ow utterly forsaken I am,' said she, 'you would not
wonder as you do, that I, a stranger and a Roman, have sought you thus.
I have told you how lonely was my home; but yet that home was a refuge
and a protection to me until the morning of this long day that is past,
when I was expelled from it for ever! I was suddenly awakened in my
bed by--my father entered in anger--he called me--'

She hesitated, blushed, and then paused at the very outset of her
narrative. Innocent as she was, the natural instincts of her sex
spoke, though in a mysterious yet in a warning tone, within her heart,
abruptly imposing on her motives for silence that she could neither
penetrate nor explain. She clasped her trembling hands over her bosom
as if to repress its heaving, and casting down her eyes, continued in a
lower tone:--

'I cannot tell you why my father drove me from his doors. He has
always been silent and sorrowful to me; setting me long tasks in
mournful books; commanding that I should not quit the precincts of his
abode, and forbidding me to speak to him when I have sometimes asked
him to tell me of my mother whom I have lost. Yet he never threatened
me or drove me from his side, until the morning of which I have told
you. Then his wrath was terrible; his eyes were fierce; his voice was
threatening! He bade me begone, and I obeyed him in affright, for I
thought he would have slain me if I stayed! I fled from the house,
knowing not where I went, and ran through yonder gate, which is hard by
our abode. As I entered the suburbs, I met great crowds, all hurrying
into Rome. I was bewildered by my fears and the confusion all around,
yet I remember that they called loudly to me to fly to the city, ere
the gates were closed against the assault of the Goths. And others
jostled and scoffed at me, as they passed by and saw me in the thin
night garments in which I was banished from my home!'

Here she paused and listened intently for a few moments. Every
accidental noise that she heard still awakened in her the apprehension
of Goisvintha's return. Reassured by Hermanric and by her own
observation of all that was passing outside the tent, she resumed her
narrative after an interval, speaking now in a steadier voice.

'I thought my heart would burst within me,' she continued, 'as I tried
to escape them. All things whirled before my eyes. I could not
speak--I could not stop--I could not weep. I fled and fled I knew not
whither, u