the building had beauty of form, and was full of fine work in
mosaic. Here, in a little peristyle, where shrubs and creepers had
come to wild growth, the sore-hearted lady sat brooding or paced
backwards and forwards, her eyes ever on the ground. When yet a
maiden she had several times spent summer at Surrentum; her memory
revived that early day which seemed so long ago; she lived again
with her brothers and sisters, all dead, with her mother whom griefs
had aged so soon. Then came a loveless marriage, which soon involved
her in the public troubles of the time; for her husband, whose
estates lay in Tuscany, was robbed of all by Theodahad, and having
vainly sought redress from the young King Athalaric, decided to
leave Italy for Byzantium, to which end Aurelia sold a property in
Campania, her dower. 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