"His habit is to move in mystery, yet sometimes he permits us to think we see and understand him.

I am old, dear, and must go; but now, in this eleventh hour, when my hope was beginning to die, he sends me this one with a promise, and I am lifted up.

I see the way to a great part in a circumstance itself so great that it shall be as a new birth to the whole world.

And I see a reason for the gift of my great riches, and the end for which they were designed.

Verily, my child, I take hold on life anew." Esther nestled closer to him, as if to bring his thoughts from their far-flying.
"The king has been born" he continued, imagining he was still speaking to her, "and he must be near the half of common life.