"Hear me, oh king!" she cried, earnestly--"hear me! I am small, and thou art great! Hear me, and save me even from thyself! I love another deeply, devotedly, truly; but even were that other dead, I could never love thee as thou wouldst wish to be loved--nay, as thou deservest to be loved. Mighty warrior! great and magnanimous king! unequalled conqueror! wilt thou debase thyself to contend with a woman? wilt thou degrade thyself to violate the sanctity of thy word, to wrong the innocent and the unoffending, to betray those who trusted thee, to destroy him who loved thee? Wilt thou risk being defeated by the strong and resolute heart of a girl like me? Monarch! I am not in thy power, but in God's! To God I will appeal against thee; and sooner than become thy bride, will give my spirit back to Him who lent it. Think not that thou canst frustrate my purpose, and debar me of my will. A camp has always weapons whereby my own life can be reached; no tent but has its cord; no banquet but has its knife. Not a tower of this city but affords me the means of defying the mighty power of Attila; and the flinty bed beneath yon window would, to me, seem a couch of down compared with thy bridal bed, oh king! But thou wilt spare me! thou wilt spare me! I know thy better thoughts and nobler nature. Thou dost but try me. Thou wilt still be just, and wise, and esteemed of all men! If Theodore be dead, tell me so; and I will vow myself to God--I can bear such tidings with calm grief; but never, never can I love Attila as Attila should be loved! Oh, let me reverence and admire him still! Force me not to see in him the pagan king--the destroyer of my country--the enemy of my faith--the slayer of my promised husband--the betrayer of his trust--the falsifier of his word--the tyrant of a woman whom he had vowed to protect!"
So rapidly, so earnestly, so vehemently did she speak, and at the same time so lovely did she look in the attitude of eager supplication, that Attila had neither time nor inclination to interrupt her; and, though admiration and tenderness were crossed by jealousy at the words of love which she bestowed on Theodore, and by anger at the daring terms she feared not to apply to himself, he remained silent for a moment after she had done, gazing on that splendid countenance and that beautiful form, awakened, as both face and figure were, into a thousand fresh graces by the imploring earnestness of her address.
"Take care," he exclaimed at length, "take care. Remember, love may be turned into hate; and the hate of Attila is a thing to be feared."
"Not near so much by me as is his love," replied Ildica. "Oh king! thou canst but slay me, and I fear not death. No torture that the cruellest tyrant ever yet invented is equal to the torture of the mind; and were I to wed Attila, could my mind ever be free from agony?"
"Why? why?" demanded Attila, fiercely. "Is it that this form is hateful to thee? Is it that this hand, which a thousand conquered kings have felt proud to kiss, is abhorrent in thine eyes?"
"No, no! oh no!" cried Ildica, taking the hand that he had partly extended, and pressing her lips upon it--"no, mighty king, far from it! It is that I love another with a love that death itself can never change. It is that our faith is different, all our thoughts unlike, that thou art the avowed enemy of my country. Yet all that were nothing compared with my love for another. Were he dead to-morrow, still would he live in my heart as vividly, as strongly as if I saw him every day. This is no vain dream, no idle fancy! I have known it and proved it during long, long years of absence; and I should but gaze upon thee and think upon him--I should live in the past and hate the present for his sake! Oh, mighty Attila! be generous, be noble! and command, by thine actions, the only kind of love that Ildica can yield thee. Heaven is my witness, that far from feeling towards thee with the cold abhorrence which thou seemest to think I experience--far from striving to hate thee even as the enemy of my country, and to regard thee with detestation, as many of my nation do--ever since that day when first in the plains of Margus thou savedst the life of him I loved, and didst free me and mine from terrible captivity, I have ever loved thee with deep veneration. I have thought of thee as at once mighty and generous, a conqueror, but a noble one, the enemy of my country indeed, but a great, a wonderful, a just, a lofty-minded man. Thus have I thought of thee, and thus has my beloved Theodore ever taught me to think, by word and by letter, by the tale of thy great deeds, and by his knowledge of thy noble nature."
Attila was evidently moved; and, folding his arms upon his breast, he turned his eyes from Ildica as if from some impulse of shame, and fixed them on the ground. The fair girl, however, saw that she had produced some effect, and she proceeded eagerly in that strain which had been thus far successful.
"Think, oh Attila," she exclaimed, "think what has been the conduct towards thee of him whom I so dearly love. I know not half of what he has done, for he boasts not of good actions; but sure I am that you have ever found him faithful, zealous, and true; and thou canst in thine own mind trace, as in a picture, all that he has done for thee and thine. Have I not heard, here in the camp, that he saved the life of thy youngest child, the beautiful youth whom they call Ernac? Have I not heard that in some battle in Gaul more than once he risked his life to defend that of Attila? Has he ever failed thee in the hour of need? Has he ever spoken to thee or of thee one unjust word? Has he ever betrayed thee in small things or in great? Has he ever been untrue to thee, oh king? And wouldst thou now betray him; wouldst thou make his life miserable who always sought thy welfare? Wouldst thou take that life which was risked to save thine own? Wouldst thou take his bride, the chief object of his existence, from him who, from the jaws of destruction, rescued thy beloved child?"
"No, no, no!" cried Attila, taking both the hands that she held out towards him in the act of adjuration--"no, no; I will not wrong him! Thou hast conquered! Whatever I may feel, however strong and burning be the passion that thou hast kindled in my heart, I will not take his bride from him who saved my son. Rise, maiden, rise! and set your heart at rest! If the son of Paulinus return to claim thee for his bride, his bride thou shalt be, and I will send ye together far from me, that the memory of these feelings may never be reawakened by the sight of thy beauty. A week hence is the utmost term that he allowed himself to return; I will add thereunto another week ere I see thee again, that I may not increase the fire that burns even now within my heart. If he be not then returned, Attila will cause diligent search and inquiry to be made, that his fate may be clearly ascertained. Attila will do justice to the son of Paulinus; but if he be dead, as in these times of trouble and of pestilence he well may be, Ildica will do justice unto Attila."
Her heart sunk at his last words; but she had gained so much already that she dared not risk all again by reply. All she answered then was, "God defend us both!" and covering her fair face with her hands, she gave way to the many mingled emotions that struggled in her breast--present relief--future apprehension--hope, never-dying, consoling hope--her dark, inseparable companion, fear--the agitation of a great struggle achieved; and the overpowering sense of success beyond her anticipations--she could not restrain them all--she gave way, and wept.