CHAPTER XVII.
The sound of approaching footsteps upon the sandy path startled herfrom her reverie. The step was so rapid and firm, that she did notexpect Athalaric. But he it was, changed in appearance and carriage;more manly, stronger, more decided.
"Welcome, welcome, Camilla!" he cried, in a loud and lively voice. "Tosee you here is the best reward for this troublous day."
He had never spoken to her so before.
"My King!" she whispered, blushing. She cast a beaming look upon himfrom her dark eyes, then the long and silky lashes fell.
"My King!" She had never before called him so, never given him such alook.
"Your King!" he said, seating himself beside her. "I fear you will callme so no longer, when you learn what has happened to-day."
"I know all."
"You know! Well then, Camilla, be just. Do not scold, I am notyrant----"
"The noble youth!" she thought. "He excuses himself for his most manlyact."
"Heaven knows that I do not hate the Romans. Are they not your people?I honour them and their ancient greatness; I respect their rights; butI must firmly protect my kingdom, Theodoric's creation, and woe to thehand that threatens it! Perhaps," he continued, more slowly andsolemnly, "perhaps its doom is already written in the stars. 'Tis allthe same. I, its King, must with it stand or fall."
"You say truly, Athalaric, and speak like a King!"
"Thanks, Camilla; how just and good you are today! To such goodness Imay well confide what blessing, what healing has come to me. I was asick and erring dreamer, without support, without joy, gladly sinkingto the grave. Then there suddenly came over me a feeling of the dangerwhich threatened this nation, an active anxiety for the welfare of mypeople, and out of this anxiety grew a warm and mighty love for myGoths; and this ardent and watchful love has strengthened and comfortedmy heart for .... a bitterly painful renunciation. What matters _my_happiness, if only my people flourish! See, this thought has made mewhole and strong, and truly, I could now venture upon the most daringdeed!"
He sprang up and extended both his arms, exclaiming: "Oh, Camilla! thisinaction destroys me! Oh that I were mounted and meeting a full-armedfoe! Look," he added, more calmly, "the sun is setting. The mirror-likeflood invites us. Come, Camilla, come with me in the boat."
Camilla hesitated. She looked around.
"The slave?" asked Athalaric. "Ah, let her alone. There she reposesunder the palm by the spring. She sleeps. Come, come quickly, ere thesun sets. Look at the golden ripple on the water--it beckons us!"
"To the Isles of the Blessed?" asked the lovely girl, with a shy lookand a slight blush.
"Yes, come to the Blessed Isles!" he answered, delighted, lifted herquickly into the boat, loosed the silver chain from the ram's head uponthe quay, sprang in, took the ornamental oar, and pushed off.
Then he laid the oar into the notch at his left hand, and, standing inthe stern of the boat, steered and rowed at the same time--a gracefuland picturesque movement, and a right Germanic ferryman's custom.
Camilla sat upon a _diphros_, or Grecian folding-stool, in the bow ofthe boat, and looked into Athalaric's noble face. His dark hair wasruffled by the breeze, and it was pleasant to watch the lithe andgraceful motions of his agile form.
Both were silent. Like an arrow the light bark shot through the smoothwater. Flecked and rosy cloudlets passed slowly across the sky, thefaint breeze was laden with clouds of perfume from the blossomingalmond-trees upon the shore, and all around was peace and harmony.
At last the King broke the silence, while giving the boat a strongimpulse, so that it obediently shot forwards.
"Do you know of what I am thinking? How splendid it would be to steer anation--thousands of well-loved lives--securely forward through wavesand wind, to happiness and glory! But what were you thinking about,Camilla? You looked so kind, you must have had pleasant thoughts."
She blushed and looked aside into the water.
"Oh, speak! Be frank in this happy hour."
"I was thinking," she said, her pretty head still averted, "howdelightful it must be to be steered through the heaving flood of lifeby a faithful and beloved hand, to whose guidance one could implicitlytrust."
"Oh, Camilla, even a barbarian may be trusted--"
"You are no barbarian! Whoever feels so tenderly, thinks so nobly, sogenerously controls himself, and rewards great ingratitude withkindness, is no barbarian! He is as noble a man as ever Scipio was."
The King ceased to row in his delight; the boat remained motionless.
"Camilla, am I dreaming? Did _you_ say that? and to me V 9
"More still, Athalaric! I beseech you to forgive that I have repulsedyou so cruelly. Ah! it was from shame and fear."
"Camilla, pearl of my soul----"
Camilla, who had her face turned towards the shore, suddenly cried out:
"What is that? They follow us. The court! the women! my mother!"
