'He has gone to a farm-house on the plains beyond the suburbs behind us.
He will not return till daybreak,' continued the Hun, tossing his money
carelessly in his great, horny hands.
'Did you see him go?' gasped the woman.
'I tracked him to the house,' returned the barbarian. 'For many nights
I watched and suspected him--to-night I saw him depart. It is but a
short time since I returned from following him. The darkness did not
delude me; the place is on the high-road from the suburbs--the first by-
path to the westward leads to its garden gate. I know it! I have
discovered his secret! I am more cunning than he!'
'For what did he seek the farm-house at night?' demanded Goisvintha
after an interval, during which she appeared to be silently fixing the
man's last speech in her memory; 'are you cunning enough to tell me
that?'
'For what do men venture their safety and their lives, their money and
their renown?' laughed the barbarian. 'They venture them for women!
There is a girl at the farm-house; I saw her at the door when the chief
went in!'
He paused; but Goisvintha made no answer.
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