Historical Tales, Vol 5 | Page 7

shall rejoice with her father."
Rosamond's heart throbbed with grief and rage on hearing this inhuman
request. She took the skull in trembling hands, and murmuring in low
accents, "Let the will of my lord be obeyed," she touched it to her lips.
But in doing so she breathed a silent prayer, and resolved that the
unpardonable insult should be washed out in Alboin's blood.
If she had ever loved her lord, she felt now for him only the bitterness
of hate. She had a friend in the court on whom she could depend,
Helmichis, the armor-bearer of the king. She called on him for aid in
her revenge, and found him willing but fearful, for he knew too well the
great strength and daring spirit of the chief whom he had so often
attended in battle. He proposed, therefore, that they should gain the aid
of a Lombard of unequalled strength, Peredeus by name. This
champion, however, was not easily to be won. The project was
broached to him, but the most that could be gained from him was a
promise of silence.
Failing in this, more shameful methods were employed. Such was
Rosamond's passion for revenge that the most extreme measures
seemed to her justifiable. Peredeus loved one of the attendants of the
queen. Rosamond replaced this frail woman, sacrificed her honor to her
vengeance, and then threatened to denounce Peredeus to the king unless
he would kill the man who had so bitterly wronged her.
Peredeus now consented. He must kill the king or the king would kill
him, for he felt that Rosamond was quite capable of carrying out her
threat. Having thus obtained the promise of the instruments of her
vengeance, the queen waited for a favorable moment to carry out her
dark design. The opportunity soon came. The king, heavy with wine,
had retired from the table to his afternoon slumbers. Rosamond,
affecting solicitude for his health and repose, dismissed his attendants,
closed the palace gates, and then, seeking her spouse, lulled him to rest
by her tender caresses.

Finding that he slumbered, she unbolted the chamber door, and urged
her confederates to the instant performance of the deed of blood. They
entered the room with stealthy tread, but the quick senses of the warrior
took the alarm, he opened his eyes, saw two armed men advancing
upon him, and sprang from his couch. His sword hung beside him, and
he attempted to draw it, but the cunning hand of Rosamond had
fastened it securely in the scabbard. The only weapon remaining was a
small foot-stool. This he used with vigor, but it could not long protect
him from the spears of his assailants, and he quickly fell dead beneath
their blows. His body was buried beneath the stairway of the palace,
and thus tragically ended the career of the founder of the kingdom of
Lombardy.
But the story of Rosamond's life is not yet at an end. The death of
Alboin was followed by another tragic event, which brought her guilty
career to a violent termination. The wily queen had not failed to prepare
for the disturbances which might follow the death of the king. The
murder of Alboin was immediately followed by her marriage with
Helmichis, whose ambition looked to no less a prize than the throne of
Lombardy. The queen was surrounded by a band of faithful Gepidæ,
with whose aid she seized the palace and made herself mistress of
Verona, the Lombard chiefs flying in alarm. But the assassination of
the king who had so often led them to victory filled the Longobardi
with indignation, the chiefs mustered their bands and led them against
the stronghold of the guilty couple, and they in their turn, were forced
to fly for their lives. Helmichis and Rosamond, with her daughter, her
faithful Gepidæ, and the spoils of the palace, took ship down the Adige
and the Po, and were transported in a Greek vessel to the port of
Ravenna, where they hoped to find shelter and safety.
Longinus, the Greek governor of Ravenna, gave willing refuge to the
fugitives, the more so as the great beauty of Rosamond filled him with
admiration. She had not been long there, indeed, before he offered her
his hand in marriage. Rosamond, moved by ambition or a return of his
love, accepted his offer. There was, it is true, an obstacle in the way.
She was already provided with a husband. But the barbarian queen had
learned the art of getting rid of inconvenient husbands. Having, perhaps,

grown to detest the tool of her revenge, now that the purpose of her
marriage with him had failed, she set herself to the task of disposing of
Helmichis, this time using the cup instead of the sword.
As Helmichis left