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house, the time which he allowed to elapse between his discovery of the fatal secret and the execution of his vengeance and the sudden and treacherous manner in which he carried out his sanguinary purpose. Nearly a year[1] would appear to have intervened between Zubeideh’s malicious denunciation and the Khalif’s return from Mecca, whither he had betaken himself, under pretence of pilgrimage, for the express purpose of verifying her disclosures. Here he found out Abbaseh’s children and convinced by their resemblance to both parents of the truth of the story, caused them to be secretly conveyed to Irak, without letting any one know of the matter. With the Barmecides, meanwhile, he dissembled, showing them, if possible, more than his usual favour, till his return, when he halted at a place near Ambar, on the Euphrates, and after bestowing rich dresses of honour on the brothers and treacherously lulling to sleep any suspicions that Jaafer might have conceived[2] by insisting upon his giving himself up to conviviality in his own tent, what while he himself indulged in wine and mirth in the royal pavilion, suddenly, in the dead of the night, summoned one of his pages, Yasir[3] by name, and commanded him to go at once and bring him Jaafer’s head. Yasir, greatly shocked,
- ↑ Arabic historians are far from precise on this point.
- ↑ Jaafer appears to have had some presentiment of approaching danger, which depressed his spirits and made him reluctant to engage in the carouse to which the Khalif urged him.
- ↑ Some authorities name Mesrour, but Yasir was certainly the executioner, though Mesrour might have been present as his superior officer and chief “Sword of the Khalif’s Vengeance.”
