ANNA CALLED UPON HER NEIGHBORS ONE BY ONE, INTRODUCING herself and her profession. Several of them already had physicians they chose to consult, but she had expected that. She told them that she specialized in complaints of the skin, especially burns, and of the lungs, then left without pressing the issue.

She also shopped for various household items of as good a quality as she could afford, buying them from smaller shops within two or three streets of her house. Here she also introduced herself and told them of her own skills. For the favor of recommending their wares, they were willing to recommend her to their customers.

In the second week she gained only two consultations, and they were for ailments so slight as to require only a simple potion to ease itching and heat. After the busy practice she had inherited from her father in Nicea, it seemed so small. She had to struggle to keep up her spirits in front of Leo and Simonis.

The third week was better. She was called to an accident in the street in which an elderly man had been knocked over and his legs badly scraped. The boy who came for her described the damage vividly enough that she knew what lotions and ointments to take with her, and herbs for shock and pain. Within half an hour the old man felt markedly better, and by the following day he was speaking her praises. Word spread. In the succeeding days, the number of patients tripled.

Now she could no longer put it off; she must begin to search for information.

The obvious place to begin was with Bishop Constantine, through whose help Justinian had sent his last letter. He had written of the bishop many times previously, telling her of his loyalty to the Orthodox faith, his courage in the cause of resistance against Rome, and his personal kindness to Justinian, then a stranger in the city.