The keeper smiled.
“‘The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself.’ Is not that the law, Rabbi?”
Joseph was silent.
“If it be the law, can I say to one a long time come, ‘Go thy way; another is here to take thy place?’”
Yet Joseph held his peace.
“And, if I said so, to whom would the place belong? See the many that have been waiting, some of them since noon.”
“Who are all these people?” asked Joseph, turning to the crowd. “And why are they here at this time?”
“That which doubtless brought you, Rabbi—the decree of the Cæsar”—the keeper threw an interrogative glance at the Nazarene, then continued—“brought most of those who have lodging in the house. And yesterday the caravan passing from Damascus to Arabia and Lower Egypt arrived. These you see here belong to it—men and camels.”
Still Joseph persisted.
“The court is large,” he said.