Jesus Christ -- Fiction; Religious fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
Gilderman, as he walked away, heard the words and his bosom swelled
with a still bigger load of triumph. As he whirled home in the
electric cab he lay back in the leather cushions and gave himself up
to the delight of his triumph. He was filled full with a great and
pervading joy. That last queen! What a delicious shock when he turned
up the card and saw what it was! What a glorious piece of luck! And
then he thought, what should he do with the money? He did not want
Latimer-Moire's money. He would hand it over to the bishop; that was
what he would do. Suppose he gave it to that one-armed fellow the
bishop had spoken about the other day. No; it was too much to give in a
lump to a poor devil like that. He revolted somehow from the thought of
doing that; he would hand it over to the bishop.
Presently the cab stopped at the sidewalk in front of his own home.
The _chauffeur_ jumped down and opened the door and Gilderman stepped
out. He lingered for a little while after the cab had whirled away into
the darkness. The night was very mild and pleasant, and the moon was
beautiful. So he stood for a while smoking his cigar, thinking of his
luck and feeling very happy. The white clouds of smoke drifted pallidly
away in the milky moonlight.
Suddenly there was a disturbance some little distance up the street,
and a lot of figures came out from the park. Then they came marching
down the sidewalk. Even in the distance Gilderman could see the gleam
of brass buttons and of official badges, and he knew that they had
been making some arrest. As the crowd approached, Gilderman walked
slowly up the broad stone steps to the wide vestibule above. The porter
opened the door at his coming, but Gilderman did not immediately enter.
He stood upon the top step smoking a last puff or two at his cigar
before he threw it away, and watching, with a sort of idle curiosity,
for the crowd to go past on the other side of the street. Presently
they were there, passing under the wide aureola of light of the double
cluster of electric lamps at the curb.
Then Gilderman saw who it was that they had arrested--it was He.
Gilderman could not see whether He had handcuffs upon the wrists, but
two policemen walked one upon each side of Him. Two or three policemen
came behind them, and there was quite a crowd of men besides, one of
them with his head tied up in a bloody cloth. As they came under the
circle of light one face was turned and looked straight at Gilderman.
The features appeared to be calm and emotionless. There was no hat upon
the head, and Gilderman was almost sure he saw red drops of moisture,
as of sweat, shining on His brow. Then they had gone by and Gilderman
stood looking after them. The hall porter had also come farther out
into the vestibule to see the crowd as it passed by.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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