"Paoli," he said, taking my hand and leading me to the window, "look!"
Look as I might, I saw nothing out of the way. Down below, three bricklayers stood on the pavement, talking quietly together.
"What!" said the Shah. "Don't you see those men standing still, down there. They have been there for an hour, talking and watching my window. Paoli, they want to kill me."
Repressing a terrible wish to laugh, I resolved to reassure our guest with a lie:
"Why, I know them!" I replied. "I know their names: they are decent working-men."
Muzaffr-ed-Din's face lit up at once:
"You seem to know everybody," he said, giving me a grateful look.
THE SHAH OF PERSIA