two brothers,
who died the same night, "locked," as testified by Baha'u'llah, "in each
other's arms." The carpet used by Him He gave to be sold in order to
provide for their winding-sheets and burial. The paltry sum obtained after
it had been auctioned was delivered to the guards, who had refused to bury
them without first being paid the necessary expenses. Later, it was
learned that, unwashed and unshrouded, they had buried them, without
coffins, in the clothes they wore, though, as affirmed by Baha'u'llah,
they were given twice the amount required for their burial. "None," He
Himself has written, "knoweth what befell Us, except God, the Almighty,
the All-Knowing... From the foundation of the world until the present day
a cruelty such as this hath neither been seen nor heard of." "He hath,
during the greater part of His life," He, referring to Himself, has,
moreover, recorded, "been sore-tried in the clutches of His enemies. His
sufferings have now reached their culmination in this afflictive Prison,
into which His oppressors have so unjustly thrown Him."

The few pilgrims who, despite the ban that had been so rigidly imposed,
managed to reach the gates of the Prison--some of whom had journeyed the
entire distance from Persia on foot--had to content themselves with a
fleeting glimpse of the face of the Prisoner, as they stood, beyond the
second moat, facing the window of His Prison. The very few who succeeded
in penetrating into the city had, to their great distress, to retrace
their steps without even beholding His countenance. The first among them,
the self-denying Haji Abu'l-Hasan-i-Ardikani, surnamed Amin-i-Ilahi
(Trusted of God), to enter His presence was only able to do so in a public
bath, where it had been arranged that he should see Baha'u'llah without
approaching Him or giving any sign of recognition. Another pilgrim, Ustad
Isma'il-i-Ka_sh_i, arriving from Mosul, posted himself on the far side of
the moat, and, gazing for hours, in rapt adoration, at the window of his
Beloved, failed in the end, owing to the feebleness of his sight, to
discern His face, and had to turn back to the cave which served as his
dwelling-place on Mt. Carmel--an episode that moved to tears the Holy
Family who had been anxiously watching from afar the frustration of his
hopes. Nabil himself had to precipitately flee the city, where he had been
recognized, had to satisfy himself with a brief glimpse of Baha'u'llah
from across that same