.
Judas had long ago, during his solitary walks, marked the place where he intended to make an end of himself after the death of Jesus.
It was upon a hill high above Jerusalem.

There stood but one tree, bent and twisted by the wind, which had torn it on all sides, half withered.
One of its broken, crooked branches stretched out towards Jerusalem, as though in blessing or in threat, and this one Judas had chosen on which to hang a noose.
But the walk to the tree was long and tedious, and Judas Iscariot was very weary.

The small, sharp stones, scattered under his feet, seemed continually to drag him backwards, and the hill was high, stern, and malign, exposed to the wind.

Judas was obliged to sit down several times to rest, and panted heavily, while behind him, through the clefts of the rock, the mountain breathed cold upon his back.
"Thou too art against me, accursed one!" said Judas contemptuously, as he breathed with difficulty, and swayed his heavy head, in which all the thoughts were now petrifying.
Then he raised it suddenly, and opening wide his now fixed eyes, angrily muttered: "No, they were too bad for Judas.

Thou hearest Jesus?
Wilt Thou trust me now?
I am coming to Thee.