'What talk is this? What blasphemy does this man utter? Who is this mountebank to whom he speaks?'
But the Stranger continued to look at the man who had come out from the crowd. And He asked him:
'How is it that you know Me, since I do not know you?'
The man laughed, and, as he did so, it was seen that the Stranger started, and drew a little back.
'Because I know You, it doesn't follow that You should know me. I'd rather that You didn't. Directly You came into the street I knew that it was You, and wished You further. What do You want to trouble us for? Aren't we better off without You?'
The Stranger held up His hand as if to keep the other from Him.
'You thing all evil, return to your own kind!'
The man drew back into the crowd, a little uncertainly, as if crestfallen, but laughing all the time. He strode off down the street; they could still hear his laughter as he went. The Stranger, with the people, seemed to listen. As the sound grew fainter He cried to them with a loud voice:
'Save this woman and that man, is there none that knows Me? No, not one!'
The traffic had been brought almost to a standstill. The dimensions of the crowd had increased. There was a block of vehicles before it in the street. From the roof of an omnibus, which was crowded within and without with passengers, there came a shout as of a strong man: