evening at the home of Hadji-Semi. He has pressing business on which he wishes to consult you.
Aga-Merdan. You may tell your master that I will be there, and consent merely to please him. [Aga-Abbas and his sister retire.]
Scene VIII
Aga-Kerim. I do not understand where this messenger of the Prince Royal and this servant of the judge came from.
Aga-Merdan. I felt that the woman might be troubled with regard to the conditions which I imposed upon her. This is the reason why I bribed these individuals to deliver such messages in her presence. I did so in order that she might imagine me to be the friend of the Prince Royal and the boon companion of the President of the Tribunal, in order that she might recover her spirits. I was afraid that otherwise she would not dare to make her allegations at the hearing of the case, and so we should be nonsuited.
Aga-Kerim. By God, your idea was a happy one, but at the hearing of the case we must keep our eye on her. If possible we must manage that she gives her evidence after I have brought on the witnesses. You will promise her as her share 500 tomans; fifty in cash, and the balance later. The witnesses shall each have thirty tomans; fifteen in cash, and fifteen afterward. We will give up this sum after winning the lawsuit, in order that the inspector may not poke his nose into our business; but you know that the affair cannot be made to succeed without his aid, he is so crafty. You know he has already on one occasion detected our game. We cannot cheat him.
Aga-Kerim. Very good. I will go and see about it. [He rises from his seat to retire.]
Aga-Merdan. By the by, just stop one moment. I have an idea which I wish to communicate, and do not forget the hint. When you see the widow of Hadji-Ghafour, give her to understand, in one way or another, that she must not call me “father.” As sure as death you must attend to this. I don’t like the woman to address me by such a name as father, as if they thought it pleased me. What need can there be to call me by this title?
Aga-Kerim. Well! Well! Do not swear any more. I know what you are driving at. Let your mind be easy. I will tell her not to call you her father again, but to call you her lord. [Aga-Kerim leaves, and on his departure, Aga-Selman enters.]
Scene IX
Aga-Selman. Good-day, Aga-Merdan.
Aga-Merdan. Ah, good-day! Come now, how are things getting along?
Aga-Selman. I am intrusted with the defence; it is all arranged. But, tell me, what do you think is now to be done?
Aga-Merdan. I think we would do well to prepare the witnesses, and to take them to the court-room. What honorarium have you been promised?
Aga-Selman. They have promised me only 500 tomans; their witnesses, they say, are all ready, the course of the trial plain, and there is nothing either obscure or mysterious in it. I have expressed my satisfaction.
Aga-Merdan. You have done well; but you know that there is not much profit in defending a good cause. The widow of Hadji-Ghafour sacrifices 30,000 tomans, these 30,000 tomans will be for us two and for Aga-Kerim. Have you ascertained the names of the witnesses? Have you learned their addresses?
Aga-Selman. Yes, I have learned and noted all these things. These witnesses are four soldiers: Bedel, Quhreman, Ghaffer, and Nezer—all of Nerdji Street.
Aga-Merdan. I must send and fetch them, and impress upon them to testify exactly opposite to what they saw. But, first of all, you must go and find them, and beg them, on your part, to bear faithful testimony. As soldiers are willing but poor, much the same as wretched beggars, these men will ask you what present you intend to make them after the trial. “My children,” you must answer them, “in an affair like this, it is not good to ask for a fee. You ought to give in your testimony solely for the sake of pleasing God, and he will fully reward you on the day of the resurrection.”
Aga-Selman. Very good.
Aga-Merdan. You cannot guess even approximately what will be the testimony of these soldiers?
Aga-Selman. Oh, yes, I know that. They will declare that two hours before the death of Hadji-Ghafour they betook themselves to his home, and that he said to them: “I am dying; and have no one in the world surviving me but a sister. Bury me as soon as I am dead.”
Aga-Merdan. Very good; but they will have to change that, and say that Hadji-Ghafour had a little son one month old. Exert yourself now, and go after these soldiers. [Aga-Selman rises and leaves.]
Scene X
Aga-Merdan [alone]. Thanks be to God, events are turning out excellently. This is the time when Aga-Kerim is to bring his witnesses. [At this moment the door opens, and Aga-Kerim enters the room with the Inspector of the Market and four other individuals.]
Scene XI
The Inspector. Good-day, Aga-Merdan.
Aga-Merdan [to Aga-Kerim, without turning or recognizing the Inspector]. Good-day, you have found the Inspector?
The Inspector. No need to find him, for he was never lost. That was an odd question of yours, Aga-Merdan. I see that you do not yet recognize me.
Aga-Merdan [first of all leading aside Aga-Kerim]. Go and fetch Aga-Selman, and make him point out to you the soldiers he spoke of, then bring them to me. [Turns toward the Inspector.] My lord, present these gentlemen to me and inform me what sort of men they are.
The Inspector. Here is Hepou, a professional gambler, who arrived here from Ardebil yesterday; the next is the famous Cheida, of Quzvin, who keeps a bank during the day, and dissipates during the night; then follows Qourban-Ali, of Hamaden, who is Jack-of-all-trades during the night, a hosier in the bazaar by daylight, and lodges with me at night.
Aga-Merdan. God be praised, they are all honest people, of good standing. But the profession of Hepou is slightly open to suspicion. There will be some distrust roused by his presence.
The Inspector. Do not be alarmed. Hepou is an old fox who will fool anyone. Do you wish him to appear as a distinguished merchant he will present himself before you, and you yourself would not recognize him. You are doubtless unaware of the fact that he is of a race whose skill has been tested. He is the son of Heides-Qouli, whose foot was cut off. One day, Heides-Qouli was seen in the city of Eher. He traversed on foot two posts during the night, and reached Tebriz, stole from the house of the defunct governor a casket of pearls belonging to the latter, and returned to Eher the same night; at dawn, he was found asleep in the corridor of the caravansary. Everyone was astounded at this feat. It was only on account of the credit he got for it that he was not put to death immediately on detection. They merely cut off his foot and let him go.
Aga-Merdan. This, then, is the son of Heides of the docked foot? Very good; but we will change his name. All these men are well acquainted with legal procedure, are they not?
The Inspector. Let your mind be easy on that point; they are all educated; by my life, they could make slippers for the devil. There is none like them; every day they meet together and offer the Lord’s Prayer in the mosque.
Aga-Merdan. Very good. Do they know what sort of testimony they are expected to give?
The Inspector. No, you will have to teach them that yourself.
Aga-Merdan. Good. They must depose as follows: One evening at sunset a week before the death of Hadji-Ghafour, we were going all four of us to pay a visit to the houses of the dead. In passing before the house of Hadji-Ghafour we saw him standing at his gate and holding in his arms a babe in long clothes. We saluted him, and asked him how his health was? “Whose child is that?” we said to him. “It is my own,” he answered, “he was born three weeks ago. He is my only son; I have no other child.”
The Inspector [turning to the witnesses]. Do you understand, boys?
Hepou.