“And _he_,” replied Crispus, “decides that the ladies shall remain clothed. This is a contest for beauty, and there is no beauty where there is no modesty.” “O good and pious youth, ascend to heaven!” said Asenath with a mocking laugh; and realizing that _her_ chance of winning the zone was gone, she stepped from the contending circle to the side of Ananias, who looked by no means pleased with the decision of Crispus. He, the priest of a religion that claimed to be purer far than any of the pagan systems, had received a tacit rebuke from a pagan--a mortifying experience, the more so as he secretly felt it to be deserved. Compliant with the directions of Florus, the contestants took their station upon a low marble seat that lined the hemicycle; and, when so placed, presented a variety of faces so dazzling in beauty as to make the adjudicator’s task a hard one. As if to enhance his difficulty, Crispus received at that moment a piece of news somewhat startling in character. Touched upon the shoulder by a hand, he turned, and, to his surprise, found Polemo by his side. If the Pontic king had been present at the banquet Crispus had certainly missed seeing him, nor could he now tell from what corner he had sprung. “_Athenaïs is among the contestants!_” whispered the king; and ere Crispus could put a question to him, Polemo had slipped among the crowd that was standing around to watch the sight, and had vanished as mysteriously as he had appeared, leaving Crispus in a whirl of amazement. His wife among the contestants! Stern justice required that the prize should be given to the fairest, but still, for all that, it would be a graceful compliment to let his wife have the honor; it would certainly please her, who was now the one woman whom it behoved him to please. But how to identify her? There was additional embarrassment in the fact that the chosen lady, on receiving the girdle, was to bestow a kiss upon the judge that had so honored her. To be kissed, in the presence of his unknown wife, by a lady adjudged by him to be the fairest of all present! If by some good fortune the lady chosen should happen to be Athenaïs, well!--but if not, what would her feelings be? No wonder Crispus shrank from the task of selection, and thought for a moment of retiring in favor of some other umpire. The contestants were now ready awaiting the judgment.