"The things these papers take into account—all of them: ships, houses, goods, camels, horses, money; the least as well as the greatest—give I back to thee, O Simonides, making them all thine, and sealing them to thee and thine forever."
Esther smiled through her tears; Ilderim pulled his beard with rapid motion, his eyes glistening like beads of jet. Simonides alone was calm.
"Sealing them to thee and thine forever, Ben-Hur continued, with better control of himself, "with one exception, and upon one condition."
The breath of the listeners waited upon his words.
"The hundred and twenty talents which were my father’s thou shalt return to me."
Ilderim’s countenance brightened.
"And thou shalt join me in search of my mother and sister, holding all thine subject to the expense of discovery, even as I will hold mine."
Simonides was much affected. Stretching out his hand, he said, "I see thy spirit, son of Hur, and I am grateful to the Lord that he hath sent thee to me such as thou art. If I served well thy father in life, and his memory afterwards, be not afraid of default to thee; yet must I say the exception cannot stand."
Exhibiting, then, the reserved sheet, he continued, "Thou hast not all the account. Take this and read—read aloud."
Ben-Hur took the supplement, and read it.
"Statement of the servants of Hur, rendered by Simonides, steward of the estate.
" 1. Amrah, Egyptian, keeping the palace in Jerusalem.
"2. Simonides, the steward, in Antioch.
"3. Esther, daughter of Simonides."
Now, in all his thoughts of Simonides, not once had it entered Ben-Hur’s mind that, by the law, a daughter followed the parent’s condition. In all his visions of her, the sweet-faced Esther had figured as the rival of the Egyptian, and an object of possible love. He shrank from the revelation so suddenly brought him, and looked at her blushing; and, blushing, she dropped her eyes before him. Then he said, while the papyrus rolled itself together,