It was so. Rusticiana, aroused by the Prefect's terrible warning, hadsought for her daughter in the garden. She could not find her. Shehurried to the Temple of Venus. In vain. Looking around, she suddenlycaught sight of the two--her child, alone with Athalaric--in the boat,far out upon the sea.
Greatly angered, she rushed to the marble table, where the slaveswere just preparing the King's evening draught, sent them down thesteps to unloose the gondola, won in this way an unobserved momentnear the table, and directly afterwards descended the steps withDaphnidion--whom her angry cry had awakened--to the boat.
At this moment the Prefect and his friends, whose walk had also ledthem to this place, approached from a thick taxus-path. Cethegusfollowed Rusticiana down the steps and gave her his hand to help herinto the gondola.
"It is done!" she whispered to him, and the boat pushed off.
It was just then that the young pair became aware of the movement uponthe beach. Camilla stood up; perhaps she suspected that the King wouldturn the boat, but he cried:
"No; they shall not rob me of this hour, the happiest of my life! Imust sip still more of these sweet words. Oh, Camilla, you must tell memore; you must tell me all! Come, we will land upon that island, theymay reach us there."
And rowing rapidly, he pressed with all his might upon the oar, so thatthe boat flew forward as if winged.
"Will you not speak again?"
"Oh! my friend, my King--do not press me."
He only looked into her lovely face, into her beaming eyes; he paid nomore attention to his goal.
"Well, wait--there upon the island; there you shall----"
A renewed and passionate effort, when all at once a dull crash washeard; the boat had struck, and drove, shaking violently, backwards.
"Oh, Heaven!" cried Camilla, springing up and looking towards the bowof the boat. A whole volume of water came foaming towards her. "Theboat has burst! we sink!" she cried, turning pale.
"Come here to me; let me see!" cried Athalaric, starting up. "Ah! it isthe 'Needles of the Amphitrites!' We are lost!"
The "Needles of the Amphitrites"--we know that they could scarcely beseen from the terrace of the temple--were two narrow, sharp-pointedrocks, lying between the shore and the nearest lagoon island. Theyscarcely rose above the level of the water; with the slightest wind,the waves washed quite over them.
Athalaric knew the danger of the place, and had always easily avoidedit; but this time he had only looked into Camilla's eyes.
At one glance he saw their fearful position.
They could not be saved.
A plank in the bottom of the slightly-made boat had sprung; the waterrushed rapidly through the leak. The boat sank deeper and deeper everymoment.
He could not hope, with Camilla, to gain the nearest island or theshore by swimming. On the narrow point of the rock scarcely the feet ofa sea-eagle could have found a moment's resting-place, and Rusticiana'sgondola had only just pushed off from the land.
All this he had seen with lightning-like rapidity
, and he cast ahorrified look at Camilla.
"Beloved, thou must die!" he cried despairingly. "And through me!" Heembraced her passionately.
"Die?" she cried. "Oh no! not so young--not now! Let me live--live withthee!" And she clung closely to his arm.
The tone, the words, cut him to the heart. He tore himself loose; helooked about for rescue. In vain; in vain. The water rose higher andhigher; the boat sank more and more rapidly. He threw the oar away.
"It is over--all is over, beloved! Let us take leave!"
"No; we part no more! If we must die--oh! then, away with all therestraints which bind the living!" And, glowing all over, she nestledto his breast. "Oh! let me tell thee, let me confess to thee how much Ilove thee; how long ago--since--since first I knew thee! All my hatewas only bashful love. Oh, God! I loved thee already when I thought Iought to abhor thee! Yes, thou shalt know how I love thee!" And shecovered his eyes and mouth with hasty kisses. "Oh! now I will gladlydie. Rather die with thee than live without thee! But no"--and shesuddenly pushed him away--"thou shalt not die! Leave me here; go!swim--you can easily reach the island alone. Try; and leave me."
"No," he cried, in an ecstasy of joy; "rather die with thee than livewithout thee! After such painful doubt, at length joyous certainty!From this hour we belong to each other for ever. Come, Camilla,beloved, let us die together!"
A shudder of horror and delight, of love and death, shook their frames.He drew her to him, embraced her with his left arm, and lifted her uponthe steer-board of the boat, which scarcely rose a hand's-breadth abovethe water. Already he prepared for the fatal leap--when suddenly theyboth uttered a joyful cry.
Round a precipitous promontory which stretched far out into the sea, ata short distance, they saw a ship coming at full speed.
The crew had heard their cry, and, at all events, saw their danger;perhaps had even recognised the person of the King. Forty oars, plungedinto the water at the same moment by the rowers on the double deck,gave impetus to the course of the swift vessel, which rustled beforethe wind with swelling sails.
