"What! Rusticiana? The friend of my youth? The wife of my Boëthius?"
"She is dead," said the son shortly.
The Prefect would have taken his hand, but Severinus withdrew it.
"My son! my poor Severinus! And did she die--without a word for me?"
"I bring you her last words--they concern you!"
"How did she die? Of what illness?"
"Of grief and remorse."
"Grief!" sighed Cethegus; "that I understand. But why should she feel remorse? And her last word was for me? Tell me, what did she say?"
Severinus approached the Prefect so closely that he touched his knee, and looking piercingly into his eyes, he answered:
"She said, 'A curse, a curse upon Cethegus, who poisoned my child!"