Before they could set forth upon their journey,
her husband caught the plague and died. In second wedlock she would
have known contentment but for the alienation of her kin and the
scornful hostility of all her class. When widowhood again befell her
she was saved from want by a small treasure of money which remained
hidden in the dwelling at Cumae when the Gothic warrior, her lord,
escaped from Belisarius. As this store diminished, Aurelia had
looked forward with dread, for she hoped nothing from her father.
And now that such fears seemed to be over, her long tortured pride
clamoured for solace. It was not enough to regain her father's love
and enjoy an inheritance; she wished to see her enemies at her feet,
and to trample upon them--her enemies being not only Petronilla
and certain other kinsfolk but all the nobility of Rome, nay, all
the orthodox of the Christian church. Pacing, pacing alone, she
brooded vast schemes of vengeance.
When it was announced to her that the Roman deacon besought an
interview, she at first refused to receive him. Thereupon Leander
sent her a few lines in writing, most ceremoniously worded, in which
he declared that his purposes were those of a disinterested friend,
that no word such as could pain or offend her would pass his lips,
and that he had it in his power to communicate something which would
greatly benefit her.
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