The Queen was measuring the narrow apartment with hasty steps; all her usual repose of manner gone. She frequently threw an angry look at the beautiful girl, who, leaning against a marble table, stood quietly before her with downcast eyelids.
"Reflect well," cried Amalaswintha angrily, and suddenly standing still, "reflect once more! I give you three days' time."
"It is in vain. I shall always speak as I have done to-day," said Mataswintha without raising her eyes.
"Then tell me, what have you to say against Earl Arahad?"
"Nothing, except that I cannot love him."
The Queen did not seem to hear her.
"This is quite a different case from the other, when we would have had you marry Cyprianus," she said. "He was old and--which perhaps in your eyes was a greater disadvantage," she added bitterly--"a Roman."
"And yet I was banished to Tarentum because I refused him."
"I hoped that severity would have induced you to change your mind. For months I kept you away from my court, from my motherly heart." A bitter smile curled Mataswintha's lovely mouth. "In vain," continued the Queen. "I now call you back----"
"You err. My brother Athalaric called me back!"