Veranilda

turned to the East, Carrying captive a Gothic king. The cities of the conquered land were garrisoned by barbarians of many tongues, who bore the name

perished; reduced to a wandering tribe, the nation which alone of her invaders had given peace and hope to Italy, which alone had reverenced and upheld the laws, polity, culture of Rome, would soon, it was thought, be utterly destroyed, or vanish in flight beyond the Alps. Yet war did not come to an end. In the plain of the great river there

in the heavy air of the Tiber, was permitted to seek relief in a visit to which he would of his domains in Italy. His birth, his repute, gave warrant of loyalty to the empire, and his coffers furnished the price put upon such a favour by Byzantine greed. Maximus chose for refuge his villa by the Campanian shore, vast, beautiful, half in ruin, whi

he longed to see and to pardon ere he died. For Aurelia, widowed of her first husband in early youth, had used her liberty to love and wed a flaxen-haired barbarian, a lord of the Goths; and, worse still, had renounced the Catholic faith for the religion of the Gothic people, that heresy of Arianism condemned and abhorred by Rome. In Consequence she became an outcast from her kith and kin. Her husband commanded in the city of Cumae, hard by Neapolis. When this stronghold fell before the advance of Belisarius, the Goth escaped, soon after to die in battle; Aurelia, a captive of the Conquerors, remained at Cumae, and still was living there, though no longer under restraint. Because of its strength, this ancient city became the retreat of many ladies who fled from Rome before the hardships and perils of the siege; from them the proud and unhappy woman, ever held apart, yet she refused to quit the town when she would have been permitted to do so. From his terrace ab

nk deep into his heart. If his look turned to the gleaming spot which was the city of Neapolis, there came into his mind the sack and massacre of a few years ago, when Belisarius so terribly avenged upon the Neapolitans their stubborn resistance to his siege. Faithful to the traditions of his house, of his order, Maximus had welcomed the invasion which promised to restore Italy to the Empire; now that the restoration was effected, he saw with bitterness the evils resulting from it, and all but hoped that this new king of the Goths, this fortune-favoured Totila, might sweep the land of its Greek oppressors. He looked back upon his own life, on the placid dignity of his career under the rule of Theodoric, the offices by which he had risen, until he sat in the chair of the Consul. Yet in that time, which now seemed so full of peaceful glories, he had never at heart been loyal to the great king; in his view, as in that of t

d passed the latter part of the night. Whilst replying, as ever courteously-for in the look and bearing of Maximus there was that senatorius decor which Pliny noted in a great Roman of another time-his straining eyes seemed to descry a

d more abundant than her years could warrant-rose in elaborate braiding intermingled with golden threads; her waistless robe was of white silk adorned with narrow stripes of purple, which descended, two on each side, from the shoulders to the hem, and about her neck lay a shawl of delicate tissue. In her hand, which glistened with many gems, she carried a small volume, richly bound, the

e reverend deacon Leander. He disembarked yesterday at Salernum, and, after brie

ng his head, whilst his eyes watched

k freely with me of whatever concerns the interests of our holy Church, even as I think you remember, has now and then deigned-though I know not how I have deserved su

ious look, and spok

re permit him to pass mo

brother, will desire long privacy with the holy man. Hi

ingly rob you of a moment's conference with the good deacon. My own business with him is soon d

sanctuary, and your tomb be honoured among those of the greatest of our blood. But there is another honour that I covet for you, an

her, and, before she could resume

yet a da

onilla, troubled, confused,

is gone to Cumae to see Aurelia, and, if it may be, to lead her to me. Perhaps even now'-he pointed to the sea-'they are on the way hithe

tering what she thought. Gravely, somewhat coldly, she spoke good wishes for her brother's ease durin

as again heard announcing the lord Decius. The Senator

Did the oil fail you last night

a kiss on his kinsman's cheek. 'Had I but vigour enough, this morning would have seen me on a pilgrima

ame to myself for having lost the me

he had once burst into tears when reciting with passion the Lay of the Decii-felt content to owe his sustenance to the delicate and respectful kindness of Maximus, who sympathised with the great wrong he had suffered early in life. This was no less than wilful impoverishment by his father, who, seeking to atone for sins by fanaticism, had sold the little he possessed to found a pilgrims' hospice at Portus, whither, accompanied by the twelve-year-old boy, he went to live as monk-servitor In a year or two the penit

, dear lord, your true thought: is it indeed a prophecy of the Divine Birth? To you'-he smiled his gentle, beautiful smile-'may I not

My father held it a prophecy his father before him.-But forgive me, I am expecting a

e orders that the litter, which since yesterday morning had been in readiness, should at once be borne with all speed down to the landing-place. Sail and oars s

d, in reply to his kinsman's face of i

s should be selected to attend upon the visitor. This mission Decius discharged, not without trembling; he then walked to the main entrance of the villa, and stood there, the roll of Virgil still in his hand, until the sound of a horse's hoofs on the upward road announced the arrival of the travellers. The horseman, who came some yards

ins that had concealed her, she stood before him. A woman still young, and of bearing which became her birth; a woman who would have had much grace, much charm, but for the passion whi

she stood holding by the litter, glancing

from the couch. 'By the blessed martyr Pancratius, I swear that no harm shall befall you,

was wet with tears. She stepped nearer to him, took his thin, hot hand, and, as in h