Hatach took these words to Esther, and Esther sent a reply by Hatach, saying that it was known in all the king's palace that no man or woman could come into the king's presence in the inner court who had not been called, and for any who so entered there was but one law, and that was that they be put to death, unless the king hold out to them the golden sceptre. She had not been called to see the king, she said, in thirty days. Hatach gave this message to Mordecai, and he again sent word to Esther that she could not hope to escape the decree, as she too was of the Jews. He told her that deliverance must come to the Jews in some other way, but she and her family would be destroyed, and then he added, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Then Esther made her resolve, and sent word to Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Shushan together to fast night and day, while she and her maidens fasted also. "And so I will go in unto the king," she said, "which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish." And Mordecai went his way and did as Esther had commanded. It was the third day when Esther arose from her fast before the Lord and put on her beautiful royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's house in sight of the royal throne. When the king saw Esther standing in the inner court he was not displeased, but his heart was turned toward her, and he held out to her the golden sceptre that was in his hand. "What wilt thou, Queen Esther?" he said, "and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom." "If it seem good unto the king," said Esther, "let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him." So the king commanded Haman, and they came to the queen's banquet. The king knew that Esther had a favor to ask of him, so he said again: "What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed." But Esther was wise. She begged as her petition and request that the king and Haman would come to the banquet she should prepare the next day also, and she would then do as the king had said. Haman went home very happy and proud that he had been so honored by the queen, and told his wife and his friends of all the glory and honor that had come to him. "Yet all this availeth me nothing," he said, "so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." Then his wife and his friends urged him to build a high gallows and ask the king on the next day to hang Mordecai upon it. "Then go thou merrily with the king unto the banquet," they added. This pleased Haman, and he ordered the gallows to be made. That night the king was restless, and he could not sleep, and he commanded that the book of records be brought and read aloud to him. Then he found that it was written that Mordecai had saved the king's life when it was threatened by his two chamberlains.