forth at irregular
distances, in the Gothic camp. Harshly and fitfully the shrill call of
the signal trumpets rang from rank to rank; and through the dim thick
air rose, in the intervals of the more important noises, the clash of
heavy hammers and the shout of martial command. Wherever the
preparations for the blockade were still incomplete, neither the
approach of night nor the pretext of weariness were suffered for an
instant to hinder their continued progress. Alaric's indomitable will
conquered every obstacle of nature, and every deficiency of man.
Darkness had no obscurity that forced him to repose, and lassitude no
eloquence that lured him to delay.

In no part of the army had the commands of the Gothic king been so
quickly and intelligently executed, as in that appointed to watch the
Pincian Gate. The interview of Hermanric and Goisvintha in the young
chieftain's tent, was, consequently, uninterrupted for a considerable
space of time by any fresh mandate from the head-quarters of the camp.

In outward appearance, both the brother and sister had undergone a
change remarkable enough to be visible, even by the uncertain light of
the torch which now shone on them as they stood together at the door of
the tent. The features of Goisvintha--which at the period when we
first beheld her on the shores of the mountain lake, retained, in spite
of her poignant sufferings, much of the lofty and imposing beauty that
had been their natural characteristic in her happier days--now
preserved not the slightest traces of their former attractions. Its
freshness had withered from her complexion, its fulness had departed
from her form. Her eyes had contracted an unvarying sinister expression
of malignant despair, and her manner had become sullen, repulsive, and
distrustful. This alteration in her outward aspect, was but the result
of a more perilous change in the disposition of her heart. The death
of her last child at the very moment when her flight had successfully
directed her to the protection of her people, had affected her more
fatally than all the losses she had previously sustained. The
difficulties and dangers that she had encountered in saving her
offspring from the massacre; the dismal certainty that the child was
the only one, out of all the former objects of her affection, left to
her to love; the wild sense of triumph that she experienced in
remembering, that in this single instance her solitary efforts had
thwarte