He smoked on till the coal was dead.

The girls waited patiently.

They knew that his silence meant that he was only marshaling the events in their chronological order.
"The king was a kindly old chap, simple, yet shrewd, and with that slumbrous oriental way of accomplishing his ends, despite all obstacles.

Underneath this apparent simplicity I discovered a grim sardonic humor.

Trust the Oriental for always having that packed away under his bewildering diplomacy.