Covering his face with his hand, he shook with the conflict between his wish, which was what he would have ordered, and the power that was upon him.
"Come; we are waiting for you," said Simonides, the fourth time.
Thereupon he walked mechanically after the chair and the litter.
Esther walked with him.

Like Balthasar and his friends, the Wise Men, the day they went to the meeting in the desert, he was being led along the way..