truth concerning them,
seized Constantine and delivered him up to Irene. She, the mother who
bore him, caused him to be taken to the purple Porphyry Chamber in the
palace, that chamber in which, as the first-born of an emperor, he saw
the light, and there robbed him of light for ever.

Yes, Stauracius and his butchers blinded Constantine as I had been
blinded. Only it was told that they drove their knives deeper so that he
died. But others say that he lived on, a prisoner, unknown, unheeded, as
those uncles of his whom _he_ had blinded and who once were in my charge
had lived, till in Greece the assassin's daggers found their hearts. If
so, oh! what a fate was his.

Afterwards for five years Irene reigned alone in glory, while
Stauracius, my god-father, and his brother eunuch, Aetius, strove
against each other to be first Minister of the Crown. Aetius won, and,
not content with all he had, plotted that his relative Nicetas, who held
the place of Captain of the Guard, which once I filled, should be named
successor to the throne. Then at last the nobles rebelled, and, electing
one of their number, Nicephorus, as emperor, seized Irene in her private
house of Eleutherius, where she lay sick, and crowned Nicephorus in St.
Sophia. Next day he visited Irene, when, fearing the worst and broken
by illness, she bought a promise of safety by revealing to him all her
hoarded treasure.

Thus fell Irene, the mighty Empress of the Eastern Empire!

Now during all these years Heliodore and I were left in peace at Lesbos.
I was not deposed from my governorship of that isle, which prospered
greatly under my rule. Even Irene's estates, which Constantine had given
me, were not taken away. At the appointed times I remitted the
tribute due, yes, and added to the sum, and received back the official
acknowledgment signed by the Empress, and with it the official thanks.
But with these never came either letter or message. Yet it is evident
she knew that I was married, for to Heliodore did come a message, and
with it a gift. The gift was that necklace and those other ornaments
which Irene had caused to be made in an exact likeness of the string
of golden shells separated by emerald beetles, one half of which I had
taken from the grave of the Wanderer at Aar and the other half of which
was worn by Heliodore.

So much of the gift. The message was that she who owned the necklace
might wish to have the rest of the set. To it were added the words