Volume I Part 62 (2/2)
”So you, too, expect war? In confidence: it is more than probable, it is certain.”
”Furius!” cried the Roman, ”how do you know that?”
”I come from Africa--from Sicily. I have seen the fleet of the Emperor.
One does not arm against pirates in such a manner. I have spoken to the captains of Belisarius; they dream night and day of the treasures of Italy. Sicily is ripe for defection, as soon as the Greeks land.”
Valerius grew pale with excitement.
Furius remarked it, and continued.
”For this reason I have come here to warn you. The enemy will land in this vicinity, and I know--that your daughter is with you.”
”Valeria is a Roman.”
”Yes, but these enemies are the most ferocious barbarians. For it is Huns, Ma.s.sagetae, Scythians, Avari, Sclavonians, and Saracens which this Emperor of the Romans lets loose upon Italy! Woe to your lovely child should she fall into their hands.”
”That she shall not!” cried Valerius, his hand upon his dagger. ”But you are right--she must go--she must be placed in safety.”
”Where is safety in Italy? Soon the billows of the conflict will roll over Neapolis--over Rome--and will scarcely break against the walls of Ravenna!”
”Do you think so highly of these Greeks? Yet Greece has never sent anything to Italy but mimes, pirates, and pickpockets!”
”But Belisarius is the favourite of fortune. At all events, a war will be kindled, the end of which many of you will not outlive!”
”Of _us_, you say? Will not _you_ fight with us?”
”No, Valerius! You know that pure Corsican blood flows in my veins, in spite of my adopted Roman name. I am no Roman, no Greek, and no Goth. I wish the Goths the victory, because they keep order on land and sea, and my trade flourishes under their sway; but were I to fight openly on their side, the exchequer of Byzantium would swallow up all that I possess in s.h.i.+ps and goods in the harbours of the East: three-fourths of my whole fortune. No, I intend so to fortify my island--you know that half Corsica is mine--that neither of the disputants can molest me. My island shall be an asylum of peace, while round about land and water echo with the noise of battle. I shall defend this asylum as a king defends his crown, or a bridegroom his bride; and therefore”--his eyes sparkled, and his voice trembled with excitement--”therefore I wish--now--to speak a word which for years I have carried hidden in my heart----”
He hesitated.
Valerius saw beforehand what was coming, and saw it with deep regret.
For years he had pleased himself with the thought of entrusting his daughter's happiness to this powerful merchant, the adopted son of an old friend, of whose affection to Valeria he had long been aware.
Although he had learned to love Totila, he would far rather have had his old friend for a son-in-law.
And he knew the ungovernable pride and irritable temper of the Corsican; he feared, in case of refusal, that the old love and friends.h.i.+p would be speedily changed to burning hate. Dark stories were told of the wild rage of this man, and Valerius would gladly have spared both him and himself the pain of a rejection.
But the other continued:
”I think we are both men who do business in a business-like manner.
And, according to old custom, I speak at once to the father, and not first to the daughter. Give me your child to wife, Valerius! In part you know my fortune--only in part--for it is far larger than you think.
I will match her dowry, be it never so splendid, with the double----”
”Furius!” interrupted the father.
”I think I am a man who can make his wife happy. At least, I can protect her better than any one else in these dangerous times. I will take her in my s.h.i.+ps, should Corsica be threatened, to Asia or to Africa. On every coast there awaits her, not a house, but a palace. No queen could envy her. I will cherish, her more dearly--more dearly than my life!”
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