Note Page 206 — VATHEK: AN ARABIAN TALE BY WILLIAM BECKFORD (continued 2)

The viziers, the officers of the crown and of the law, arranged themselves in a semicircle* about their sovereign, and preserved a respectful silence; whilst the Indian, who looked as cool as if he had been fasting, sat down without ceremony on one of the steps of the throne, laughing in his sleeve at the indignation with which his temerity had filled the spectators.