He could only think--with a delight whose excess he was far from estimating himself--on this solitary mysterious being who had come to him for shelter and for aid; who had awakened in him already new sources of sensation; and who seemed to his startled imagination to have suddenly twined herself for ever about the destinies of his future life.
He was still deep in meditation, when he was startled by a hand suddenly laid on his arm.

He looked up and saw that Antonina, whom he had imagined to be slumbering on her couch, was standing by his side.
'I cannot sleep,' said the girl in a low, awe-struck voice, 'until I have asked you to spare my father when you enter Rome.

I know that you are here to ravage the city; and, for aught I can tell, you may assault and destroy it to-night.

Will you promise to warn me before the walls are assailed?
I will then tell you my father's name and abode, and you will spare him as you have mercifully spared me?
He has denied me his protection, but he is my father still; and I remember that I disobeyed him once, when I possessed myself of a lute! Will you promise me to spare him?
My mother, whom I have never seen and who must therefore be dead, may love me in another world for pleading for my father's life!' In a few words, Hermanric quieted her agitation by explaining to her the nature and intention of the Gothic blockade, and she silently returned to the couch.

After a short interval, her slow, regular breathing announced to the young warrior, as he watched by the side of the fire, that she had at length forgotten the day's heritage of misfortune in the welcome oblivion of sleep..