NICODEMUS And John?... MARTHA I heard that he was in Annas’ house.... NICODEMUS And what was the Master doing when you saw him?... MARTHA I saw him only for a moment, while he passed between the columns of the vestibule.... There was a great crowd around him.... MARY CLEOPHAS Did he see you?... MARTHA Yes. He looked at me.... NICODEMUS He was not free?... MARTHA His hands were bound.... The Roman soldiers were striking him to make him walk faster.... MARY SALOME Oh!... CLEOPHAS And the others, the twelve, where are they?... MARTHA Nobody knows.... They were seized with panic.... I have heard that Thomas and Jude have fled to Galilee.... NICODEMUS And Mary Magdalene, did you see her?... MARTHA No, but James met her.... She is mad with grief, it seems.... She was crying out, tearing her garments and dashing her head against the walls in Annas’ palace.... The servants drove her away; and, since then, nobody knows what became of her.... A poor man told me that she was wandering in the Roman quarter.... NICODEMUS Does she know that we are here?... MARTHA Yes, Simon Peter told her.... A SICK MAN When she comes, do not let her go out again.... She will bring misfortune upon us. She is dangerous and does not know what she is doing.... A MAN CURED BY A MIRACLE There are men marching in the street.... I hear the sound of arms.... They are coming to arrest us!... Let all escape who can!... (_To NICODEMUS, who is going to a window_) Do not go to the windows, you will be recognized!... BARTIMÆUS I will go, I am not known, I am from Jericho.... (_He looks cautiously into the street_). It is twelve soldiers, with a centurion.... Hush!... Do not speak!... NICODEMUS Are they stopping?... BARTIMÆUS No.... They are passing.... There is no one in the street now.... Yes!... There is some one coming at the other end.... Do not make a noise.... It is a woman and four men.... Why, I know them!... It is Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathæa, James, I believe, and Andrew and Simon Zelotes.... They are looking around them.... They are knocking.... Go down and open the door to them.... SCENE II _THE SAME, MARY MAGDALENE, JOSEPH OF ARIMATHÆA, JAMES, ANDREW and SIMON ZELOTES_ MARY MAGDALENE (_beside herself, dishevelled, barefoot, with torn garments_) How many are you?... Are you ready?... What have you been doing while waiting for me?... I have come from the Antonia Tower.... The military tribune was not in the Roman quarter.... But I have seen his friend Appius.... He will send him to us as soon as he returns.... Verus said that it might be possible to save him.... I do not know how.... He will explain it to us.... But, if he does not save him, we must.... James and Simon have swords under their cloaks. Where is Peter? Where is John?... MARTHA I saw them in the hall of the high-priest’s house.... MARY MAGDALENE