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 quietly and in the simplest words, and until he was through there was no interruption; nor did the listener in the chair so much as move a hand during the narration; but for his eyes, wide open and bright, and an occasional long-drawn breath, he might have been accounted an effigy.
"Thank you, thank you, Malluch," he said, heartily, at the conclusion; "you have done well--no one could have done better.