bad is to be pronounced of a
person standing before thee as he stood this morning. But--but"--his
voice rose and hardened--"these limbs upon which I cannot stand--this
body drawn and beaten out of human shape--they are not all I bring
him of myself. Oh no, no! I bring him a soul which has triumphed
over torture and Roman malice keener than any torture--I bring
him a mind which has eyes to see gold at a distance farther than
the ships of Solomon sailed, and power to bring it to hand--ay,
Esther, into my palm here for the fingers to grip and keep lest
it take wings at some other's word--a mind skilled at scheming"--he
stopped and laughed--"Why, Esther, before the new moon which in the
courts of the Temple on the Holy Hill they are this moment celebrating
passes into its next quartering I could ring the world so as to startle
even Caesar; for know you, child, I have that faculty which is better
than any one sense, better than a perfect body, better than courage
and will, better than experience, ordinarily the best product of the
longest lives--the faculty divinest of men, but which"--he stopped,
and laughed again, not bitterly, but with real zest--"but which
even the great do not sufficiently account, while with the herd
it is a non-existent--the faculty of drawing men to my purpose and
holding them faithfully to its achievement, by which, as against
things to be done, I multiply myself into hundreds and thousands.
So the captains of my ships plough the seas, and bring me honest
returns; so Malluch follows the youth, our master, and will"--just
then a footstep was heard upon the terrace--"Ha, Esther! said
I not so? He is here--and we will have tidings. For thy sake,
sweet child--my lily just budded--I pray the Lord God, who has
not forgotten his wandering sheep of Israel, that they be good
and comforting. Now we will know if he will let thee go with all
thy beauty, and me with all my faculties."

Malluch came to the chair.

"Peace to you, good master," he said, with a low obeisance--"and
to you, Esther, most excellent of daughters."

He stood before them deferentially, and the attitude and the address
left it difficult to define his relation to them; the one was that
of a servant, the other indicated the familiar and friend. On the
other side, Simonides, as was his habit in business, after answering
the salutation went straight to the subject.

"What of the young man, Malluch?"

The events of the day were told quiet