"The rabbis are before the door of the palace asking to see Pilate.

He has refused to come out.

They have sent one to tell him they will not go away till he has heard them.
They are waiting." "Let us go in," said Ben-Hur, in his quiet way, seeing what his companions probably did not, that there was not only a disagreement between the suitors and the governor, but an issue joined, and a serious question as to who should have his will.
Inside the gate there was a row of trees in leaf, with seats under them.

The people, whether going or coming, carefully avoided the shade cast gratefully upon the white, clean-swept pavement; for, strange as it may seem, a rabbinical ordinance, alleged to have been derived from the law, permitted no green thing to be grown within the walls of Jerusalem.

Even the wise king, it was said, wanting a garden for his Egyptian bride, was constrained to found it down in the meeting-place of the valleys above En-rogel.
Through the tree-tops shone the outer fronts of the palace.
Turning to the right, the party proceeded a short distance to a spacious square, on the west side of which stood the residence of the governor.