Peter was silent, but his silence and dejected demeanour made the bystanders suspect something.

The portress came up to the fire in the midst of the conversation, cast a bold glance at Peter and said, 'Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean.' These words startled and alarmed Peter; he trembled as to what might ensue if he owned the truth before his brutal companions, and therefore answered quickly, 'Woman, I know him not,' got up, and left the vestibule.

At this moment the cock crowed somewhere in the outskirts of the town.

I do not remember hearing it, but I felt that is was crowing.

As he went out, another maid-servant looked at him, and said to those who were with her, 'This man was also with him,' and the persons she addressed immediately demanded of Peter whether her words were true, saying, 'Art thou not one of this man's disciples ?' Peter was even more alarmed than before, and renewed his denial in these words, 'I am not; I know not the man.' He left the inner court, and entered the exterior court; he was weeping, and so great was his anxiety and grief, that he did not reflect in the least on the words he had just uttered.