Philadelphus summoned a servant and instructed her to bring his wife. For a short space the three did not speak, though Laodice's lips parted and she stroked her forehead in a bewildered way. Then Salome, late actress in the theaters at Ephesus, came into the hall. Amaryllis bowed to her and the impostor gave her a chair. He turned to Laodice and with the faintest shadow of a grimace motioned toward the new-comer. "This," he said, "is Laodice, daughter of Costobarus." Laodice blazed at the insolent beauty who stared at her with curious eyes. "That!" she cried. "The daughter of Costobarus!" The fine brown eyes of the woman smoldered a little, but she continued to gaze without the least discomposure. "Who is this, sir?" she asked of Philadelphus. "That," said Philadelphus evenly, to the actress, "is Laodice, daughter of Costobarus." "I do not understand," the actress said disgustedly. "You are clumsy, Philadelphus, when you are playful. If this is all, I shall return to my chamber." She rose, but Laodice sprang into her path. "Hold!" she cried. "Philadelphus, hast thou accepted this woman without proofs?" Philadelphus smiled and shook his head. "And by the by," he asked, "what proof have you?" Up to that moment Laodice had burned with confident rage, feeling that, by force of the justice of her cause, she might overthrow this preposterous villainy, but at Philadelphus' question she suddenly chilled and blanched and shrank back. A new and supreme disadvantage of her loss presented itself to her at last. She could not prove her identity! Meanwhile, seeing Laodice falter, the woman's lip curled. "Weak! Very weak, Philadelphus," she said. "You must invent something better. The success of a jest is all that pardons a jester." "She robbed me!" Laodice panted impotently. "Robbed me, after my father had given her refuge!" "Of what?" the Greek asked. "My proofs--and two hundred talents!" "Lady," the actress said to Amaryllis, "my husband's emissary, Aquila, was a pagan. He had with him, on our journey, this woman and her old deformed father who fled when the plague broke out among us. She hoped, I surmise, that we should all die on the way. Even Samson gave up secrets to Delilah, and this Aquila was no better than Samson." Oriental fury fulminated in the eyes of Laodice. Philadelphus, fearing that she was about to spring at the throat of her traducer, sprang between the two women. In his eyes shone immense admiration at that moment. There was an instant of critical silence. Then Laodice drew herself up with a sudden accession of strength. "Madam," she said coldly to Amaryllis, "with-hold thy judgment a few days. I shall send my servant back to Ascalon for other proof. _He_ can go safely, for he has had the plague." Philadelphus started; the actress flinched.