CHAPTER VIII.
Simonides looked up, none the less a master.
"Esther," he said, quietly, "the night is going fast; and, lest we become too weary for that which is before us, let the refreshments be brought." She rang a bell.

A servant answered with wine and bread, which she bore round.
"The understanding, good my master," continued Simonides, when all were served, "is not perfect in my sight.

Henceforth our lives will run on together like rivers which have met and joined their waters.
I think their flowing will be better if every cloud is blown from the sky above them.

You left my door the other day with what seemed a denial of the claims which I have just allowed in the broadest terms; but it was not so, indeed it was not.

Esther is witness that I recognized you; and that I did not abandon you, let Malluch say." "Malluch!" exclaimed Ben-Hur.
"One bound to a chair, like me, must have many hands far-reaching, if he would move the world from which he is so cruelly barred.
I have many such, and Malluch is one of the best of them.