d the hem of His robe.

The tumultuous enthusiasm of the people of Isfahan was meanwhile visibly
increasing. Crowds of people, some impelled by curiosity, others eager to
discover the truth, still others anxious to be healed of their
infirmities, flocked from every quarter of the city to the house of the
Imam-Jum'ih. The wise and judicious Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an could not resist
the temptation of visiting so strange, so intriguing a Personage. Before a
brilliant assemblage of the most accomplished divines he, a Georgian by
origin and a Christian by birth, requested the Bab to expound and
demonstrate the truth of Muhammad's specific mission. To this request,
which those present had felt compelled to decline, the Bab readily
responded. In less than two hours, and in the space of fifty pages, He had
not only revealed a minute, a vigorous and original dissertation on this
noble theme, but had also linked it with both the coming of the Qa'im and
the return of the Imam Husayn--an exposition that prompted Manu_ch_ihr
_Kh_an to declare before that gathering his faith in the Prophet of Islam,
as well as his recognition of the supernatural gifts with which the Author
of so convincing a treatise was endowed.

These evidences of the growing ascendancy exercised by an unlearned Youth
on the governor and the people of a city rightly regarded as one of the
strongholds of _Sh_i'ah Islam, alarmed the ecclesiastical authorities.
Refraining from any act of open hostility which they knew full well would
defeat their purpose, they sought, by encouraging the circulation of the
wildest rumors, to induce the Grand Vizir of the _Sh_ah to save a
situation that was growing hourly more acute and menacing. The popularity
enjoyed by the Bab, His personal prestige, and the honors accorded Him by
His countrymen, had now reached their high watermark. The shadows of an
impending doom began to fast gather about Him. A series of tragedies from
then on followed in rapid sequence destined to culminate in His own death
and the apparent extinction of the influence of His Faith.

The overbearing and crafty Haji Mirza Aqasi, fearful lest the sway of the
Bab encompass his sovereign and thus seal his own doom, was aroused as
never before. Prompted by a suspicion that the Bab possessed the secret
sympathies of the Mu'tamid, and well aware of the confidence reposed in
him by the _Sh_ah, he severely upbraided the Imam-Jum'ih for the neglect
of his sacred duty. He, at t