tremulous anxiety the traces of her suffering, she decked
herself in the most becoming apparel she could select. Her long black
tresses were never before so carefully braided over her polished
forehead, and never before did she put forth such an effort to enhance
every charm, and make her beauty irresistible to the king.

At length, fully arrayed and looking more like a goddess dropped from
the clouds, than a being of clay, she stole tremblingly toward the
king's chamber. Stopping a moment at the threshold to swallow down the
choking sensation that almost suffocated her, and to gather her failing
strength, she passed slowly into the room, while her maidens stood
breathless without, listening, and waiting with the intensest anxiety
the issue. Hearing a slight rustling, the king, with a sudden frown,
looked up to see who was so sick of life as to dare to come unbidden in
his presence, and lo! Esther stood speechless before him. Her long
fastings and watchings had taken the color from her cheeks, but had
given a greater transparency in its place, and as she stood, half
shrinking, with the shadow of profound melancholy on her pallid, but
indescribably beautiful countenance, her pencilled brow slightly
contracted in the intensity of her excitement, her long lashes dripping
in tears, and lips trembling with agitation; she was, though silent, in
herself an appeal that a heart of stone could not resist. The monarch
gazed long and silently on her, as she stood waiting her doom. Shall she
die? No; the golden sceptre slowly rises and points to her. The
beautiful intruder is welcome, and sinks like a snow wreath at his feet.
Never before did the monarch gaze on such transcendent loveliness; and
spell-bound and conquered by it, he said, in a gentle voice: "What wilt
thou, Queen Esther? What is thy request? It shall be granted thee, even
to the half of my kingdom!"

Woman-like, she did not wish to risk the influence she had suddenly
gained, by asking the destruction of his favorite, and the reversion of
his unalterable decree, and so she prayed only that he and Haman might
banquet with her the next day. She had thrown her fetters over him, and
was determined to fascinate him still more deeply before she ventured on
so bold a movement. At the banquet he again asked her what she desired,
for he well knew that it was no ordinary matter that had induced her to
peril her life by entering unbidden his presence. She invited him to a
secon