"Charming, charming!" observed Prince Vasili.

The Judges had now been two hours in the lists, awaiting in vain the appearance of a champion.

Striving, as it would seem, to lose part of the bitterness of his regrets in the bitterness of these other thoughts, Ralph continued to pace the room. There was less and less of resolution in his manner as his mind gradually reverted to his loss; at length, dropping into his elbow–chair and grasping its sides so firmly that they creaked again, he said: