"A royal creature, daughter of an ancient and haughty family, with all her life purpose congealed in lofty and serious intent, her coffers lined with gold and her face as determined and unbending as Juno's with her jealousy stirred.

He is not delighted, poor lad!" Laodice sat very still and listened.

There was enough similarity in this story to interest her.
The Maccabee, seeing that he had made an impression with this deception and feeling somehow a relief in making it, went on, delighted with his deceit.
"He has not seen her since he married her in his childhood, but he knows full well how she will look when he meets her." Surprise paralyzed Laodice.

Was the smiling and dangerous companion of this man, her husband?
The Maccabee, meanwhile, deliberately remarked her charms and recounted their antithesis in making up a picture of the woman he expected to meet as his wife.
"She will, according to his expectations, be meager and thin, not plump! Thoughtful women and women with a purpose are never plump! And she will be black and pale, all eyes, with a nose which is not the noble nose of our race.

She will be religious and it will not make her happy.