middle of our conversation, one of the Shah's eunuchs
came up to me, and said that his chief had been ordered to see that the
sub-lieutenant to the chief executioner, with five men, were in waiting
at the foot of the high tower at the entrance of the harem, at the hour
of midnight; and that they were to bring a _taboot_, or hand-bier, with
them, to bear away a corpse for interment.

All I could say in answer was '_be cheshm!_ (by my eyes)'; and lucky was
it for me that he quitted me immediately, that Mirza Ahmak had also left
me, and that it was dusk, or else the fear and anguish which overwhelmed
me upon hearing this message must have betrayed me. A cold sweat broke
out all over my body, my eyes swam, my knees knocked under me, and I
should perhaps have fallen into a swoon, if the counter fear of being
seen in such a state, in the very centre of the palace, had not roused
me.

'What,' said I to myself, 'is it not enough that I have been the cause
of her death, must I be her executioner too? must I be the grave-digger
to my own child? must I be the ill-fated he who is to stretch her cold
limbs in the grave, and send my own life's blood back again to its
mother earth? Why am I called upon to do this, oh cruel, most cruel
destiny? Cannot I fly from the horrid scene? Cannot I rather run a
dagger into my heart? But no, 'tis plain my fate is ordained, sealed,
fixed! and in vain I struggle,--I must fulfil the task appointed for me!
Oh world, world! what art thou, and how much more wouldst thou be known,
if each man was to lift up the veil that hideth his own actions, and
show himself as he really is!'

With these feelings, oppressed as if the mountain of Demawend and all
its sulphurs were on my heart, I went about my work doggedly, collecting
the several men who were to be my colleagues in this bloody tragedy;
who, heedless and unconcerned at an event of no unfrequent occurrence,
were indifferent whether they were to be the bearers of a murdered
corpse, or themselves the instruments of murder.

The night was dark and lowering, and well suited to the horrid scene
about to be acted. The sun, unusual in these climates, had set,
surrounded by clouds of the colour of blood; and, as the night advanced,
they rolled on in unceasing thunders over the summits of the adjacent
range of Albors. At sudden intervals the moon was seen through the dense
vapour, which covered her again as suddenly, and restored the night to
its darkness an