My grandfather had many colored maids and servants. When the Blessed Perfection became the head of the family He liberated all of them, and gave them permission to leave or stay, but if they desired to remain it would, of course, be in a different manner. However, all of them, revelling in their newfound freedom preferred to leave, except Isfandiyar, who remained in the household and continued to serve us with proverbial faithfulness and chastity.
Then when Bahá'u'lláh became known as a Bábí, and He was teaching many people, the populace rose against Him, and with the tacit consent of the government, our house was pillaged and ransacked. My Father was put into prison and we were persecuted on all sides. For days the rabble in their fanatical fury and rage threw stones into our house, broke the windows and damaged everything. At that time I was probably six or seven years old. Everybody had left us, and our family then consisted of my mother, my sister (the Greatest Holy Leaf) and Aqa Mussa.[Bahá’u’lláh’s faithful brother] Fearing that the stones thrown into the house might hit one of us, my mother set out and rented a small house in an entirely different quarter of the city, and for fear of recognition she carried us safely to our new, humble quarters by night.
On the other hand, the enemies of my father, who had poisoned the mind of the Shah by saying that He harbored secret plans against the throne, were convinced that Isfandiyar was the guardian of all the secret plans of Bahá'u'lláh. Therefore, they imagined that if once they laid their hands on Isfandiyar they would force out of him everything, and then be able to substantiate their vague accusations with these solid facts. Hence they commissioned one hundred and fifty policemen to find him and bring him before them. Isfandiyar had a chum with whom he passed most of his time. At first they tried to get hold of his chum, thus he might divulge the hiding-place of Isfandiyar, but they failed in their purpose.
