Day by day, also, the rabbis and the elders began to congregate together
at evening before the house of Lazarus and to talk with him and with
each other, debating how they might break the endurance of his son and
bring him again into the synagogue as one of themselves. Chief among
them in their councils was Levi, the Short-handed, devising new tortures
for the frail body to bear and boasting how he would conquer the
stubborn boy by the might of his hands to hurt. Some of the rabbis shook
their heads.
"He is possessed of a devil," they said. "He will die and repent not."
But others nodded approvingly and wagged their filthy heads and said
that when the fool had been chastised the evil spirit would depart from
him.
Once more the cloud of passing time descended and was lifted. Then the
walls of the house were opened and in a low arched chamber the rabbis
sat about a black table. It was night and a single smoking lamp was
lighted, a mere wick projecting out of a three-cornered vessel of copper
which was full of oil and was hung from the vault with blackened wires.
Seven rabbis sat at the board, and at the head sat Lazarus. Their
crooked hands and claw-like nails moved uneasily and there was a lurid
fire in their vulture's eyes. They bent forward, speaking to each other
in low tones, and from beneath their greasy caps their anointed
side curls dangled and swung as they moved their heads.
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