Those who crowded the deck shouted to them to stand firm; andpresently--it was high time--the prow of the bireme lay close over thelittle boat, which sank immediately after the endangered pair had beentaken on board the ship through the opening of the lower deck.
It was a small Gothic guardship. The golden rampant lion, the arms ofthe Amelungs, shone upon the blue flag. Aligern, a cousin of Teja,commanded it.
"Thanks, brave friends!" said Athalaric, as soon as he could findwords. "Thanks! you have not only saved your King, but also yourQueen!"
Much astonished, soldiers and sailors surrounded the happy man, whoheld the weeping Camilla in his arms.
"Hail to our young and beautiful Queen!" cried the red-haired Aligern;and the crew shouted enthusiastically, "Hail! hail to our Queen!"
At this moment the sailing-vessel rustled past Rusticiana's gondola.The sound of this joyous shout aroused the unhappy woman from thestupor of horror into which she had fallen when her two startledoarsmen had discovered the danger of the young couple in the sinkingboat, and had at once declared that it was impossible to save them.
On hearing this, she had sunk senseless into Daphnidion's arms. Now shecame to herself, and cast a confused glance around her. She was amazed.Was it a dream that she saw, or was it really her daughter who stood onthe deck of the Gothic ship, which proudly rustled past, lying on theyoung King's breast? And did really joyous voices cry, "Hail, Camilla,our Queen?" She stared at the passing vision, speechless andconfounded.
But the swiftly-flying ship had already passed her boat and drew nearthe land. It anchored outside the shallow garden-bay; a boat waslowered, the rescued couple, Aligern, and three sailors sprang into it,and soon they climbed the steps of the quay, where, besides Cethegusand his companions, a crowd of people had collected, who, from thepalace or the gardens, had with horror become aware of the danger ofthe little boat, and now hurried to greet the rescued King.
Accompanied by felicitations and blessings, Athalaric mounted thesteps.
"Behold!" he said, on arriving at the temple, "behold, Goths andRomans! behold your Queen, my bride! The God of Death has united us. Isit not so, Camilla?"
She looked up at him, but was terribly startled. The excitementand the sudden change from horror to joy had fearfully shaken thescarcely-recovered King. His countenance was pale as marble; hetottered and convulsively pressed his hand to his breast, as thoughsuffocating.
"For God's sake!" cried Camilla, fearing an attack of his old malady."The King is unwell! Quick with the wine, the medicine!"
She flew to the table, caught up the silver cup which stood ready, andpressed it into the King's hand.
Cethegus stood close by, and followed Athalaric's every movement witheagerness. The latter had already lifted the cup to his lips, butsuddenly removed it, and said, smiling, to Camilla:
"Thou must drink to me, as becomes a Gothic Queen at her court."
And he gave her the goblet. She took it out of his hand.
For a moment the Prefect felt as if on fire.
He was upon the point of darting forward to dash the cup from her hand.But he controlled himself. If he did so, he was irrevocably lost. Notonly tomorrow, as guilty of high treason, but at once arrested andaccused of poisoning. And with him would be lost the future of Rome andall his ideal world. And for whom? For a love-sick girl, who hadfaithlessly revolted to his deadly enemy.
"No," he said coldly to himself, clenching his fist; "she orRome--therefore she!"
And he quietly looked on while the girl, sweetly blushing, sippedsomewhat of the wine, which the King then drank to the last dregs.
Athalaric shuddered as he replaced the cup upon the marble table.
"Come up to the palace," he said, shivering, and threw his mantleacross his shoulders; "I feel cold."
And he turned away. In doing so he caught sight of Cethegus, stoodstill for a moment, and looked penetratingly into the Prefect's eyes.
"You here?" he said gloomily, and advanced a step towards him. All atonce he shuddered again, and, with a sudden cry, fell prone near thespring.
"Athalaric!" cried Camilla, and threw herself upon him. The old servantCorbulo sprang to her from the group of domestics.
"Help!" he cried; "she is dying--the King!"
"Water, quick! water!" called Cethegus, and he resolutely went to thetable, took the silver cup, stooped, rinsed it quickly but thoroughlyin the spring, and then bent over the King, who lay in Cassiodorus'arms, while Corbulo laid Camilla's head upon his knee.
Helpless and horrified, the courtiers surrounded the two apparentlylifeless forms.
"What has happened? My child!" With this cry Rusticiana, who had justlanded, rushed to her daughter's side. "Camilla!" she screameddesperately, "what ails you?"
"Nothing," said Cethegus quietly, examining the two bodies. "It is onlya fainting-fit. But his heart-disease has carried off the young King!He is dead!"
BOOK II. AMALASWINTHA.
"Amalaswintha did not despair like a woman, but vigorously defended herroyalty."--_Procopius: Wars of the Goths_, i. 2.