Volume Ii Part 54 (1/2)
He saw Cethegus the Prefect, who stood close to the statue of the Apostle, and appeared to be leaning against it. In front of him stood a second form, that of a slender woman, upon whose auburn hair fell the glittering light of the lantern.
”The lovely Queen of the Goths, by Eros and Anteros!” said the spy to himself. ”No disagreeable meeting, be it for love or politics! Hark!
she speaks. What a pity that I came too late to hear the beginning of the conversation!”
”Therefore, mark well,” he heard the Queen say, ”the day after to-morrow some great danger is planned to take place on the road before the Tiburtinian Gate.”
”Good; but what!” asked the voice of the Prefect.
”I could learn nothing more exactly. And I can communicate nothing more to you, even if I should hear anything. I dare not meet you here again, for----”
She now spoke in a lower tone.
Perseus pressed his ear hard against the c.h.i.n.k; his sword rattled against the stone, and immediately a ray of the lantern fell upon him.
”Hark!” cried a third voice--it was a female voice, that of the bearer of the lantern, who now showed herself in its rays as she quickly turned in the direction of the wall where stood the spy.
Perseus recognised a slave in Moorish costume.
For one moment all in the temple were silent.
Perseus held his breath. He felt that his life was at stake. For Cethegus grasped his sword.
”All is quiet,” said the slave; ”it must have been a stone falling on the iron-work outside.”
”I can also go no more into the grave outside the Portuensian Gate. I fear that we have been followed.”
”By whom?”
”By one who, as it seems, never sleeps--Earl Teja.”
The Prefect's lips twitched.
”And he is also one of a secret company who have sworn an oath against the life of Belisarius; the attack on the Gate of St. Paul will be only a feint.”
”'Tis well,” said Cethegus reflectively.
”Belisarius could never escape, if he were not warned,” continued the Queen. ”They lie somewhere, I fear--but I do not know where--in ambush.
They have a superior force, Earl Totila commands them.”
”I will take care to warn him!” said Cethegus slowly.
”If the plan should succeed!”
”Be not anxious. Queen. Rome is not less dear to me than to you. And if the next a.s.sault fail--they must renounce the siege, be they never so tough. And this Queen, is your doing. Let me this night--perhaps the last on which we meet--reveal to you my wonder and admiration. Cethegus does not easily admire, and where he must, he does not easily confess it. But--I admire you, Queen! With what death-despising temerity, with what demoniac cunning you have frustrated all the plots of the barbarians! Truly, Belisarius has done much--Cethegus more--but Mataswintha most.”
”Would that you spoke truth!” said Mataswintha with sparkling eyes.
”And if the crown falls from the head of this culprit----”
”It is _your_ hand which has decided the fate of Rome. But, Queen, you cannot be satisfied with this alone. I have learned to know you these last few months--you must not be taken, a conquered Gothic Queen, to Byzantium. Such beauty, such a mind, such force of will must rule, and not serve, in Byzantium. Therefore reflect--when your tyrant is overthrown--will you not then follow the course which I have pointed out to you?”