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. [Illustration] 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