- Daniel has been really affected by his acquaintance with Mordecai. He sees him as "a new question which he felt an interest in getting answered" (38.2).
- We also learn that, for a long time now, Mordecai has realized that he's dying and deeply wants to find someone to tell all of his thoughts and beliefs so that they might live on after his death.
- Mordecai has been on the lookout for a few years looking for a person to tell all of his spiritual beliefs to. We learn that he's looking for someone different from himself. He wants to find a Jewish person with a noble face and a respectable place in society.
- Mordecai likes to walk around the bridges of London at sunrise and sunset, looking for his potential protégé.
- Mordecai is becoming more and more aware that he's going to die soon, so he is even more aware now that he needs to find someone to carry on his legacy.
- We find out that Mordecai has been living with the Cohens for the last two years. He feels like there is a "spiritual distance" between himself and his hosts, but he takes comfort in the fact that he can try to instruct their son, Jacob.
- One time, when Mordecai is instructing Jacob, he doesn't notice that Jacob runs off and starts playing with money. Mordecai is ticked off and wonders what is going to happen to the next generation.
- We learn that the day Daniel came into the bookshop. Mordecai felt like he had found the man he's been hoping to instruct. He's really disappointed when Daniel tells him that he's not Jewish. In fact, he feels hopeless.
- Still, when Daniel comes to Ezra Cohen's to redeem the ring, he feels like something big is about to happen.