Queen? Speak! is she guilty of murder?"

"Guilty! guilty!" shouted many thousand voices, and not a voice said
"no."

"She is guilty," said the old man, rising. "Speak, complainant, what
punishment dost thou demand for this crime?"

Arahad lifted his sword towards heaven.

"I appealed against murder, I appealed against blood! She shall die the
death!"

And before Hildebrand could put his question to the people, the crowd
was filled with angry emotion, every man's sword flew from its sheath
and flashed in the sun, and every voice shouted, "She shall die the
death!"

The words rolled like a terrible thunder, bearing the people's judgment
over the wide plain till the echo died away in the distance.

"She dies the death," said Hildebrand, "by the axe. Up, soldiers, and
search for her."

"Hold," cried Hildebad, coming forward, "our sentence will be hard to
fulfil, so long as this woman is the wife of our King. Therefore I
demand that the Assembly at once examine into the accusation that we
carry in our hearts against Theodahad, who governs a people of heroes
so unheroically. I will give words to this accusation. Mark well, I
accuse him of treachery, not only of incapability to lead and save us.
I will be silent on the fact that, without his knowledge, his Queen
could scarcely have cooled her hate in Amalaswintha's blood; I will not
speak of the warning which the latter sent to us, in her last words,
against Theodahad's treachery; but is it not true that he deprived the
whole southern portion of the realm of men, weapons, horses, and ships?
that he sent all the forces to the Alps, so that the degenerate Greeks
won Sicily, and entered Italy without a blow? My poor brother, Totila,
stands alone against them, with a mere handful of soldiers. Instead of
defending his rear, the King sent Witichis, Teja and me to the north.
We obeyed with heavy hearts, for we guessed where Belisarius would
land. We advanced slowly, expecting to be recalled at every moment. In
vain. Already there ran a report through the places which we passed
that Sicily was lost, and the Italians, who saw us march to the north,
pulled mocking faces. We had accomplished a few days' march along the
coast, when a letter from my brother Totila reached me: 'Has then, like
the King, the whole nation, and my brother also, forsaken and forgotten
me?' it said. 'Belisarius has taken Sicily by surprise. He has landed
in Italy. The population join him. He presses