The King

16. The Russians Seek Contact

The British spies were busier than ever gathering information on the Persian cooperation with the French and the Russians. There wasn’t a single influential aristocrat who hadn’t been bribed by the British. And anyone with a bit of political ambition knew he wouldn’t be able to achieve anything without British support. Over the past fifty years England had also forged ties with the imams in the mosques and with tribal leaders in every corner of the country. Very little escaped the British.

The vizier also had his own information network. He knew, for example, that Mahdolia was planning a secret chat with the shah within the confines of the harem. He suspected that the meeting had to do with a sensitive issue. The informant who had passed that message on to the vizier was an old woman whose job it was to remove unwanted hair from the faces of the women of the harem by using a fine thread. She had seen the shah’s mother, fully veiled like one of the women of the harem, go into a room in the back of the building. The woman had hidden behind a cupboard to see what would happen next. Quite unexpectedly the shah came into the room. The old woman was so shocked she couldn’t remember what had been said. The vizier had to find out for himself, and he didn’t do that until it was too late — for him and for the country. Otherwise he would have learned that the conversation had unfolded like this:

‘What did you want to tell me?’ the shah asked his mother.

‘The Russian embassy has a message for you.’

‘From whom?’ asked the shah.

‘No names were named, but it’s probably from the tsar.’

‘What do they want to talk about?’

‘The content of the message is still unknown.’

‘Who is going to bring the message?’ he asked.

‘If the shah agrees, a highly placed Russian politician disguised as a merchant will come to Tehran with a group of tradesmen. He will want to speak to the shah on behalf of the tsar. Under no circumstances must the British get wind of this.’

‘What’s it all about?’ the shah asked again.

‘I have my suspicions, but it’s better to be patient and to hear the message from them first-hand,’ said Mahdolia.

‘Where can we receive them?’ asked the shah.

‘The best place for the meeting is the country house of Sheikh Aqasi. He is the most trustworthy person we know. I think we can gather in his albaloo garden. If the shah takes his harem along it will be seen as an ordinary outing.’

The shah was silent. The idea appealed to him.

‘May I arrange the meeting?’ asked Mahdolia.

‘Fine,’ said the shah.

Mahdolia took the shah’s hand and pressed it to her breast.

When Mahdolia was gone the shah walked back to the hall of mirrors and called for a hookah. He sat down amongst his cushions, and as he smoked he thought about what had happened.

His mother never let herself be used as a messenger unless it was a matter of the utmost importance. The shah decided to wait and not to inform the vizier.