c apart and impatiently, "to speak
to him of aught else but that which concerns his appetite! The soul of
Hardicanute hath taken possession of him, and he hath no pleasure save
to fill, to swill, and to call for more.--Alas!" said he, looking at
Athelstane with compassion, "that so dull a spirit should be lodged in
so goodly a form! Alas! that such an enterprise as the regeneration of
England should turn on a hinge so imperfect! Wedded to Rowena, indeed,
her nobler and more generous soul may yet awake the better nature which
is torpid within him. Yet how should this be, while Rowena, Athelstane,
and I myself, remain the prisoners of this brutal marauder and have
been made so perhaps from a sense of the dangers which our liberty might
bring to the usurped power of his nation?"

While the Saxon was plunged in these painful reflections, the door of
their prison opened, and gave entrance to a sewer, holding his white rod
of office. This important person advanced into the chamber with a grave
pace, followed by four attendants, bearing in a table covered
with dishes, the sight and smell of which seemed to be an instant
compensation to Athelstane for all the inconvenience he had undergone.
The persons who attended on the feast were masked and cloaked.

"What mummery is this?" said Cedric; "think you that we are ignorant
whose prisoners we are, when we are in the castle of your master?
Tell him," he continued, willing to use this opportunity to open
a negotiation for his freedom,--"Tell your master, Reginald
Front-de-Boeuf, that we know no reason he can have for withholding our
liberty, excepting his unlawful desire to enrich himself at our expense.
Tell him that we yield to his rapacity, as in similar circumstances we
should do to that of a literal robber. Let him name the ransom at which
he rates our liberty, and it shall be paid, providing the exaction is
suited to our means." The sewer made no answer, but bowed his head.

"And tell Sir Reginald Front-de-Boeuf," said Athelstane, "that I send
him my mortal defiance, and challenge him to combat with me, on foot or
horseback, at any secure place, within eight days after our liberation;
which, if he be a true knight, he will not, under these circumstances,
venture to refuse or to delay."

"I shall deliver to the knight your defiance," answered the sewer;
"meanwhile I leave you to your food."

The challenge of Athelstane was delivered with no good grace; for a
large mouthful