Numerian and Antonina in the garden when he
entered it. The girl had been carried there daily in a litter since
her recovery, and her father had followed. They were never separated
now; the old man, when his first absorbing anxiety for her was calmed,
remembered again more distinctly the terrible disclosure in the temple,
and the yet more terrible catastrophe that followed it, and he sought
constant refuge from the horror of the recollection in the presence of
his child.

The freedman, during his interview with the father and daughter,
observed, for once, an involuntary and unfeigned respect; but he spoke
briefly, and left them together again almost immediately. Humble and
helpless as they were, they awed him; they looked, thought, and spoke
like beings of another nature than his; they were connected, he knew
not how, with the mystery of the grave in the garden. He would have
been self-possessed in the presence of the Emperor himself, but he was
uneasy in theirs. So he retired to the more congenial scene of the
public festival which was in the immediate neighbourhood of the
farm-house, to await the hour of his patron's arrival, and to perplex
himself afresh by a re-perusal of Vetranio's letter.

The time was now near at hand when it was necessary for the freedman to
return to his appointed post. He carefully rolled up his note of
instructions, stood for a few minutes vacantly regarding the amusements
which had hitherto engaged so little of his attention, and then,
turning, he proceeded through the pine-grove on his way back. We will
follow him.

On leaving the grove, a footpath conducted over some fields to the
farm-house. Arrived here, Carrio hesitated for a moment; then moved
slowly onward to await his master's approach in the lane that led to
the highroad. At this point we will part company with him, to enter
the garden by the wicket-gate.

The trees, the flower-beds, and the patches of grass, all remained in
their former positions--nothing had been added or taken away since the
melancholy days that were past; but a change was visible in Hermanric's
grave. The turf above it had been renewed, and a border of small
evergreen shrubs was planted over the track which Goisvintha's
footsteps had traced. A white marble cross was raised at one end of
the mound; the short Latin inscription on it signified--'PRAY FOR THE
DEAD'.

The sunlight was shining calmly over the grave, and over Numerian and
Antonina