Solomon.'

'Ah! I knew you would stop a moment--not for the ring's sake, of course,
nor even for the sake of one who once offered it to you.--Ah! and where
is he now? Dead of love, perhaps! at least, here is his last token to
the fairest one, the cruel one.... Well, perhaps she is right.... To be
an empress--an empress!.... Far finer than anything the poor Jew could
have offered.... But still.... An empress need not be above hearing her
subject's petition....'

All this was uttered rapidly, and in a wheedling undertone, with a
continual snaky writhing of her whole body, except her eye, which
seemed, in the intense fixity of its glare, to act as a fulcrum for all
her limbs; and from that eye, as long as it kept its mysterious hold,
there was no escaping.

'What do you mean? What have I to do with this ring?' asked Hypatia,
half frightened.

'He who owned it once, offers it to you now. You recollect a little
black agate--a paltry thing..... If you have not thrown it away, as you
most likely have, he wishes to redeem it with this opal.... a gem surely
more fit for such a hand as that.'

'He gave me the agate, and I shall keep it.'

'But this opal--worth, oh, worth ten thousand gold pieces--in exchange
for that paltry broken thing not worth one?'

'I am not a dealer, like you, and have not yet learnt to value things
by their money price. It that agate had been worth money, I would never
have accepted it.'

'Take the ring, take it, my darling,' whispered Theon impatiently; 'it
will pay all our debts.'

'Ah, that it will--pay them all,' answered the old woman, who seemed to
have mysteriously overheard him.

'What!--my father! Would you, too, counsel me to be so mercenary? My
good woman,' she went on, turning to Miriam, 'I cannot expect you to
understand the reason of my refusal. You and I have a different standard
of worth. But for the sake of the talisman engraven on that agate, if
for no other reason, I cannot give it up.'

'Ah! for the sake of the talisman! That is wise, now! That is noble!
Like a philosopher! Oh, I will not say a word more. Let the beautiful
prophetess keep the agate, and take the opal too; for see, there is a
charm on it also! The name by which Solomon compelled the demons to do
his bidding. Look! What might you not do now, if you knew how to use
that! To have great glorious angels, with six wings each, bowing at your
feet whensoever you called them, and saying, "Here am I, mistress; send