Times-promoter., 1909-01-22
THE STORY.
GA ND thou, Esther, do declare as
n my Queen!"


How sweet is signal triumph to
a woman's heart, and how the words
thrilled through the heart of the beau
tiful young woman as she knelt before
King Ahasuerus and graciously bowed
her head to receive the royal diadem
of purple ribbon, striped with white,
which the jeweled hand of the king
proceeded to bind about her forehead,
and which was the insignia of her ex-
alted station in life.
The splendid ceremonies over at
last, the beautiful queen retired to her
apartments. AS she sank upon one of
] the soft divans sigh of delighted sat
isfaction escaped from her lips. What
a beautiful place 1t was. How luxuri-
ant AS she turned to take in the full
sweep of the apartment, its rich hang
ings, its exquisite carvings in ivory, it's
ornaments of gold and silver, and the
flash Of precious stones as they caught
the light and sent it back in myriad
vari-colored CLEANS, her hand slipped
from the fragrant folds of her royal
robes and rested on the covering OF
the couch on which she was reclining.
Instantly her delicate touch detected
the eXquisitely fine texture Of the COW
ering and she began to stroke her
hands back and forth over its soft,
velvety surface, while she gave herself
up to delightful dreaming.
'It is all mine" she said half aloud.
Her voice must have sounded louder
than she had intended, for her maid in
waiting heard her speak and instantly
! came in, bowling low and asking her
what she desired.
II did not CALL" Queen Esther said,
with gracious, kindly smile, but now
! that thou art here, tell me, were these
the apartments of Queen Vashti? And
are these the same beautiful furnish
| ings which she enjoyed?"
"The apartments are the same, your
highness, but the furnishings are the
latest and finest which could be
found by search through all the vast
realm"
King Ahasuerus is good" said
Queen Esther, in soft, appreciative
| tones.
YEA, he is, save when in his cups.
He has never ceased to mourn for the
beautiful Vashti. She was, oh, SO
good"
And shall try to be good, too"
SpnIxa 1rn Tct1 ~, nct
tone, "and you will help me, won't
your" she added, with winsome ap-
peal in her voice..
The maid was completely won by
the sweet candor of the new queen and
gave ready assent, and in the days
which followed she gave ample evil
dence of sincere loyalty. And it was
well for Queen Esther that she had
real friend in the midst of all that in
trigue and plotting which marked the
life of the great palace of Shushan.
The days came and went. Esther in
obedience to the command of Morde-
cal, had kept the secret of her nation.
ality, and of her connection with him.
1t had been a long time since she had
had word from her cousin, and a voice
whispered within that now, as queen
and removed so far from him, 1t would
be well for her to obliterate all traces
of connection with him. How easy to
cut loose absolutely from him. To re-
ceive no communication from him and
to send no word to him. When that
voice whispered such suggestion to
Queen Esther she scarce listened to 1t
at all at first, but as the days passed
she found the voice repeating the sug-
gestion, and she in turn arguing with
herself as to the feasibility of obeying.
1t was struggle between the loyal inn
pulses of the heart towards the friend
of the old and lowly life and the
naughty pride of the heart which finds
birth in the new life of an exalted sta
tion. 1t is such struggle as that