ace and the garden, and afforded an
open view of the latter.

Amalaswintha examined the nearest path leading to the Temple of Venus.
The way was open. Only the faded leaves fell rustling from the tall
pines on to the sandy path, where they were whirled about by the wind,
which drove the mist and clouds before it in ghostly shapes; it was
very dismal in the deserted garden, which looked grey and dim in the
twilight.

The Princess shivered. The cold wind tore at her veil and mantle. She
cast a shy glance at the heavy, gloomy mass of stone which she had left
behind--the building in whose precincts she had ruled so proudly, and
from which she was now escaping, lonely and fearfully as a criminal.

She thought of her son, who reposed in the vault of the palace. She
thought of her daughter, whom she herself had banished from these
walls.

For a moment her pain threatened to overpower the forsaken woman; she
tottered, and with difficulty supported herself by the broad balustrade
of the steps which she was descending. A feverish shudder shook her
frame, as the horror of despair shook her soul.

"But my people," she said to herself, "and my atonement---- I must and
will accomplish it."

Strengthened by this thought, she again hurried down the steps, and
entered an alley overhung by thick foliage, which led across the
garden, and ended at the Temple of Venus.

She walked rapidly forward, trembling whenever the autumn leaves, with
a sighing sound, were swept across her path from a side-walk.

Breathless she arrived at the little temple, and looked searchingly
around her.

But no litter, no slaves were to be seen; all around was quiet; only
the branches of the pines creaked in the wind.

All at once the neighing of a horse struck upon her ear.

She turned; around the corner of a wall a man approached with hasty
steps.

It was Dolios. He looked sharply about him, and then beckoned to her to
come.

The Princess hastened to follow him round the corner; there stood
Cassiodorus's well-known Gallic travelling carriage, the comfortable
and elegant _carruca_, closed on all sides with movable latticed
shutters of polished wood, and to which were harnessed three
swift-footed Flemish horses.

"We must hasten, Princess," whispered Dolios, as he lifted her into the
soft cushions. "The litter was too slow for the hatred of your enemies.
Quiet and speed; so that no one may notice us."

Amalaswintha looked back once more.

Do