f the commotion which
that faithless and rebellious company engendered she found herself
constrained to dissolve ties of family relationship, to sever
long-standing and intimate friendships, to discard lesser loyalties for
the sake of her supreme allegiance to a Cause she had loved so dearly and
had served so well.

The disruption that ensued found her ranged by the side of Him Whom her
departed Father had appointed as the Centre of His Covenant and the
authorized Expounder of His Word. Her venerated mother, as well as her
distinguished paternal uncle, Aqay-i-Kalim--the twin pillars who, all
throughout the various stages of Baha'u'llah's exile from the Land of His
Birth to the final place of His confinement, had demonstrated, unlike most
of the members of His Family, the tenacity of their loyalty--had already
passed behind the Veil. Death, in the most tragic circumstances, had also
robbed her of the Purest Branch, her only brother besides 'Abdu'l-Baha,
while still in the prime of youth. She alone of the family of Baha'u'llah
remained to cheer the heart and reinforce the efforts of the Most Great
Branch, against Whom were solidly arrayed the almost entire company of His
faithless relatives. In her arduous task she was seconded by the diligent
efforts of Munirih _Kh_anum, the Holy Mother, and those of her daughters
whose age allowed them to assist in the accomplishment of that stupendous
achievement with which the name of 'Abdu'l-Baha will for ever remain
associated.

With the passing of Baha'u'llah and the fierce onslaught of the forces of
disruption that followed in its wake, the Greatest Holy Leaf, now in the
hey-day of her life, rose to the height of her great opportunity and
acquitted herself worthily of her task. It would take me beyond the
compass of the tribute I am moved to pay to her memory were I to dwell
upon the incessant machinations to which Muhammad-Ali, the arch-breaker of
the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, and his despicable supporters basely
resorted, upon the agitation which their cleverly-directed campaign of
misrepresentation and calumny produced in quarters directly connected with
Sultan 'Abdu'l-Hamid and his advisers, upon the trials and investigations
to which it gave rise, upon the rigidity of the incarceration it
reimposed, and upon the perils it revived. Suffice it to say that but for
her sleepless vigilance, her tact, her courtesy, her extreme patience and
heroic fortitude, grave complications migh