oppressive!"

Angelica by this time had recognized the stranger, and perceived
that it was Sacripant, king of Circassia, one of the worthiest of
her suitors. This prince had followed Angelica from his country,
at the very gates of the day, to France, where he heard with
dismay that she was under the guardianship of the Paladin Orlando,
and that the Emperor had announced his decree to award her as the
prize of valor to that one of his nephews who should best deserve
her.

As Sacripant continued to lament, Angelica, who had always opposed
the hardness of marble to his sighs, thought with herself that
nothing forbade her employing his good offices in this unhappy
crisis. Though firmly resolved never to accept him as a spouse,
she yet felt the necessity of giving him a gleam of hope in reward
for the service she required of him. All at once, like Diana, she
stepped forth from the arbor. "May the gods preserve thee," she
said, "and put far from thee all hard thoughts of me!" Then she
told him all that had befallen her since she parted with him at
her father's court, and how she had availed herself of Orlando's
protection to escape from the beleaguered city. At that moment the
noise of horse and armor was heard as of one approaching; and
Sacripant, furious at the interruption, resumed his helmet,
mounted his horse, and placed his lance in rest. He saw a knight
advancing, with scarf and plume of snowy whiteness. Sacripant
regarded him with angry eyes, and, while he was yet some distance
off, defied him to the combat. The other, not moved by his angry
tone to make reply, put himself on his defence. Their horses,
struck at the same moment with the spur, rushed upon one another