Excerpt from In Persia's Golden DaysIt is time however, to turn round and re-enter the hall, the great nobles of the State have now arrived. For them cushions similar to those on the dais have been placed round the hall, but with this difference, that they are unadorned save for a bunch of natural roses placed upon each of them. In the courtyard and in the hall itself the crowd is dense, the spec tators craning their necks and holding their hands to their ears in the hope of catching some strange utterance from within. Yes, it was a silent crowd, and there was good reason for its silence, for behind the royal judge stood a grim, gaunt figure, immov able apparently as a statue. It was the Ethiopian executioner, armed with a bright scimitar. At the royal nod the proudest head in all that great assembly would have rolled in the dust. Interest in the trial, tempered, perhaps, by the presence of that terrible figure, kept the crowd dumb, although it was by no means deaf.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.