her a breath of the fragrance that
once stole over the senses of my first mother, Eve!'

Though she paused here, as if in expectation of an answer, the Goth
preserved an unbroken silence. Neither by nature nor position was he
capable of partaking the wild fancies and aspiring thoughts, drawn by
the influences of the external world from their concealment in
Antonina's heart.

The mystery of his present situation; his vague remembrance of the
duties he had abandoned; the uncertainty of his future fortunes and
future fate; the presence of the lonely being so inseparably connected
with his past emotions and his existence to come, so strangely
attractive by her sex, her age, her person, her misfortunes, and her
endowments; all contributed to bewilder his faculties. Goisvintha, the
army, the besieged city, the abandoned suburbs, seemed to hem him in
like a circle of shadowy and threatening judgments; and in the midst of
them stood the young denizen of Rome, with her eloquent countenance and
her inspiring words, ready to hurry him, he knew not whither, and able
to influence him, he felt not how.

Unconsciously interpreting her companion's silence into a wish to
change the scene and the discourse, Antonina, after lingering over the
view from the garden for a moment longer, led the way back towards the
untenanted house. They removed the wooden padlock from the door of the
dwelling, and guided by the brilliant moonlight, entered its principal
apartment.

The homely adornments of the little room had remained undisturbed, and
dimly distinguishable though they now were, gave it to the eyes of the
two strangers, the same aspect of humble comfort which had probably
once endeared it to its exiled occupants. As Hermanric seated himself
by Antonina's side on the simple couch which made the principal piece
of furniture in the place, and looked forth from the window over the
same view that they had beheld in the garden, the magic stillness and
novelty of the scene now began to affect his slow perceptions, as they
had already influenced the finer and more sensitive faculties of the
thoughtful girl. New hopes and tranquil ideas arose in his young mind,
and communicated an unusual gentleness to his expression, an unusual
softness to his voice, as he thus addressed his silent companion:--

'With such a home as this, with this garden, with that country beyond,
with no warfare, no stern teachers, no enemy to threaten you; with
compa