Luke 22:55

they had kindled a fire The spring nights at Jerusalem, which is 2610 feet above the level of the sea, are often cold.

in the midst of the hall Rather, of the court.

sat down among them i.e. among the servants of the High Priest sat in the middle (mesos)of a group composed of the very men who had just been engaged more or less directly in the arrest of His Lord.

It was like the impetuosity of his character, but most unwise for one of his temperament. St John says (John 18:18) that -he stood," and perhaps we have here a touch of restlessness.

a certain maid Apparently the portress (John 18:17) who had been meanwhile relieved, and who, after a fixed gaze, recognised Peter as the man whom she had admitted. She therefore exclaimed, "This fellow too(as well as John) was with Him." The reports of the Evangelists differ, but each faithfully preserves the kai.

a certain maid beheld him The accounts of these denials by the Evangelists are (as St Augustine says of their narratives generally) "various, but not contrary." They are capable of perfectly easy and perfectly natural reconcilement, and are a valuable proof of independence.