She fell insensible by the side of her young
warrior--her dress was spotted with his blood, her form was motionless
as his own.
'Leave him there to rot! His pride in his superiority will not serve
him now--even to a grave!' cried the Hun leader to his companions, as he
dried on the garments of the corpse his reeking sword.
'And this woman,' demanded one of his comrades, 'is she to be liberated
or secured?'
He pointed as he spoke to Goisvintha. During the brief scene of the
assassination, the very exercise of her faculties seemed to have been
suspended. She had never stirred a limb or uttered a word.
The Hun recognised her as the woman who had questioned and bribed him at
the camp. 'She is the traitor's kinswoman and is absent from the tents
without leave,' he answered. 'Take her prisoner to Alaric; she will
bear us witness that we have done as he commanded us. As for the girl,'
he continued, glancing at the blood on Antonina's dress, and stirring
her figure carelessly with his foot, 'she may be dead too, for she
neither moves nor speaks, and may be left like her protector to lie
graveless where she is.
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