She read with avidity; the contents of the papyrus seemed to entrance her; her finely-cut lips moved involuntarily, and at last she began to read aloud in a low voice:
"His child to Hector of the brazen helm
Was given in marriage; she it was who now
Met him, and by her side the nurse, who bore
Clasped to her breast, his all-unconscious child,
Hector's loved infant, fair as morning star;
Silent he smiled as on his boy he gazed,
But at his side, Andromache in tears,
Hung on his arm, and thus the chief addressed:
'Dear lord, thy dauntless spirit will work thy doom;
Nor hast thou pity on this thy helpless child,
Or me, forlorn to lie thy widow soon:
For thee will all the Greeks with force combined
Assail and slay: for me, 'twere better far,
Of thee bereft, to lie beneath the sod;
Nor comfort shall be mine, if thou be lost,
But endless grief: to me nor sire is left,
Nor honoured mother;
But, Hector, thou to me art all in one,
Sire, mother, brethren! thou, my wedded love!'"
She read no further; her large eyes grew moist; her voice died away; her head sank upon her bosom.
"Valeria!" said a mild voice, and Cassiodorus bent forward over her shoulder; "tears upon the book of comfort! But what do I see--the 'Iliad?' Child, I gave you the Evangelists!"
"Pardon me, Cassiodorus; my heart clings to other gods than yours. You cannot imagine how, the more the shadow of earnest self-denial presses upon me since I entered these walls, the more tenaciously my resisting heart holds fast to the last ties that bind me to the world. And my mind vacillates between disgust and love."
At this moment a loud and cheerful sound broke the silence; a strange tone in these quiet precincts, which usually echoed only the low choral of the nuns.
Trumpets sounded the merry signal of the Gothic horsemen. The tones penetrated Valerians heart with a life-giving feeling. The gatekeeper came running from the dwelling-house.
"Master," he cried, "bold horsemen are outside the gate. They make a noise and demand meat and drink. They will not be refused, and their leader--there he is!"
"Totila!" cried Valeria, and flew to meet her lover, who appeared in his glittering armour and white mantle. "Oh, you bring me air and life!"
"And new hope and old love!" said Totila, and held her in a fast embrace.