When they had passed through, he turned towards the
windows of the harem, still chanting. For a long time he chanted. An
occasional servant came and went, but his voice ceased not, and he kept
his eyes fixed ever on the harem windows.
At last his watching had its reward. Something fluttered from a window to
the ground. Still chanting, he rose and began walking round the great
court-yard. Twice he went round, still chanting, but the third time he
stooped to pick up a little strip of linen which had fallen from the
window, and concealed it in his sleeve. Presently he seated himself
again, and, still chanting, spread out the linen in his palm and read the
characters upon it. For an instant there was a jerkiness to the voice,
and then it droned on resonantly again. Now the eyes of the holy man were
fixed on the great gates through which strangers entered, and he was
seated in the way which any one must take who came to the palace doors.
It was almost dark, when he saw the bowab, after repeated knocking,
sleepily and grudgingly open the gates to admit a visitor.
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