It was noticed by the members of the Mission that the King’s manner seemed to have changed since the outbreak, and that he was by no means so easy to please even as he had been. He cavilled at points which had already been definitely settled, and did his best to produce the impression that he considered the treaty extremely disadvantageous to Ethiopia. This was the more serious in that Jahan Beg reported the reappearance upon the scene of the Scythian agent, with larger presents and more abundant promises, and it was calculated to suggest that the King wished to irritate Sir Dugald into breaking off the negotiations. But long experience of the East had made Sir Dugald the most patient of men--in public--and his staff were astonished at the mildness with which he altered the wording of a clause again and again, without ever abating one jot of the concessions he had determined to obtain. His mingled tact and resolution carried the day at last. The treaty was agreed upon in its entirety, and after being engrossed on parchment by the King’s scribes, was read through to the Envoy, behind whom stood the interpreter Kustendjian, ready to mark the slightest deviation from the prescribed formula. There now remained only the actual signing of the convention, and it was arranged that Fath-ud-Din should bring the instrument, bearing the seals of the King and the Grand Vizier, to the Mission in the morning, there to receive Sir Dugald’s signature, after which the British expedition might take its departure peacefully and honourably from Kubbet-ul-Haj.