d-gold
hair fell over her shoulders, and through the hair gleamed a golden
bracelet with an emerald snake, which encircled her left arm.

The woman saw it and screamed:

"Ha! by the God of the faithful! It was thou--thou thyself! _His_
Queen--his _wife_ has betrayed him! He shall know it! Curses upon
thee!"

With a piercing cry, Mataswintha fell back upon her couch and buried
her face in the cushions.

The scream brought Aspa from the adjoining room. But when she entered,
the Queen was alone.

The curtain of the door still rustled. The beggar had disappeared.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The next morning Procopius, Johannes, Demetrius, Bessas, Acacius,
Vitalius, and many other Byzantine leaders arrived in the city, and, to
the great astonishment of the Ravennese, entered the King's palace.

They assembled there to take counsel as to particular stipulations, and
to decide upon the form of surrender.

Meanwhile the Goths heard only that peace was concluded. The two
principal considerations, for the sake of which they had endured all
the grievous war, were obtained. They would be free, and remain in
undisturbed possession of the lovely Southland, which had become so
dear to them. That was far more than could have been expected,
considering the desperate state at which the Gothic cause had arrived
since the retreat from Rome and the inevitable loss of Ravenna; and the
heads of the great families, and other influential men in the army, who
were now made acquainted with the intentions of Belisarius, were
completely satisfied with the conditions agreed upon.

The few who refused acquiescence were freely allowed to depart from
Ravenna and Italy.

But, apart from this, the Gothic army in Ravenna had already been
dispersed in all directions.

Witichis saw that it was impossible to feed the Gothic army and the
population, as well as the hosts of Belisarius, from the produce of the
exhausted land; he therefore agreed to the proposal of Belisarius, that
the Goths, in companies of a hundred or a thousand, should be led out
of the gates of the city and dismissed in all directions to their
native places.

Belisarius feared the outbreak of despair when the terrible treachery
practised should become known, and he therefore wished for the speedy
dispersal of the disbanded army. Once in Ravenna, he hoped to be able
to quell any possible rebellion in the open country without difficulty.

Tarvisium, Ve