could always look at her own reflection, and woe to
Elpis if she were too late in turning!

"What is there to buy, Zephyris?" the Empress asked a dark-skinned
Lybian freed-woman, who just then brought her a tame snake to caress,
which lay in a small basket upon soft moss.

"Oh, nothing particular," answered the Lybian. "Come, Glauke," she
added, taking a snowy white chlamys, embroidered with gold, from a
clothes-press, and carefully spreading it out upon her arms, waited
until Glauke took it from her, and, at one throw, arranged it in
graceful folds upon the shoulders of the Empress, clasping it with the
white girdle, and fastening one end upon her pearly shoulder with a
golden brooch, which, formed in the shape of the dove of Venus, now
represented the sign of the Holy Ghost.

Glauke, the daughter of an Athenian sculptor, had studied the folds of
the chlamys for years, and for this reason had been bought by the
Empress at a cost of many thousand solidi. The whole day long this was
her sole occupation.

"Sweet-scented soap-balls," said Zephyris, "have just arrived from
Spain. A new Milesian fairy-tale has just come out. And the old
Egyptian is there again, with his Nile-water," she added in a low tone;
"he says it is unfailing. The Persian Queen, who was childless for
eight years----"

Theodora turned away sighing; a shadow passed across her smooth face.

"Send him away," she said; "this hope is past forever." And, for a
moment, it seemed as if she would have sunk into a melancholy reverie.

But she roused herself, and, beckoning to Galatea, she went back to her
bed, took a crushed wreath of ivy which lay upon the pillow, and gave
it to the old woman, whispering:

"For Anicius, send it to him. The jewels, Erigone!"

Erigone, with the help of two other slaves, brought forward, with great
trouble, a heavy bronze casket, the lid of which, representing the
workshop of Vulcan in embossed figures, was closed with the seal of the
Empress.

Erigone showed that the seal was intact, and then opened the lid. Many
a girl stood upon her tiptoes to catch a glance at the shining
treasures.

"Will you wear the summer rings, mistress?" asked Erigone.

"No," said Theodora, looking into the casket, "the time for those is
over. Give me the heavy ones, the emeralds."

Erigone handed to her rings, earrings, and bracelet.

"How beautifully," said Antonina, looking up from her pious verses,
"how beautifully the white of the