rds--sang. When the
tale ended, he waked as if from a dream, started up and laughed,
stroking my head: 'There! There! Now I've once more blown those saints,
with their dull, mawkish gentleness, out of your soul, as the north
wind, sweeping through the church windows, drives out the smoke of the
incense.' But they had taken no firm hold," she added, smiling.

"And so you grew up half a pagan, as Gelimer says," replied her
husband, raising his finger warningly, "but as a full heroine, who
believes in nothing so entirely as the glory of her people."

"And in yours--and in your love," Hilda murmured tenderly, kissing him
on the forehead. "Yet it is true," she added, "if you Vandals had not
been the nearest kinsfolk of my Goths, I don't know whether I should
have loved you--ah, no; I _must_ have loved you--when, sent by Gelimer,
you came to woo me. But as it is, to see you was to love you. I owe all
my happiness to Gelimer! I will always remember it: it shall bind me to
him when otherwise," she added slowly and thoughtfully, "many things
might repel me."

"My brother desired, by this marriage, to end the hostility, bridge the
gulf which had separated the two kingdoms since--since that bloody deed
of Hilderic. It did not succeed! He united only us, not our nations. He
is full of heavy cares and gloomy thoughts."

"Yes. I often think he must be ill," said Hilda, shaking her head.

"He?--The strongest hero in our army! He alone--not even Brother
Zazo--can bend my outstretched sword-arm."

"Not ill in body,--soul-sick! But hush! Here he comes. See how
sorrowful, how gloomy he looks. Is that the brow, the face, of a
conqueror?"

CHAPTER IV

A tall figure appeared in the colonnade leading from the interior of
the dwelling to the open doorway of the hall.

This man without helmet, breastplate, or sword-belt wore a
tight-fitting dark-gray robe, destitute of color or ornament. He often
paused in his slow advance as if lost in meditation, with hands clasped
behind his back; his head drooped forward a little, as though burdened
by anxious thought. His lofty brow was deeply furrowed; his light-brown
hair and beard were thickly sprinkled with gray, which formed a strange
contrast to his otherwise youthful appearance. His eyes were fixed
steadily on the floor,--their color and expression were still
unrecognizable,--and pausing again under the pillared arch of the
entrance, he sighed heavily.