His hands were trembling, and the merchant at once desired his faithful
Rustem, the most harmless of mortals, to quit the room. The governor,
whose sensitive nerves had been liable to such attacks of panic ever
since an exiled Greek had once attempted to murder him, now soon
recovered his composure, and looked with great admiration at the hanging
round which the family were standing. They all confessed they had never
seen anything like it, and the vivacious Dame Susannah proposed to send
for her daughter and her visitors; but it was already late, and her house
was so far from the governor's that she gave that up. The father and son
had already heard of this marvellous piece of work, which had formed part
of the plunder taken by the Arab conquerors of the Persian Empire at the
sack of the "White Tower"--the royal palace of Madam, the capital of the
Sassanidze. They knew that it had been originally 300 ells long and 60
ells wide, and had heard with indignation that the Khaliff Omar, who
always lived and dressed and ate like the chief of a caravan, and
looked down with contempt on all such objects of luxury, had cut this
inestimable treasure of art into pieces and divided it among the
Companions of the Prophet.

Haschim explained to them that this particular fragment had been the
share of the booty allotted to Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law. Haschim
himself had seen the work before its dismemberment at Madain, where it
hung on the wall of the magnificent throne-room, and subsequently, at
Medina.

His audience eagerly requested him to describe the other portions; he,
however, seemed somewhat uneasy, looking down at his bare feet which were
standing on the mosaic pavement, damp from the fountain; for, after the
manner of his nation, he had left his shoes in the outer room. The
governor had noticed the old man's gestures as he repeatedly put his hand