rho[e:], and at the earliest
opportunity took steps to accomplish her design. It was, she knew, a
task of much difficulty, and one that required an intelligent and
confidential agent. It was also of the utmost importance that some sign
of identity should be exhibited as a guarantee of the good faith of the
agent. With this view the Empress one day, as she sat at her toilet in
the apartment described in our third chapter, thus interrogated her
freed-woman and namesake, Valeria Callirho[e:].

"Hast thou any token, child," she asked, "by which, should we find thy
father, he would be assured of thy identity?"

"I was despoiled of everything, your Majesty," said the girl, "by the
pirates by whom we were captured; except the clothes in which I stood.
All my rings and jewellery were rudely snatched away, and I never saw
them again."

"What is that little amulet I have seen thee wear?" asked the Empress;
"I think thou hast it now."

"Oh, that was so trivial and valueless," said Callirho[e:], "that they
either overlooked it or thought it not worth taking;" and she drew from
the folds 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 was inscribed the word, [Greek: S[O>]T[E>]RS[O>]T[E>]R], or "Saviour," and
on the other side the letters [Greek: KAL.D[E>]M[E>]T.THYG]--a contraction for
"Callirho[e:] daughter of Demetrius."

"Trivial as it is," said the girl, with emotion, "it is something which
I value above all price. My sainted mother, before she died, took it
from her neck and put it upon mine; and I hope to wear it while I live."

"You do not regard it as an amulet, or charm against evil spirits, I am
sure, like some Christians, who have not quite shaken off their pagan
superstitions."

"Nay, your Majesty, but as a symbol of our holy faith. Yet it might well
be a spell to keep my soul from sin, so sacred are its associations."

"I want you to give it to me," said the Empress.

"It is yours, your Majesty," said the girl, taking it from her neck, and
passionately kissing it. "To no one else on earth would I give it; but
from my best benefactress I can withhold nothing."

"I would not put thee to the pain of parting with it," said the Empress,
with a kind caress, "but I need it as a clue, to find, if possible, thy
father, and when found, as an identification of his child. I do not wish
to raise hopes which may be doomed to disappo