Strong in her passions, as in her physical organisation, the former were only bridled by an unbending pride, and an intensity of will more than masculine in its resolution. As under that smooth skin the muscles of the round white arm were firm and hard like marble, so beneath that fair and tranquil bosom there beat a heart that for good or evil could dare, endure, and defy the worst. Valeria was a woman whom none but a very bold or very ignorant suitor would have taken to his breast; yet it may be that the right man could have tamed, and made her gentle and patient as the dove. And now something seemed to tell her that the void in her heart was filled at last. Esca’s manly beauty had made a strong impression on her senses; the anomaly of his position had captivated her imagination; there was something very attractive in the mystery that surrounded him; there was even a wild thrill of pleasure in the shame of loving a slave. Then, when he stood forth, the champion of that poor helpless girl, brave, handsome, and victorious, the charm was complete; and Valeria’s eyes followed him as he disappeared with a longing loving look, that had never glistened in them in her life before.
The Briton hurried away with his arm round the drooping figure of his companion, and for a time forbore to speak a word even of encouragement or consolation. At first the reaction of her feelings turned her sick and faint, then a burst of weeping came to her relief; ere long the tears were flowing silently; and the girl, who indeed showed no lack of courage, had recovered herself sufficiently to look up in her protector’s face, and pour out her thanks with a quiet earnestness that showed they came direct from the heart.
“I can trust you,” she said, in a voice of peculiar sweetness, though her Latin, like his own, was touched with a slightly foreign accent. “I can read a brave man’s face—none better. We have not far to go now. You will take me safe home?”
“I will guard you to your very door,” said he, in tones of the deepest respect. “But you need fear nothing now; the drunken priests and their mysterious deity are far enough off by this time. ’Tis a noble worship, truly, for such a city as this—the mistress of the world!”