CHAPTER XVI.
The heavy blow which the young King had so unexpectedly aimed at thewhole system of the Regency soon filled the palace and the city withastonishment, fright, or joy. Cassiodorus took the first decided newsto the family of Boethius, at the same time sending Rusticiana tocomfort the agitated Queen.
Overwhelmed with questions, he circumstantially related the wholeproceeding; and disturbed and indignant though he was, his admirationof the decision and courage of the young King shone unmistakablythrough his unfriendly report.
Camilla listened with eagerness to every word; pride in thebeloved--love's happiest feeling--filled her whole soul.
"There is no doubt," concluded Cassiodorus, sighing, "that Athalaric isour most decided adversary. He sticks to the Gothic party--toHildebrand and his friends. He will undo the Prefect. Who would havebelieved it? I cannot help remembering, Rusticiana, how differently heconducted himself with regard to the process against your husband."
Camilla listened attentively.
"At that time we were convinced that he would be the most ardentfriend, the most zealous advocate of the Romans."
"I know nothing of it," said Rusticiana.
"It was hushed up. The sentence of death had been pronounced uponBoethius and his sons. In vain had we all, Amalaswintha foremost,appealed to the clemency of the King: his ire was unappeasable. As Iagain and again besieged him with petitions, he started up in anger andswore by his crown, that he who again dared to petition for thetraitors, should repent it in the deepest dungeon of the palace. Atthat we were all dumb, except one. Athalaric, the boy, would not berepulsed; he wept and prayed, and clung to his grandfather's knees."
Camilla trembled and held her breath.
"And he did not desist," Cassiodorus went on, "until Theodoric, startingup in a rage, pushed him violently away, and delivered him to theguards. The King kept his oath. Athalaric was led into the castledungeon, and Boethius was at once executed."
Camilla tottered, felt herself sinking, and caught at a slender pillarnear which she was standing.
"But Athalaric had not spoken and suffered in vain," continuedCassiodorus. "The next evening, while at table, the King sorely missedhis darling. He remembered with what noble courage the youth had beggedfor his friend's life, when all men were dumb with fear. At last herose from his repast, at which he had sat reflecting for some time, anddescended in person to the prison, opened the doors, embraced hisgrandson, and granted his petition to spare the lives of your sons,Rusticiana."
"Away! away to him!" exclaimed Camilla, and hurried, unnoticed, out ofthe hall.
"At that time," concluded Cassiodorus, "Romans and their friendsbelieved that in the young King they had found their best support; andnow--my unfortunate mistress, unhappy mother!" and with this lamentupon his lips, he departed.
Rusticiana sat for some time as if stunned. She saw the foundations,upon which she had built her plans of revenge, totter; she sank into amoody reverie.
Longer and longer stretched the shadows of the towers across the courtof the palace, into which she was gazing. All at once she was roused bythe firm footsteps of a man; Cethegus stood before her. His countenancewas cold and dark, but icily calm.
"Cethegus!" cried the distressed woman, hurrying towards him; and wouldhave taken his hand, but his coldness repulsed her.
"All is lost!" she sighed, stopping short.
"Nothing is lost. Calmness is all that is wanting--and promptness," headded, looking round the room.
When he saw that he was alone with her, he put his hand into the foldsof his toga.
"Your love-philtre has done no good, Rusticiana. Here is another; morepotent. Take it," and he thrust into her hand a small phial made ofdark-coloured lava-stone.
She looked into his face with anxious suspicion.
"Do you all at once believe in magic and charms? Who has mixed it?"
"I," he answered, "and _my_ potions work."
"You!" a cold shudder ran through her frame.
"Ask no questions, do not delay," he commanded. "It must be done thisday! Do you hear? This very day!"
But Rusticiana still hesitated, and looked doubtfully at the bottle inher hand.
Then Cethegus went close to her and lightly touched her shoulder.
"You hesitate?" he said slowly. "Do you know what is at stake? Not onlyour whole plan! No, blind mother. Still more. Camilla _loves_, lovesthe King; with all the power of her young soul. Shall the daughter ofBoethius become the paramour of the tyrant?"
With a loud cry Rusticiana started back. That which, during the lastfew days, had crossed her mind with a terrible suspicion, now became acertainty; she cast one glance at the man who had spoken the cruelword, and hurried away, angrily grasping the phial.
Cethegus looked quietly after her.
"Now, young Prince, we shall see! You were quick, I am quicker. It isstrange," he added, "I have long thought that I was incapable of suchviolent emotion. Life has again a charm. I can again strive, hope, andfear. Even hate. Yes, I hate this boy, who dares to meddle inmy affairs with his childish hand. He would defy me--hinder myprogress--he boldly crosses my path--he! Well, let him bear theconsequences!" And he slowly left the chamber, and turned towards theaudience-room of the Queen, where he intentionally showed himself tothe assembled crowd, and, by his calmness, gave some degree ofconfidence to the troubled hearts of the Roman courtiers.
At sunset he went with Cassiodorus and a few other Romans--consultingabout his defence for the next day--into the gardens, where he lookedabout in vain for Camilla.
She, as soon as she had heard the end of Cassiodorus' report, hadhurried to the court of the palace, where she hoped to find the King atthe exercise of arms with the other young Goths. She only wished to seehim, not yet to speak to him and beg pardon at his feet for the greatwrong she had done him.
She had abhorred him, repulsed him, hated him as spotted with the bloodof her father--him, who had suffered for her father's sake, who hadsaved her brothers' lives!
But she did not find the King in the court. The important events of theday kept him confined to his study. His comrades also did not fenceto-day. Standing in thick groups, they loudly praised the courage oftheir young King. Camilla heard this praise with delight. Blushing withpride, she wandered in happy dreams about the garden, seeking thetraces of her lover in all her favourite haunts.
Yes, she loved him! Joyfully and proudly she confessed it to herself;he had a thousand times deserved it. What matter that he was a Goth, abarbarian! He was a noble, generous youth, the King of her soul!
She repeatedly told the slave who accompanied her to keep at adistance, so that she might not hear how she again and again murmuredthe beloved name.
At last she arrived at the Temple of Venus, and sank into sweet dreamsof the future, which lay indistinct, but golden-hued, before her. Shefirst of all resolved to declare to her mother and the Prefect thatthey must no more reckon upon her assistance in any plot against theKing. Then she would ask pardon for her fault with moving words, andthen--then?
She did not know what would happen then; but she blushed in the midstof her sweet reverie.
Red and perfumed almond-blossoms fell from the bending trees; in thethick oleander near her sang a nightingale; the clear stream glidedpurling past her to the blue sea, and the waves of this sea rolledsoftly to her feet, as if doing homage to her love.