Robed in purple, and with a jewelled diadem upon his head, sat Alboin, and beside him, and now his chief counsellor, the traitor-bishop Paulinus, whose episcopal attire was stiff with brocade and gems. Disposed along the board with picturesque effect were the Lombard chiefs and warriors, all arrayed in gleaming mail.
The royal table glittered with a profusion of plate. The shelves of a carved oaken sideboard were filled with a variety of golden and silver vessels. The stage twinkled with so many dazzling points of light that it became hurtful to gaze too long upon it. All the Ravengar heirlooms were being paraded in this banqueting-scene, probably to impress the visitors with the extent of the Ravengar wealth.
"Are those jewels, and is that plate real?" muttered Idris, examining them through a lorgnette.
"All genuine, and not stage-property. I was once promised," murmured Beatrice in a dreamy manner, "I was once promised a moiety of that wealth.—I wonder, Cousin Idris, whether you will keep your word: for it is all yours, or soon will be."
Idris did not catch the last part of her utterance, but he had heard enough to understand whence came all this display.
"The Viking's treasure!" he cried in wonderment. "But that blue-gleaming cup that the earl is lifting to his lips!—that cannot be a sapphire: it must be coloured glass."
"It is a real gem, I assure you. Isn't it a lovely thing? There cannot be its equal in the wide world. And think of it! Ivar was on the point of selling it, and other rarities, but fortunately, Lorelie stopped him in time. But I'll reserve that story."
The walls of the supposed banqueting hall were hung with tapestry, sufficient in length to drape both the wings and the background. This arras, decorated with figures in needlework, was obviously very ancient, apparently one of the Ravengar heirlooms employed to give an air of antiquity to the refectory-scene.
It was somewhat difficult to obtain a clear view of this tapestry owing to the intervention of the banqueting-table and the picturesque figures grouped around it; but, bringing his lorgnette to bear upon such parts of it as were visible, Idris observed that one of its needlework pictures was subscribed with the words:—"Ormus Hildam Nubit."
"Orm weds Hilda," he muttered. "By heaven! that is the tapestry that once decorated the interior of the Viking's tomb!"