d.

"That will not be the only occasion on which you will have triumphed
over me, you--you"----He seemed greatly at a loss for a word, and
concluded his speech with--"beauty!" This expression, which was, no
doubt, intended for the most complimentary he could find, was
accompanied with a look of admiration so long, so broad, and so
impudent, that she blushed, and a squeeze of her hand so hard, so
rough, and so continued, that she screamed. She threw a glance of
inexpressible disdain on the insolent wooer, and looked for protection
to her father; but that venerable individual was at that moment so
sound asleep on one of the sofas at the other end of the room, that no
noise whatever could have awakened him. Ericson seemed totally unmoved
by all the contempt she could express in her looks, and probably
thought he was in a thriving condition, from the fact (somewhat
unusual) of his being looked at at all. She lost her temper
altogether. She covered her cheek, which was flushed with anger, with
the little hand that was reddened with pain, and resolved to play her
worst to spite her ill-mannered antagonist. But all her attempts at
bad play were useless. The board shook beneath the immense hands of
Ericson, who was in a tremendous state of agitation, and hardly knew
the pieces. He pushed then hither and thither--made his knights slide
along with the episcopal propriety of bishops, and made his bishops
caracole across the squares with the unseemly elasticity of knights.
His game got into such confusion, that Christina could not avoid
winning, and at last--enjoying the victory she had determined not to
win--she cried out, with a voice of triumph, "Check to the king by the
queen."

"Cruel girl!" exclaimed the Count, dashing his hand among the pieces
with an energy that scattered them all upon the floor. "Haven't you
been anxious to make the king your prisoner?"

"But there is nothing to hinder him from saving himself," answered
Christina, looking round once more to her father, who, however,
pursued his slumber with the utmost assiduity and had apparently a
very agreeable dream, for a smile was evident at the corners of his
mouth. "It is impossible to place the board as it was," she continued,
trying to gather up the pieces, and place castles, knights, and pawns
in their proper position again.

"Don't try it--don't try it," cried Ericson, losing all command of
himself, and pushing the board away from him, till it spun over wit