Valerius. A Roman Story

  _CHAPTER VI._

  I awoke early, and drew near to the bed of Sextus; but seeing that he wasfast asleep, and that a quiet smile was on his lips, I could not think ofawakening him. The sun shone bright into the apartment, and I resolved towalk forth and breathe the balmy air of the garden.

  The moisture was still heavy on the green paths, and the birds weresinging among glittering leaves; the god-like statues stood unscathed intheir silent beauty. I walked to and fro, enjoying the enchantment of thescene;--a new feeling of the beauty of all things seemed to have beenbreathed into my soul; and the pensive grace of Athanasia hovered over myimagination, like some presiding genius of the groves.

  I found myself near the favourite grotto, and had stood over against itsentrance for some space, contemplating the augmented stream as it fellfrom the superincumbent rock, and regretting the ravage which the nightlytempest had made among the delicate flowers round its basin. Twice Ithought I heard the murmurs of a voice, and twice I persuaded myself thatit was only the rippling of the waters; but the third time I was satisfiedthat some person must be near. I passed between the water and the rock,and beheld the fair creature that had been occupying so many of mythoughts, kneeling far within the grotto, as it seemed, in supplication.To disturb her by advancing farther, would have been impious; to retire,without the risk of disturbing her, almost impossible; but I remainedthere fixed to the spot, without perhaps considering all these things as Ishould have done. The virgin modesty of her attitude was holy in my eyes,and the thought never occurred to me, that I might be doing wrong inpermitting myself to witness the simple devotions of Athanasia. "GreatGod, listen to my prayers," was all I understood of what she said; but shewhispered for some moments in a lowly and fervent tone, and I saw that shekissed something with her lips ere she arose from her knees. She thenplunged her hands into the well, by whose brink she had knelt, and turnedround to the light. "Athanasia, forgive me," was already on my lips; buton seeing me, she uttered a faint cry and fell prostrate upon the marble.I rushed forward, lifted up her head, and laved water from the fountain,till I saw her lips tremble. At last she opened her eyes, and after gazingon me wildly for a moment, she gathered her strength, and stood quiteupright, supporting herself against the wall of the grotto. "Greatheavens!" cried I, "in what have I offended, that I should be rendered thecause of affliction to Athanasia? Speak, lady, and say that you forgiveme."

  "I thought," said she, with a proud calmness, "that Valerius was ofRoman--of Patrician blood. What brings him to be a spy upon the secretmoments of a Patrician maiden?"--Then bursting into a tone of unutterablefervour, "Speak," said she, "young man, what have you heard? How long haveyou stood here? Am I betrayed?"

  "Witness, heaven and earth!" cried I, kneeling, "and witness every god,that I have heard nothing, except to know that you were praying. I haveonly seen you kneeling, and been guilty of gazing on your beauty." "Youheard not the words of my prayer?" said she. "No, not its words,Athanasia, nor any thing of its purpose." "Do you swear this to me, youngman?" "Yes, I swear by Jupiter and by Rome--as I am a man and a Roman, Iknow not, neither do I desire to know, any thing of what you said. Forgiveme for the fault of my indiscretion--you have no other to forgive."

  Athanasia paused for a moment, and then resuming more of her usual tone ofvoice, (although its accents were still somewhat disturbed and faltering,)said to me, "Valerius, since the thing is so, I have nothing to forgive.It is you that must pardon me for my suspicion." "Distress me not,Athanasia," said I, "by speaking such words." "From this hour, then," saidshe, "what has passed here is forgotten. We blot it from ourmemories;"--and with that, as if in token of the paction, she extended tome her hand. I kissed it as I knelt, and swore that all things were safewith me; but added, as I arose, "that I was afraid I should be promisingmore than I should be able to perform,--did I say I should be able toforget any hour, or any place, where I had seen Athanasia." "Nay," saidshe, "no compliment, or I shall begin to suspect you of insincerity." Iwas then about to withdraw from the grotto; but seeing a scroll ofparchment lying at the feet of Athanasia, I stooped, and presented it toher, saying, "I was afraid she might forget it." She took it eagerly, andsaying, "Of that there was no danger," placed it in her bosom, within thefolds of her tunic. She was then gathering up her black tresses, andfastening them hastily on the back part of her head, when we heard thesound of footsteps not far off, and beckoning to me to remain where I was,she darted from me, and in a moment vanished among the trees. I waited fora few minutes, and then stepping forth, beheld her walking at a distance,beside her sister, in the direction of the villa. They were soon lostamong the paths, and I returned alone into the grotto.

