"'Will he what, Iscariot? Of whom do you speak? Art thou crazed? Thou shouldst well be, after thy deed to-night!'
"'Will he let them kill him? Will he die? Will he die? Think you he will escape? He can if he will! Cords to him are ropes of sand!'
"'No, no. He is bound hand and foot!' answered my father, sadly. 'He makes no defense. I fear he will let them do as they will with him. He makes no effort to save his life.'
"At this Judas, for it was that wicked man, beat his knitted forehead in a frenzied manner with the bag of silver, and with a look of horrible despair rushed forth, crying as he went:
"'I will save him! The priests shall have their money again! He shall not die! If I had believed he would not do some miracle to escape them, I never would have sold him! I hoped to get their money, and trusted, if they bound him, for him to escape by his own power. I did not dream that he would not exert it to save himself. I will save thee, innocent man of God, for I, not thou, alone am guilty! Oh, if I had suspected this—but he shall not die!'
"With these ravings he disappeared towards the Pretorium, leaving us all amazed at what we had heard.
"The sun is up. The fate of Jesus is sealed! The Procurator has signed the sentence of death and he is to be crucified to-day. But, with Judas, I believe that he cannot die, and that he will signalize the hour by some wonderful miracle of personal deliverance. Thus, tremblingly, we hope and wait."
Here terminates, my dear father, what my cousin has written to Martha and Lazarus.
Your sorrowing but loving daughter,
Adina.