Emotions such as these he would have communicated to his companion, as they passed through his mind; but there was something in the fearful and ominous change that had occurred in her disposition since he had met her among the Alps,--in her frantic, unnatural craving for bloodshed and revenge, that gave her a mysterious and powerful influence over his thoughts, his words, and even his actions.

He hesitated and was silent.
'Have I not been patient ?' continued Goisvintha, lowering her voice to tones of earnest, agitated entreaty, which jarred upon Hermanric's ear, as he thought who was the petitioner, and what would be the object of the petition,--' Have I not been patient throughout the weary journey from the Alps?
Have I not waited for the hour of retribution, even before the defenceless cities that we passed on the march?
Have I not at your instigation governed my yearning for vengeance, until the day that should see you mounting those walls with the warriors of the Goths, to scourge with fire and sword the haughty traitors of Rome?
Has that day come?
Is it by this blockade that the requital you promised me over the corpse of my murdered child, is to be performed?
Remember the perils I dared, to preserve the life of that last one of my household,--and will you risk nothing to avenge his death?
His sepulchre is untended and solitary.

Far from the dwellings of his people, lost in the dawn of his beauty, slaughtered in the beginning of his strength, lies the offspring of your brother's blood.

And the rest--the two children, who were yet infants; the father, who was brave in battle and wise in council--where are they?
Their bones whiten on the shelterless plain, or rot unburied by the ocean shore! Think--had they lived--how happily your days would have passed with them in the time of peace! how gladly your brother would have gone forth with you to the chase! how joyfully his boys would have nestled at your knees, to gather from your lips the first lessons that should form them for the warrior's life! Think of such enjoyments as these, and then think that Roman swords have deprived you of them all!' Her voice trembled, she ceased for a moment, and looked mournfully up into Hermanric's averted face.

Every feature in the young chieftain's countenance expressed the tumult that her words had aroused within him.
He attempted to reply, but his voice was powerless in that trying moment.