  I sat down beside the dark well, wherein she had dipt her hands, and musedin a most disturbed mood on all the particulars of this strange andunexpected interview. Every motion of her features--every modulation of hervoice, was present with me; I had gathered them all into my heart, and Ifelt that I must cherish them there for ever. From the first moment I sawher, my eyes had been constrained to gaze upon her with an interest quitenovel to me; but now I knew that she could not smile, without making myheart faint within me, and that the least whisper of her voice was able tobring tears into mine eyes. Now I thought of my own unworthiness, andcould not help saying to myself, "Why should a poor ignorant provincial,such as I am, be torturing myself with the thoughts of such a creature asthis?" Then, again, some benign glance of hers would return before me, andI could not help having some faint hopes, that her innocent heart might bewon to me by faithful unwearied love. But what always threw me back intodespair, was the recollection of the mystery that I knew hung over hermind, although what it was I could not know. That she had been sayingsomething in her prayers which could not be overheard without betrayingher, she had herself confessed. What could be this secret, so cherished indread, and in darkness?--A crime?--No crime could sully the clear bosom ofher innocence. No consciousness of guilt could be concealed beneath thatheavenly visage. But perhaps she had been made the confidante of someerring,--some unhappy friend. Perhaps, in her prayer, she had made mentionof another's name, and implored the pardon of another's guilt. Last ofall, why might it not be so, that the maiden loved, and was beloved again;that she might have some reason to regard any casual betrayal of heraffection as a calamity; and that, having uttered the name of her lover inher secret supplications, her terrors might all have been occasioned byher apprehensions of my having overheard it? And yet there was somethingin the demeanour of Athanasia, that I could not bring myself to reconcileentirely with any one of these suppositions. Had she feared that I hadoverheard any confession of guilt,--even of the guilt of another,--surelysome semblance of shame would have been mingled with her looks of terror.Had she apprehended only the discovery of an innocent love, surely herblushes would have been deeper, and her boldness less. Yet the lastsolution of the difficulty was that which haunted me the most powerfully.

  When I came forth into the open air, I perceived that the sun was alreadyhigh in heaven, and proceeded in haste towards the villa, not doubtingthat Sextus and Capito would be astonished by the length of my absence. Ifound them and the ladies walking under the northern colonnade, havingreturned, as they told me, from a fruitless search after me through almostthe whole of the garden. I looked to Athanasia, as if to signify that shewell knew where I might have been found; but, although I saw that sheunderstood my meaning, she said nothing in explanation. Sextus drew measide shortly after, and told me, that his father had sent to inform him,that our presence was necessary in the city before supper-time, to attenda great entertainment which was to be given that evening by the lady whosecause he had successfully pleaded in the Forum on the preceding day; whichlady, I now for the first time learned, was no other than the same MarciaRubellia, to whom his father was very anxious the youth should be married.The success of this pleading had increased very much the wealth of thelady, and, of course, as Sextus well knew, the anxiety of Licinius for thepropos
ed union; and to remain at the villa any longer, was, he said,entirely impossible, since he already suspected his father had not beenquite pleased with him for leaving the Forum the day before, withoutstaying to hear out a cause in which his duty, if not his inclination,ought to have made him feel so greatly interested.

  We bade adieu, therefore, to our kind host and the young ladies, notwithout more reluctance than either of us durst express, and readypromises to return soon again to the villa. We found Dromo and Botowaiting for us at the gate, the former of whom looked unutterable things,while the latter appeared to be as joyful in seeing me again, as if we hadbeen parted for a twelvemonth. The two slaves were mounted on asses, butthey led horses for our conveyance; so we mounted with all speed, and weresoon beyond the beautiful enclosures of Capito. As soon as we were fairlyout of sight of the house, Dromo began to ply Sextus with innumerablequestions about the result of the visit, all of them in bad Greek; that,as he said, there might be no chance of what passed being understood bythe Druid; for by that venerable designation, he informed us, theprimitive Boto had already come to be best known in the vestibule ofLicinius. "Ah!" quoth he, "there is no need for many words; I am sure myyoung master has not been behindhand with himself. If he has, it is nofault of mine, however. I put Opportunity into his hands, and she, youknow, as the poets say, has only one lock of hair, and that is in front."

  Sextus being very shy of entering into particulars, I found myself obligedto take upon me the satisfying of the curiosity of this inquisitivevarlet, which I did in a manner that much astonished Sextus, who by nomeans suspected, that in the midst of my own attention to the othercousin, I had been able to take so much notice of what passed between himand Sempronia. However, the gentle youth took a little raillery all ingood part, and we laughed loudly in unison at the triumphant capers whichthe whip of Dromo made his poor ass exhibit, in testimony of hissatisfaction with the progress which all things appeared to be making. Wereached the city about three hours after noon, and were told by the slavesin attendance, that Xerophrastes had gone out some time before, and thatLicinius was already busy in arraying himself for the feast of Rubellia.