To be cowardly in this, to refuse to see it through, seemed more unmanly to Laurence than beginning it.

In which Arkady manages to be a great nuisance, despite never appearing in the story, and Tharkay is thoroughly unsettled.

"Can I have a cow now?" says Iskierka, "And a golden necklace like Celeritas'?" "And the throne of England, and the moon on a silver chain?" "Is the throne covered in jewels?" she asks, giving it serious thought, and he laughs again...