soft splash of a fountain.

Basil was telling of his journey to Cumae, and of the difficulty he
had had in persuading Aurelia to visit her father.

'Does she live alone there?' inquired Marcian.

There was a pause before the reply, and when Basil spoke his voice
fell to a note of half-hesitating confidence.

'Alone? yes,' he said, 'in the sense that no relative abode with
her; but she had a companion--a lady--very young.' And here he
again paused, as if in some embarrassment.

'A Roman?' was Marcian's next question, carelessly thrown out for he
had little interest in Aurelia, and was half occupied with other
thoughts.

'No,' answered Basil, his voice subdued. 'A Goth; and, she says, of
the royal blood, of the line of Theodoric.'

His friend became attentive. 'A Gothic princess? Whose daughter,
then?' asked Marcian. And Basil, who desired nothing more than to
speak on this subject, little by little threw off his hesitancy,
grew rapid and eager in narration. He told how, on his first
introduction to Aurelia's presence, he had found. sitting with her a
young girl, whose aspect proclaimed her of the Gothic race. In a
second interview with his cousin, alone, Aurelia had spoken of this
companion, bestowing much praise upon her, and declaring that they
were united by an affection which nothing could diminish. She was of