em began to brighten slowly under a soft, clear light.
The moon, whose dull broad disk had risen among the evening mists
arrayed in gloomy red, had now topped the highest of the exhalations of
earth, and beamed in the wide heaven, adorned once more in her pale,
accustomed hue. Gradually, yet perceptibly, the vapour rolled,--layer
by layer,--from the lofty summits of the palaces of Rome, and the high
places of the mighty city began to dawn, as it were, in the soft,
peaceful, mysterious light; while the lower divisions of the walls, the
desolate suburbs, and parts of the Gothic camp, lay still plunged in
the dusky obscurity of the mist, in grand and gloomy contrast to the
prospect of glowing brightness, that almost appeared to hover about
them from above and around. Patches of ground behind the tent of
Hermanric, began to grow partially visible in raised and open
positions; and the song of the nightingale was now faintly audible at
intervals, among the solitary and distant trees. In whatever direction
it was observed, the aspect of nature gave promise of the cloudless,
tranquil night, of the autumnal climate of ancient Italy.

Hermanric was the first to return to the contemplation of the outward
world. Perceiving that the torch which still burnt by the side of his
tent, had become useless, now that the moon had arisen and dispelled
the mists, he advanced and extinguished it; pausing afterwards to look
forth over the plains, as they brightened slowly before him. He had
been thus occupied but a short time, when he thought he discerned a
human figure moving slowly over a spot of partially lightened and hilly
ground, at a short distance from him. It was impossible that this
wandering form could be one of his own people;--they were all collected
at their respective posts, and his tent he knew was on the outermost
boundary of the encampment before the Pincian Gate.

He looked again. The figure still advanced, but at too great a
distance to allow him a chance of discovering, in the uncertain light
around him, either its nation, its sex, or its age. His heart misgave
him as he remembered his promise to Goisvintha, and contemplated the
possibility that it was some miserable slave, abandoned by the
fugitives who had quitted the suburbs in the morning, who now
approached as a last resource, to ask mercy and protection from his
enemies in the camp. He turned towards Goisvintha as the idea crossed
his mind, and observed that