| . 
 
 THE . 
 
 - "V 
 
 GOLDEN SCEPTRE; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 INTERCESSION OF QUEEN ESTHER. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. H. C. ADAMS. MA 
 
 THE VICTORIA TALES AND 
 
 STORIES. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Frederick Warne and Co., 
 
 BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 w 
 
* 
 

 THE 
 
 GOLDEN SCEPTRE 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 INTERCESSION OF QUEEN ESTHER 
 
 X. 
 

 Queen Ej t'ler's banquet — p. 14 
 
THE 
 
 GOLDEN SCEPTRE; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 INTERCESSION OF QUEEN ESTHER. 
 
 HE apartments allotted to Esther the 
 Jewess, the newly-crowned Queen of 
 Ahasuerus, though small compared with the 
 reception-halls and private chambers of the 
 King himself, were nevertheless sufficiently 
 spacious, and furnished with Oriental mag- 
 nificence. The walls were ornamented with 
 designs worked in gold and crimson, sur- 
 mounted by gilded cornices, and ceilings 
 inlaid with jewels. The tables and other 
 articles of furniture were of massive silver; 
 the floors laid down with variegated marbles ; 
 the couches covered with costly silks from 
 the looms of Thinae. They looked out upon 
 the gardens of the harem, tastefully planted 
 
The Goldc7i Sceptre. 
 
 with spicy shrubs and flowers, and sur- 
 rounded by a belt of trees which shut out 
 the sight and sound alike of the neigh- 
 bouring city. 
 
 One bright morning in spring — that de- 
 licious season in the East, when the earth is 
 ■one vast garden, gay with the richest colours, 
 and the air laden with the scent of unnum- 
 bered flowers — the Oueen was sitting: at the 
 window of her chamber, lost, as it seemed, 
 in thought. The piece of embroidery, on 
 which she was wont to employ herself at that 
 hour, had fallen on her lap ; the damsels with 
 the lutes had desisted from the strains, to 
 which it was plain their mistress paid no 
 heed ; the teller of tales looked inquiringly 
 for some signal, before he commenced a new 
 story. Nothing was heard but the low plash 
 of the fountain beneath, or the drowsy hum 
 of the insects among the flowers. 
 
 At length the Oueen started from her 
 reverie. 
 
 "Hath not Hatach yet returned?" she 
 asked. " Methinks, considering what his 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 errand was, he hath been absent longer than 
 we looked for." 
 
 "There is a great stir in the city," answered 
 Leah, the person addressed. "Some pro- 
 clamation hath been issued, so the eunuchs 
 say, which has caused general commotion. 
 Perhaps that may have delayed Hatach's 
 return." 
 
 " Have they seen Mordecai, my uncle, this 
 morning?" inquired the Queen anxiously. 
 " If he is sitting in the gate of the palace, as 
 is his wont at this hour, Hatach must have 
 heard from him all that is needful to be told 
 long ere this. I know that he expects some 
 evil from Haman the Agagite, the foe of our 
 people ; and it is even on that account that 
 I sent Hatach to him. If aught hath be- 
 fallen him " 
 
 " Nay, be comforted, madam," said Leah; 
 " Hatach is even now returning. I hear his 
 footstep in the corridor. Ha ! " she added 
 in a tone audible only to herself, " he is the 
 bearer of no good tidings. His face is trou- 
 bled, and his look downcast. Hath Haman 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 indeed compassed the death of his enemy ? 
 Methinks the King would scarce permit 
 that, though Hainan's favour with him is 
 said daily to grow greater.'' 
 
 Meanwhile, ushered by the favourite wait- 
 ing-woman of Queen Esther, the eunuch had 
 entered the apartment, and reported that he 
 had news for the ear of his mistress, which 
 he was anxious to impart to her in secret. 
 The Queen accordingly dismissed all her 
 attendants with the exception of Leah ; the 
 doors and windows were closed ; and Ha- 
 tach, standing before the chair of his mistress, 
 began his speech. 
 
 " I have seen your uncle, royal lady ; I 
 have seen Mordecai, the son of Jair the 
 
 Benjamite," he began. ** He bade me tell 
 
 ■>■> 
 you 
 
 " Ha ! you have spoken with him ? " in- 
 terrupted his mistress ; " then he is safe, he 
 is free ! thus far at least he is uninjured ? " 
 
 " He hath sustained no personal wrong," 
 replied Hatach ; "but he is sad at heart, as 
 are all his people, at the terrible doom im- 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 pending over them. Thou knowest this Ha- 
 man, the son of Hammadatha, of the evil 
 stock of Amalek, whom thy fathers were 
 commanded to root out — thou knowest how 
 of late he hath been daily gaining a stronger 
 hold on the favour of my lord the King ?" 
 
 " Yea, I know it," replied the Queen, 
 sadly. " I know also how he hateth all the 
 seed of Abraham, but especially my uncle 
 Mordecai." 
 
