er achievement; she was mistress
now, and her slaves and servants must obey her orders. At the same time
she remembered, too, to protect her large possessions from falling into
the hands of relations for whom she did not care; with a firm hand she
drew up a will in which she bequeathed part of her fortune to her uncle
Chrysippus, small portions to her foster-brother Anubis, and to Rufinus'
widow, to whom she owed reparation for great wrong; then the larger
half, and she owned many millions, she bequeathed to her dear friend
Orion, whom she freely forgave, and who, she hoped, would see that even
in the little "water-wagtail" there had been room for some greatness.
She begged him also to take her house, since she had not been altogether
guiltless of the destruction of the home of his fathers.

The condition she attached to this bequest showed the same keen, alert
spirit that had guided her through life.

She knew that the patriarch's indignation might be fatal to the young
man, so to serve as a mediator, and at the same time to ensure for
herself the prayers of the Church, which she desired, she enjoined Orion
to bestow the greater part of his inheritance on the patriarch for the
Church and for benevolent purposes. But not at once, not for ten
years, and in instalments of which Orion himself was to determine the
proportion. In the event of his dying within the next three years all
his claims were to be transferred to her uncle Chrysippus. She added a
request to the Church, to which she belonged with her whole heart, that
every year on her saint's day and her mother's they should be prayed for
in every church in the land. A chapel was to be erected on the scene
of her self-immolation, and if the patriarch thought her worthy of the
honor, it was to bear the name of the Chapel of Susannah and Katharina.

She gave all her slaves their freedom and devised legacies to all the
officials of her household.

As she sat for long hours of serious meditation, drawing up this last
will, she smiled frequently with satisfaction. Then she copied it out
fair, and finally called the physician and all the free servants in the
house to witness her signature.

Though no one had suspected the "water-wagtail" of such forethought,
it was no matter of surprise that the young heiress, shut up in the
plague-stricken house, should dispose of her estates, and before
night-fall the physician brought Alexander, the chief of the Senate,
to the garde