"I shall use my full powers to convince Victorin that a general must preserve himself for his army."
"Schanvoch," my foster-sister remarked with a tremulous voice, "you always are the best of brothers!"
And looking towards her son, evidently anxious that none but myself be made aware of the anxious thoughts that struggled in her maternal breast, and her doubts concerning the firmness of his character, she added again, in a low voice:
"You will watch over him?"
"As over my own son."
After the young general issued his last orders, he alighted from his horse the moment he saw his mother, walked over to where she was, and said:
"The hour has come, mother. I have taken with the other captains the last dispositions on the plan of battle that I submitted to you and which you approved. I have reserved ten thousand men under the command of Robert, one of the most experienced chiefs, for the protection of the camp. He is to receive orders from you. May the gods look down favorably upon our arms. Adieu, mother. I shall do my best—"
Saying this he bent his knee.
"Adieu, my son. Come not back, unless you come back victorious over the barbarians!"
As she said these words, the Mother of the Camps stooped down from her horse and reached her hand to Victorin, who kissed it and rose.