Was it not too narrow wholly to please the man who had known how to praise her own beauty so passionately?  Did not the outlines of Althea’s figure, which the bombyx robe only partially concealed, lack roundness even more than her own?

And yet!  As soon as Althea had transformed the sheet into a robe, and held the wreath above him, Hermon’s gaze rested on hers as though enraptured, while from her bright blue eyes a flood of ardent admiration poured upon the man for whom she held the victor’s wreath.

This was done with the upper portion of her body bending very far forward.  The slender figure was poised on one foot; the other, covered to the ankle with the long robe, hovered in the air.  Had not the wings which, as Nike, belonged to her been lacking, every one would have been convinced that she was flying—­that she had just descended from the heights of Olympus to crown the kneeling victor.  Not only her hand, her gaze and her every feature awarded the prize to the man at her feet.

There was no doubt that, if Nike herself came to the earth to make the best man happy with the noblest of crowns, the spectacle would be a similar one.

And Hermon!  No garlanded victor could look up to the gracious divinity more joyously, more completely enthralled by grateful rapture.

The applause which now rang out more and more loudly was certainly not undeserved, but it pierced Ledscha’s soul like a mockery, like the bitterest scorn.

Hanno, on the contrary, seemed to consider the scene scarcely worth looking at.  Something more powerful was required to stir him.  He was particularly averse to all exhibitions.  The utmost which his relatives could induce the quiet, reserved man to do when they ventured into the great seaports was to attend the animal fights and the games of the athletes.  He felt thoroughly happy only when at sea, on board of his good ship.  His best pleasure was to gaze up at the stars on calm nights, guide the helm, and meanwhile dream—­of late most gladly of making the beautiful girl who had seemed to him worthy of his brave brother Abus, his own wife.

In the secluded monotony of his life as a scar over memory had exalted Ledscha into the most desirable of all women, and the slaughtered Abus into the greatest of heroes.

To win the love of this much-praised maiden seemed to Hanno peerless happiness, and the young corsair felt that he was worthy of it; for on the high seas, when a superior foe was to be opposed by force and stratagem, when a ship was to be boarded and death spread over her deck, he had proved himself a man of unflinching courage.

His suit had progressed more easily than he expected.  His father would rejoice, and his heart exulted at the thought of encountering a serious peril for the girl he loved.  His whole existence was a venture of life, and, had he had ten to lose, they would not have been too dear a price to him to win Ledscha.