent!" she cried. "He was sinned against most foully, but he himself sinned not. He is in Paradise, for he hath the word of the Lord."
"What meanest thou? Who told thee concerning the thing?" said Caiaphas, raising himself up and fixing his burning eyes upon her face.
"I had it from a lad named Stephen, who was even as a brother to him who was our son--Titus, he was called. As he hung upon the cross in agony, the Lord spake to him and said, 'This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.'"
"Who is this Stephen?" said Caiaphas, in a low, terrible voice. "And whom dost thou call Lord?"
Anna trembled with terror, she tried to speak, but the words died upon her lips.
"Speak, woman!"
"Stephen is--the son of the Greek who took our child. The man hath been punished for his sin. He also perished with the Lord."
There was an awful silence. Then Caiaphas again spoke, and his voice was as the voice of a stranger in the ears of Anna. "This Stephen, the son of the malefactor, doth he still live?"
"He--lives; but, oh my husband, I beseech thee--do not harm him, so innocent, so heavenly a one!"
But through the words of her entreaty sounded the inexorable tones of the High Priest's voice.