eautiful marble table, upon which, in golden dishes, lay mouldy bread,
as hard as stone, and a few pieces of meat.

"It was the last horse in the royal stables," said Hildebad, "except
Boreas."

"Boreas must not be slaughtered. My wife, my child, have sat upon his
back." And Witichis rested his weary head upon both his hands. A sad
pause ensued. "Friends," the King at last began, "this cannot go on.
Our people perish before these walls. After a hard struggle, I have
come to a painful decision--"

"Do not pronounce it yet, O King!" cried Hildebad. "In a few days Earl
Odoswinth, of Cremona, will arrive with the ships, and we shall
luxuriate in good things."

"He is not yet here," said Teja.

"And will not our heavy loss of men be replaced by fresh troops when
Earl Ulithis arrives from Urbinum with the garrisons which the King has
summoned from all the forts of Ravenna, in order to fill our empty
tents?"

"Ulithis also is not yet here," said Teja. "He is said to be still in
Picenum; and if he happily arrive, then the greater will be the want."

"But the Roman city hungers too," said Hildebad, breaking the hard
bread upon the table with his fist. "Let us see who can bear it the
longest!"

"I have often wondered, during these heavy days and sleepless nights,"
the King slowly said, "why--why all this must be. I have ever
conscientiously weighed right and wrong between our enemies and us, and
I can come to no other conclusion but that we have right on our side.
And, truly, we have never failed in strength and courage."

"Thou least of all," said Totila.

"And we have grudged no sacrifice," sighed the King. "And yet if, as we
all say, there is a God in heaven, just and good and almighty, why does
He permit this enormous and undeserved misery? Why must we succumb to
Byzantium?"

"But we must not succumb!" cried Hildebad. "I have never speculated
much, about our Almighty God; but if He permits _that_ to happen, we
ought to storm heaven and overthrow His throne!"

"Do not blaspheme, my brother," said Totila. "And thou, my noble King,
take courage and trust. Yes, a good God reigns above the stars;
therefore the just cause must win at last. Courage, my Witichis; hope
till the end."

But the heart-broken man shook his head.

"I confess that I have been able to find but _one_ way out of this
error; one way to get rid of this terrible doubt of God's justice. It
cannot be that we suffer guiltless. And as our nation's