roofs surmounted by crosses, while around, in bold early Gothic letters,
ran the inscription

+ S. BENEDITI . ABBATIS . SANTI . AMBROSII . D'RANCIA +

Slowly and with great care his fingers travelled over the raised letters
and design of the oval cast. Then, having also examined the battered old
bronze matrix, he said, "A most excellent specimen, and in first-class
preservation, too! I wonder where it has been found? In Italy, without
doubt."

"What do you make it out to be, dad?" asked the girl, seated in the
chair at his side and as interested in the little antiquity as he was
himself.

"Thirteenth century, my dear--early thirteenth century," he declared
without hesitation. "Genuine, quite genuine, no doubt. The matrix shows
signs of considerable wear. Is there much patina upon it?" he asked.

She turned it over, displaying that thick green corrosion which bronze
acquires only by great age.

"Yes, quite a lot, dad. The raised portion at the back is pierced by a
hole very much worn."

"Worn by the thong by which it was attached to the girdle of successive
abbots through centuries," he declared. "From its inscription, it is the
seal of the Abbot Benedict of the Monastery of St. Ambrose, of Rancia,
in Lombardy. Let me think, now. We should find the history of that house
probably in Sassolini's _Memorials_. Will you get it down, dear?--top