Many days passed before Mataswintha fully recovered from the delirium
of fever and the uneasy slumbers, haunted by terrible dreams, which
followed.
She had become dull and impassive to all that passed around her, taking
no interest in the great changes which were in preparation. She
appeared to have no other feeling than that of the enormity of her
crime. The triumphal exultation which she had felt while rushing
through the night with her torch, had given place to devouring remorse,
horror, and dread.
At the moment of committing the wicked deed, the earthquake had thrown
her upon her knees, and in her excitement, in the pang of awakening
conscience, she thought that the very earth was rising up against her,
and that the judgment of Heaven was about to fall upon her guilty head.
And when, on reaching her chamber, she presently saw the flames, which
her own hand had kindled, reddening all the sky; when she heard the
cries and lamentations of Ravennese and Goths; the flames seemed to
scorch her heart and every cry to call down curses upon her.
She lost her senses; she was overwhelmed by the consequences of her
deed.
When she came to herself and gradually recollected all that had passed,
her hatred of the King was completely spent. Her soul was bowed down;
she was filled with deep remorse; and a terrible fear of ever having to
appear before him again came upon her, for she well knew, and now heard
from all sides, that the destruction of the magazines would oblige the
King to surrender to his enemies.
Himself she did not see. Even when he found a moment in which to ask
personally after her health, she had conjured the astonished Aspa on no
account to let him approach her, although she had left her couch many
days ago, and had frequently admitted the poor of the city; had,
indeed, invited the sufferers to apply to her for help.
At such times she had given the provisions intended for herself and her
attendants to the poor with her own hands, and divided amongst them her
jewels and gold with unlimited generosity.
It was one of these visits that she was expecting, after having been
petitioned by a man in a brown mantle and steel cap to grant a private
audience to a poor woman of her nation. "She has a message which
concerns the King. She has to warn you of some treachery which
threatens his crown and perhaps his life," the man had said.
Mataswintha at once granted his request.
Even if it were a mistake, an excuse, she could now never more refuse
to admit any one who came with a message concerning the King's safety.
She ordered the woman to come at sunset.
The sun had gone down.
In the south there is almost no twilight, and it was nearly dark when a
slave beckoned to the woman, who had been waiting in the court for some
time, to come forward.
The Queen, sick and sleepless during the night, had only fallen asleep
at the eighth hour. She had just awoke, and was very weak.
Notwithstanding, she would receive the woman, because she said her
message concerned the King.
"But is that really true?" inquired the slave----it was Aspa. "I should
not like to disturb my mistress without cause. If you only want gold,
say so freely; you shall have as much as you wish--only spare my
mistress. Does it really concern the King?"
"It does."
With a sigh, Aspa led the woman into the Queen's chamber.
The form of Mataswintha, clad in light white garments, her head and
hair covered by a folded kerchief, was relieved against the dark
background of the spacious chamber, lying upon a couch, near which
stood a round table in mosaic. The golden lamp, which was fixed to the
wall above the table, shed a faint light.
Mataswintha rose and seated herself, with an air of fatigue, upon the
edge of her couch.
"Draw near," she said to the woman. "Thy message concerns the King? Why
dost thou hesitate? Speak!"
The woman pointed at Aspa.
"She is silent and faithful."
"She is a woman."
At a sign from the Queen, the slave reluctantly left the room.
"Daughter of the Amelungs, I know that nothing but the strait in which
the kingdom stood, and not love, led thee to Witichis.--(How lovely she
is, although pale as death!)--Yet thou art the Queen of the Goths--his
Queen--and even if thou dost not love him, his kingdom, his triumph,
must be all in all to thee."
Mataswintha grasped the gilded arm of her couch.
"So thinks every beggar in the nation!" she sighed.
"To the King I cannot speak, for special reasons," continued the woman.
"Therefore I speak to thee whose province it is to succour and warn him
against treason. Listen to me." And she drew nearer, looking keenly at
the Queen.--"How strange," she said to herself; "what similarity of
form!"
"Treason! still more treason?"
"So thou too suspectest treason?"
"It is no matter. From whom? From Byzantium? From without? From the
Prefect?"
"No," the woman answered, shaking her head. "Not from without; from
within. Not from a man; from a woman."
"What dost thou say?" asked Mataswintha, turning still paler. "How can
a woman----"
"Injure the hero? In the devilish wickedness of her heart. Not openly,
but by cunning and treachery; perhaps with secret poison, as has
already happened; perhaps with secret fire."
"Hold!"
Mataswintha, who had just risen, staggered back to the table and leaned
upon it. But the woman followed her and whispered softly:
"I must tell thee of an incredible, shameful act! The King and the
people believe that the lightning set the magazines on fire, but I know
better. And _he_ shall know it. He shall be warned by _thee_, so that
he may discover the rank offender. That night I saw a torch-light
passing through the galleries of the magazines, and it was carried by a
woman. _Her_ hand cast it amongst the stores! Thou shudderest? Yes, a
_woman_. Wherefore wilt thou go? Hear one other word, and I will leave
thee. The name? I do not know it. But the woman fell just at my feet,
and, recovering, escaped; but as she went, she lost a sign and means of
recognition--this snake of emeralds."
And the woman held up a bracelet in the light of the lamp.
Mataswintha, tortured to death, started upright. She held both arms
over her face. The hasty movement disturbed her kerchief. Her red-gold
hair fell over her shoulders, and through the hair gleamed a golden
bracelet with an emerald snake, which encircled her left arm.
The woman saw it and screamed:
"Ha! by the God of the faithful! It was thou--thou thyself! _His_
Queen--his _wife_ has betrayed him! He shall know it! Curses upon
thee!"
With a piercing cry, Mataswintha fell back upon her couch and buried
her face in the cushions.
The scream brought Aspa from the adjoining room. But when she entered,
the Queen was alone.
The curtain of the door still rustled. The beggar had disappeared.