 " True," interposed Leah ; " he hateth 
 the noble Mordecai, because he alone will 
 not fall down and render him worship when 
 he meets him — worship which even my lord 
 the King doth not require at the hands of 
 the Hebrews, knowing as he doth that it is 
 their custom to worship the Lord God of 
 their fathers, and none else. It hath trans- 
 pired — I heard it this morning, though 
 then I scarce believed it — that two days 
 ago this evil man made a petition to King 
 Artaxerxes, that he would issue a decree 
 against our entire nation. He represented 
 that wc were a rebellious people, refusing 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 obedience to the King's commands, and 
 conspiring continually against peace and 
 order : whom it would be to the advantage 
 of his kingdom utterly to destroy. He hath 
 promised, moreover, to pay into his treasury 
 the sum of ten thousand talents, as the 
 King's portion of the spoil." 
 
 " To destroy utterly our whole nation ! " 
 exclaimed her hearer in astonishment and 
 horror. " Surely my royal lord and husband 
 would never hearken to a proposal so bar- 
 barous and unjust ! " 
 
 "Alas! he hath already done so," said 
 Hatach ; " the damsel speaks truly. This 
 morning hath the edict been published — I 
 have a copy of it with me — whereby, not 
 in Susa only, but throughout all the pro- 
 vinces of the empire, the King's officers are 
 ordered, on the fourteenth day of the month 
 Adar next ensuing, to slay with the sword 
 all the Hebrews, young or old — men, wo- 
 men, or children — and take their possessions 
 for a spoil." 
 
 " The edict published ! " repeated the 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 Queen. " Then there is no hope, save in 
 the help of the Lord ; for by the custom of 
 this people a royal decree, once ratified, can 
 never be revoked or changed ! " 
 
 "Nay," said Leah, "the wise Mordecai, 
 as I am advised, is not wholly without hope. 
 Doubtless it is the Lord that sendeth suc- 
 cour ; but thine uncle and all the chief men 
 of our people think that thou, by the help 
 of the Lord, mayest be made the instrument 
 of our deliverance." 
 
 " I, Leah ! " cried Esther ; " alas ! I am 
 as powerless as the humblest in the land. 
 Weak indeed must be the hope, that is 
 founded on my aid ! " 
 
 " Art thou not the wife, the beloved and 
 favoured wife, of King Ahasuerus ? " urged 
 the maiden. " To whom should he listen, 
 if not to thee? Hast thou not already asked 
 and obtained favours at his hand ? " 
 
 "Thou understandest not what thou 
 sayest, Leah. I cannot even obtain admit- 
 tance to his presence, unless it should please 
 him to send for me to attend him ; and 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 that, I fear, may scarcely be again. Doubt- 
 less it is this wicked Haman's contriving. 
 I see his purpose now, though hitherto I 
 have not understood it; but my lord the 
 King, who was wont of old so often to 
 single out his servant for honour, hath now 
 forgotten me. It is already a month since 
 I was permitted to behold his face ; I have 
 little hope that I shall ever be summoned 
 to his presence-chamber again." 
 
 "Wherefore wait for the summons?" 
 suggested Leah. u If thou shouldst choose 
 to present thyself before him, who would 
 stay thee ? " 
 
 " Thou talkest wildly, Leah. No one may 
 approach the King unsummoned, without 
 incurring the penalty of instant death. Hast 
 thou never heard how Intaphernes, one of 
 the chiefest nobles of the land, and the 
 King's own special friend, was nevertheless 
 slain — he and his whole family — because he 
 sought to intrude uninvited on the privacy 
 of King Darius ? If the great Persian 
 magnate was thus dealt with, what thinkest 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 thou would be the lot of the despised 
 Jewess ? " 
 
 " King Darius did not love Intaphernes 
 as King Ahasuerus loveth thee, else be sure 
 he would have spared him. Oh, my royal 
 mistress," continued the maiden, throwing 
 herself before the Queen's footstool, and 
 clasping her feet in the earnestness of her 
 entreaty, " thou who wert the chosen com- 
 panion of my early years, ere this greatness 
 came to thee, have pity on thy kindred, on 
 thy people, on thyself. Even here, within 
 these guarded walls, thy life would not be 
 safe from this man's hatred ; and even if 
 thou shouldst thyself escape, how couldst 
 thou bear to survive the entire destruction 
 of thy countrymen ? Rouse up thine heart. 
 Make this attempt in the name of the Holy 
 One of Israel, by whose providence thou 
 hast been raised to this great station, and 
 lay up for thyself an abiding-place in the 
 grateful memory of thy people." 
 
 " Rise, Leah, rise, my early friend and 
 companion," said the Queen, deeply affected 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 by this appeal. " Thou art right. I am a 
 daughter of Israel still, though the wife of 
 a Gentile King ; and I will, if it be neces- 
 sary, give my life for my country. Only I 
 must first strengthen myself by prayer and 
 fasting — if indeed the God of my fathers will 
 give me courage for the attempt. Return, 
 thou, O Hatach, to my kinsmen, and bid 
 them, too, fast and pray ; for, if deliverance 
 should indeed be granted, it can only be 
 through the hand of God, outstretched for 
 the protection of His chosen." 
 
