"King Witichis is a good soldier, but a poor psychologist. I know a much cleverer man, who yet, for a moment, believed it possible. Besides, you will bring proofs in writings and just now, forsaken as he is by the Franks--the water is up to his neck--he will snatch at any straw. Therefore I, also, do not doubt of success. Only make sure of Antonina----"
"That shall be my care. At mid-day I hope to enter Ravenna as an ambassador."
"Good--and do not forget to speak to the lovely Queen."
CHAPTER XVIII.
At mid-day Procopius rode into Ravenna.
He carried with him four letters: the letter of Justinian to Belisarius, the letters of the King of the Franks to Cethegus and Belisarius, and a letter from Belisarius to Witichis.
This last had been written by Procopius and dictated by Cethegus.
The ambassador had no suspicion of the mood in which he should find the King of the Goths and his beautiful Queen.
The healthy but simple mind of the King had begun to darken, if not to despair, under the pressure of continual misfortune. The murder of his only child, the terrible wrench of parting from his beloved wife, had shaken him to the very soul; but he had borne it all in the hope of securing victory to the Goths.
And now this victory obstinately tarried.