“Doubtless it could be managed in such cases, Gervaise, but it is a pity that it should have to be managed.  I can see no reason in the world why a knight, after doing ten years of service here, should not be free to marry, providing he takes a vow to render full service to the Order whenever called upon to do so.  Already the vow of poverty is everywhere broken.  Already, in defiance of their oaths, too many knights lead idle and dissolute lives.  Already, knights, when in their own countries, disregard the rule that they shall draw sword in no cause save that of the Holy Sepulchre, and, like other knights and nobles, take part in civil strife or foreign wars.  All this is a scandal, and it were better by far to do away with all oaths, save that of obedience and willingness to war with the infidel, than to make vows that all men know are constantly and shamelessly broken.

“I am fond of you, Gervaise.  I am proud of you, as one who has brought honour to our langue, and who, in time, will bring more honour.  I am glad that, so far as there can be between a young knight and one of middle age, there is a friendship between us.  But see what greater pleasure it would give to my life were you my son, for whom I could lay by such funds as I could well spare, instead of spending all my appointments on myself, and having neither kith nor kin to give a sigh of regret when the news comes that I have fallen in some engagement with the infidels.  I often think of all these things, and sometimes talk them over with comrades, and there are few who do not hold, with me, that it would be far better that we should become a purely military Order, like some of the military Orders in the courts of the European sovereigns, than remain as we are, half monk, half soldier —­ a mixture that, so far as I can see, accords but badly with either morality or public repute.

“However, I see no chance of such a change coming, and we must be content to observe our vows as well as may be, so long as we are willing to remain monks and try to obtain dispensation from our vows should we desire to alter our mode of life.  We ought either to have remained monks pure and simple, spending our lives in deeds of charity, a life which suits many men, and against which I should be the last to say anything, or else soldiers pure and simple, as were the crusaders, who wrested the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the infidels.  At present, Gervaise, your vocation lies wholly in the way of fighting, but it may be that the time will come when you may have other aims and ambitions, and when the vows of the Order will gall you.”

“I hope not, Sir John,” Gervaise said earnestly.

“You are young yet,” the knight replied, with an indulgent smile.  “Some day you may think differently.  Now,” he went on, changing the subject abruptly, “when will your galley be ready?”

“This is my last ride, Sir John.  The shipwrights will have finished tomorrow, and the next day we shall take possession of her, and begin to practise, so that each man shall know his duties, and the galley slaves learn to row well, before we have orders to sail.  I wish you were going with us, Sir John.”