 So Queen and people alike humbled them- 
 selves before God, and fasted, and lay in 
 sackcloth ; and throughout the whole of the 
 three days, prayer was made to God, that 
 He would bless the intercession of His ser- 
 vant. On the fourth day the Queen resumed 
 her royal robes, and tired her head, and 
 decked herself with her richest jewels, to 
 make herself as pleasing as possible in the 
 eyes of her husband. Then she went forth 
 from her apartment, leaning on the arm of 
 Leah, with another maiden following and 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 bearing her train. She passed along the 
 corridors of the harem, until she reached 
 the gate of the King's private palace, and 
 so onwards to the door of the chamber 
 where Ahasuerus himself was reposing, 
 attended only by the soldiers of his guard. 
 Everywhere the officers in charge of the 
 doors threw them open at her bidding, 
 gazing on her nevertheless in doubt and 
 wonder as she passed calmly on. But, as 
 the last barrier between her and mortal 
 peril was removed, and she beheld the King 
 himself seated upon his throne, arrayed in 
 cloth of gold and precious stones, with his 
 golden sceptre in his hand — a look of dis- 
 pleased surprise on his face at the unlooked- 
 for intrusion — her heart seemed to die 
 within her, and she gave herself up as lost. 
 Aware that she had come unsummoned, 
 the guards stepped forward and raised their 
 battleaxes, awaiting only the signal from 
 the King to strike. The latter seemed to 
 hesitate a moment ; but, as his eye rested 
 on the lovelv form before him, and the 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 pleading look of the sweet pale features, 
 his anger passed away like a cloud from 
 the summer sky. He held out the Golden 
 Sceptre in token of his forgiveness of her. 
 Then, rising from his throne, he moved for- 
 ward, and pressed her to his bosom. 
 
 " What wilt thou, Queen Esther ? " he 
 said, "and what is thy request ? It shall be 
 given thee even to the half of my kingdom." 
 
 The rest is soon told. At the banquet 
 held in her apartments, to which the King 
 came as a guest the ensuing day, accom- 
 panied by his favourite minister, the Queen 
 declared the conspiracy which the latter 
 had formed against herself, her uncle Mor- 
 decai, and the whole nation to which they 
 belonged, and the treacherous falsehood, 
 by which Haman had thus far succeeded in 
 carrying it into effect. She related how he 
 had ever hated her uncle Mordecai — the 
 true and faithful servant of the King — be- 
 cause he would not yield him the worship 
 which was due to Heaven alone : how, to 
 revenge himself upon his enemy, he had 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 invented untrue charges against the whole 
 people of the Jews, and had induced the 
 King to put his hand to an edict for their 
 total extirpation. The wrath of Ahasuerus 
 was greatly roused. He had already dis- 
 covered and rewarded the merits of Mor- 
 decai, who had proved himself a loyal and 
 trustworthy servant ; and it was now clear 
 that he had been cunningly entrapped into 
 furthering a plot, which would alike deprive 
 him of the most faithful of his ministers, 
 and the best beloved of his wives. Haman 
 Avas straightway arrested by the eunuchs ;. 
 and the King, having further learned that 
 he had set up a gallows fifty cubits high, on 
 which it was his purpose to have hanged 
 Mordecai, as soon as he had got him into 
 his power — ordered that Haman himself 
 should be hanged thereon instead. 
 
 But though justice had thus been done 
 on the enemy of the Lord's people, the de- 
 cree which he had obtained from the King 
 still remained in force; and according to the 
 law of the Medes and Persians, it could not 
 
The Golden Sceptre. 
 
 be cancelled. All that King Ahasuerus could 
 do, was to issue a new edict, granting per- 
 mission to the Jews everywhere to arm them- 
 selves, and band together against any who 
 might attack them — making it plain to all, 
 that the King no longer desired their de- 
 struction. Perceiving this, the royal officers 
 everywhere throughout the provinces so 
 favoured and helped the Hebrews, that they 
 prevailed against their enemies ; great num- 
 bers of whom they slew, with scarcely any 
 loss or injury to themselves. The two days 
 of this signal triumph were, by command of 
 Esther and Mordecai, set apart for the cele- 
 bration of a solemn feast in memory of their 
 deliverance. This festival has been observed 
 for more than two thousand years: the Book 
 of Esther is still read in all the synagogues 
 from end to end, with solemn thanksgiving : 
 and as often as the name of Haman occurs 
 in the narrative, the hearers are accustomed 
 to clap their hands and stamp on the ground, 
 crying aloud " Let his name perish!" 
 
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IS 
 
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 ALICE'S WATCH. 
 
 CARRIE'S TWO VICTORIES. 
 
 ELLA'S DREAM. 
 
 THE OLD SCHOOLROOM PIANO. 
 
 THE KNIGHT OF THE FEATHERY 
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 A GIRL'S ADVENTURE. 
 
 TO-MORROW. 
 
 THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE. 
 
 LOST IN THE LEBANON. 
 
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