st he placed his hands on his knees, with their
palms uppermost, he exclaimed, 'O Allah, whatever is, thou art it.' Then
addressing himself to me, he said, 'Yes, my son, such is the world, and
such will it ever be, as long as man shuts not up his heart from all
human desires. Want nothing, seek nothing, and nothing will seek you.'

'How long have you been a Sufi' said I, 'that you talk after this
manner? I can speak on that subject also, since my evil star led me to
Kom, but now I am engrossed with other matters.' I then informed him of
the object of my visit, and requested him to tell me what he knew of my
father's concerns. Upon this question he coughed, and, making up a face
of great wisdom, went through a long string of oaths and professions,
and finished by repeating what I had heard from my mother; namely, that
he believed my father to have died possessed of no (nagd) ready cash
(for that, after all, was the immediate object of my search); and what
his other property was, he reminded me that I knew as well as himself.

I remained mute for some time with disappointment, and then expressed
my surprise in strong terms. My father, I was aware, was too good a
Mussulman to have lent out his money upon interest, for I recollected a
circumstance, when I was quite a youth, which proved it. Osman Aga, my
first master, wanting to borrow a sum from him, for which he offered
an enormous interest, my father put his conscience into the hands of
a rigid mollah, who told him that the precepts of the Koran entirely
forbade it. Whether since that time he had relaxed his principles, I
could not say; but I was assured that he always set his face against the
unlawful practice of taking interest, and that he died, as he had lived,
a perfect model of a true believer.

I left the mosque in no very agreeable mood, and took my way to the spot
where I had made my first appearance in life, namely, my father's shop,
turning over in my mind as I went what steps I should take to secure
a future livelihood. To remain at Ispahan was out of the question--the
place and the inhabitants were odious to me; therefore, it was only left
me to dispose of everything that was now my own, and to return to
the capital, which, after all, I knew to be the best market for an
adventurer like myself. However, I could not relinquish the thought that
my father had died possessed of some ready money, and suspicions would
haunt my mind, in spite of me, that foul play