Chapter I: Front Matter

ATTILA AND HIS CONQUERORS.

ATTILA
AND HIS CONQUERORS.

A STORY OF THE DAYS OF
ST. PATRICK AND ST. LEO THE GREAT.

BY
MRS. RUNDLE CHARLES,
AUTHOR OF
“CHRONICLES OF THE SCHÖNBERG-COTTA FAMILY,” “AGAINST THE STREAM,”
“THREE MARTYRS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,” ETC.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
LONDON: NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C.;
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.

HISTORICAL SOURCES.

NOTE.

In this, as in all the historical fictions I have written, all words or deeds attributed to historical persons are, as far as I could ascertain, strictly historical.

The chief authorities for the history in this story are, the Latin Sermons and Epistles of St. Leo in the _Acta Sanctorum_, the writings of St. Patrick, Hodgkin’s _Italy and her Invaders_, _L’histoire d’Attila_, by Amadée Thierry, Milman’s _Latin Christianity_, Gibbon’s _Decline and Fall_, _The Life of St. Leo_, by Canon Gore, and his article on St. Leo in _Smith’s Dictionary of Christian Biography_, Canon Bright’s _Translations of St. Leo’s Sermons_, and various other authorities on Liturgies and ecclesiastical customs, usually deemed trustworthy.

CONTENTS.

CHAP. PAGE

I. IN THE WHITE ROBES OF BAPTISM 9

II. THE HOUSE ON THE AVENTINE 20

III. YOUNG IN AN OLD WORLD 30

IV. A LETTER FROM ST. PATRICK TO HIS BROTHERS AND SONS 38

V. ONCE MORE THROUGH WRECK TO ROME 49

VI. “MOVING ABOUT IN WORLDS NOT REALIZED” 61

VII. TOURS AND HER SAINT 71

VIII. FROM ROME TO THE BATTLE-FIELD 79

IX. ORLEANS—HER SAINT AND HER SIEGE 92

X. TROYES—HER SAINT AND HER SALVATION 108

XI. A FIELD OF SLAUGHTER, AND A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH 123

XII. ST. PATRICK’S CHILDREN IN ST. LEO’S CITY 133

XIII. SUNSET MEETING DAWN 144

XIV. ROME AND HER SAINT 157

XV. RANSOMS AND CAPTIVITIES 169

XVI. BELEAGUERED AQUILEIA 186

XVII. A RETREAT WITH ST. LEO THROUGH LENT AND EASTER 195

XVIII. THE FALL OF AQUILEIA 207

XIX. LEO AND ATTILA—THE RESCUE OF ROME 213

XX. AMONG THE HUNS—LEO AND ATTILA 220

XXI. ON THE SABINE HILLS 228

XXII. A MEETING OF THE WATERS 236

XXIII. FULFILMENTS AND DREAMS ON THE SABINE HILLS 240

XXIV. THE LAND OF THE MORNING 251

XXV. CHAOS AND CREATION IN CHRISTENDOM 260

XXVI. “THE HOLD OF EVERY FOUL SPIRIT,” “I SIT A QUEEN” 268

XXVII. LEO AND THE VANDALS 277

XXVIII. A TREASURE LOST AND A SOUL FOUND 286

XXIX. ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS 294

ATTILA AND HIS CONQUERORS.