Valeria

ortunity took steps to accomplish her design. It was, she knew, a task of much difficulty, and one that required an intelligent and confident

et in the apartment described in our third chapter, thus i

d, "by which, should we find thy fathe

tes by whom we were captured; except the clothes in which I stood. All my

ve seen thee wear?" asked the Em

olds of her robe, where it hung suspended by a silken cord about her neck, a cornelian stone, carved into the shape of a tiny fish,[25] on which

I value above all price. My sainted mother, before she died, took it f

evil spirits, I am sure, like some Christians, who

faith. Yet it might well be a spell to keep my

ive it to me," s

eck, and passionately kissing it. "To no one else on earth would

clue, to find, if possible, thy father, and when found, as an identification of his child. I do not wish to rai

ng her mistress's hands and bedewing them with her tears. "I feel sur

te upon a scroll of parchment the following

Galerius C?sar-to Adauctus, Treasure

e a delicate and difficult mission. He must be of good address, and must be a man whom I

addressed the document to the Imperial Treasurer, she sent it by a soldier of the gu

"His Excellency the Imperial Treasurer." That officer was received with mu

your prompt attendance. Have you fo

o places him at your Majesty's service. Of his nimble wit and subtle parts, I can myself bear witness, a

might be presented. In a moment the chamberlain announced our old friend Isidorus. With bowed head and hands folded upon his breast, he stood on the

ould send thee, but thou shalt be wel

sty's disposal," said the Greek. "I shall deem

lirho?. "To find her sire in this wide world-that is thy ta

once seen can never be forgotten. If I find anywhere on earth aught resembling them, I shall n

ou a letter, with the Emperor's seal, to all the Roman prefects in Ita

gering look at Callirho?, who, with dilated eyes and parted lips, gazed at him with an inten

TNO

baptism, as an emblem of their holy faith. (See explanation of the symbol of the fish in last chapter, p. 82.