e
the most zealous advocate of war, has lately given her voice in favour
of peace."

"And what," asked the King, who had listened quietly, and with an
expression of countenance more threatening than anxious--"what
has procured me the honour of such a change of sentiment in the
circus-girl?"

"It is whispered that, becoming more and more anxious for the salvation
of her soul, the Empress desires to use all pecuniary means--not for a
war, the end of which she scarcely expects to outlive--but upon the
erection of churches, and especially for the completion of the church
of St. Sophia. It is said that she wishes to be buried with the plan of
this church imprinted upon her bosom."

"No doubt as a shield against the anger of the Almighty, at the
resurrection of the dead! The woman thinks to disarm her God with her
hundred churches, and to bribe Him with the sums expended. What madness
this belief engenders!" murmured Teja.

"We could discover nothing," repeated Julius; "for I cannot think the
shadow of suspicion which crossed my mind, perhaps the shadow of a
mistake, of any moment."

"What was that?" inquired Totila.

"That evening, as I left the palace at a late hour, thinking over
Tribonianus's unfavourable report, the golden litter of the Empress was
carried past me by her Cappadocian slaves from the quadrangle of the
garden where stands the Empress's palace. The trellised shutter was
lifted a little by the inmate of the litter--I looked up--and it seemed
to me as if I recognised----"

"Well?" asked the King.

"My unhappy protector, the vanished Cethegus," concluded Julius sadly.

"That can scarcely be," said the King. "He fell when Rome was taken. It
was surely a mistake when Teja thought he heard his voice in his
house."

"_I_ mistake that voice!" cried Teja. "And what meant his sword, which
Adalgoth found at the corner of the street?"

"He may have lost it earlier, when he hurried to the Tiber from his
house. I distinctly saw him conduct the defence of the chain from his
boat. He hurled his spear at me with all the force and steadiness lent
by intense hatred. And I struck him, I am sure, when I cast the spear
back again. And Gunthamund, that excellent shot, told me that he was
certain that he wounded the Prefect in the neck. His mantle with the
purple hem was found by the river, pierced by many arrows and covered
with blood."

"No doubt he died there," Julius said, very gravely.

"Are you such good Ch