There they scooped a shallow hole with their swords in the
fresh, flower-laden turf, and having laid the body there, they hastily
covered it, and rapidly departed without returning to the house.
These men had served among the warriors committed to Hermanric's
command. By many acts of frank generosity and encouragement, the young
chieftain had won their rough attachment. They mourned his fate, but
dared not obstruct the sentence, or oppose the act that determined it.
At their own risk they had secretly quitted the advancing ranks of their
comrades, to use the last privilege and obey the last dictate of human
kindness; and they thought not of the lonely girl as they now left her
desolate, and hurried away to reassume their appointed stations ere it
was too late.
The turf lay caressingly round the young warrior's form; its crushed
flowers pressed softly against his cold cheek; the fragrance of the new
morning wafted its pure incense gently about his simple grave! Around
him flowered the delicate plants that the hand of Antonina had raised to
please his eye.
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