That they were the same I knew, for the glass was labelled in my own writing and in that of the physician.

He cut away the sealed parchment which was stretched over the mouth of the jar.
"Now hearken you, Olaf," he said.

"It is true that I ordered fruit to be sent to that fool-Caesar, my uncle, because the last time I saw him Nicephorus prayed me for it, and I was willing to do him a pleasure.

But that I ordered the fruit to be poisoned, as my mother says, is a lie, and may God curse the tongue that spoke it.

I will show you that it was a lie," and plunging his hand into the spirit of the jar, he drew out two of the figs.