Near him stood the dwelling, sacred to the first and
last kiss that he had impressed upon her lips; and about him, on all
sides, rose the plains and woodlands that had engrossed, with her image,
the devotion of all her dearest thoughts. He lay, in his death, in the
midst of the magic circle of the best joys of his life! It was a fitter
burial-place for the earthly relics of that bright and generous spirit
than the pit in the carnage-laden battle-field, or the desolate
sepulchres of a northern land!
CHAPTER 19. THE GUARDIAN RESTORED.
Not long is the new-made grave left unwatched to the solemn guardianship
of Solitude and Night. More than a few minutes have scarcely elapsed
since it was dug, yet already human footsteps press its yielding
surface, and a human glance scans attentively its small and homely
mound.
But it is not Antonina, whom he loved; it is not Goisvintha, through
whose vengeance he was lost, who now looks upon the earth above the
young warrior's corpse. It is a stranger, an outcast; a man lost,
dishonoured, abandoned--it is the solitary and ruined Ulpius who now
gazes with indifferent eyes upon the peaceful garden and the eloquent
grave.
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