"Samuel!"
"Mordecai!"
"What are you doing here?"
"And you?"
"And you?"
Silence falls, as each waits for an answer.
"Three Jews at the foot of the cross!" said Ephraim of the low road.
"Three renegade Jews," said Mordecai of the tribe of the few, below breath. "For we are Christians."
"Renegade is not the word, brother," objected Samuel of the middle class, softly. "Apostasy is the name for those who go over to the beliefs of the minority. The others are converts."
"Admirably expressed, Samuel," said Ephraim. "You are a wise man. Why should I take the trouble to lie to you? I have come here alone, by night, because having changed Lord, I need compensating gifts, and—God, though He has become Jesus, son of Joseph, cannot hear me when His crowd of courtiers is besieging Him with clamorous petitions. Therefore I come sometimes to speak to Him as man to God. And who knows? Perhaps if I help myself sufficiently my words will be heard."