Charles Ellicott Commentary Esther 4:2

"and he came even before the king`s gate: for none might enter within the king`s gate clothed with sackcloth." — Esther 4:2 (ASV)

None might enter ... —That nothing sad or ill-omened might meet the monarch’s gaze, as though by shutting his eyes, as it were, to the presence of sorrow, sickness, or death, he might suppose that he was successfully evading them.