“I do not think there is one of us who so feels,” Ralph said earnestly.  “In the first place, he has performed excellent service; in the next place, even those who did not know him before, have felt, since we started, that he is a born leader.  Then, too, we regard with pride one who has brought credit upon the younger members of the Order.  Moreover, we all owe our posts in the galley to the fact that he was chosen for its command.  It is a difficult position for him to fill, but he has managed so that, while all obey his orders as cheerfully and willingly as if he were a veteran, when off duty we regard him as one of ourselves.”

“You are a staunch friend, Sir Ralph.”

“I am a staunch friend of Sir Gervaise, Countess, for the more I know of him the more I care for him.  He well deserves the promotion and honour that have fallen to his share.”

“Will you bring him across here to us, Sir Ralph?  I want to talk to this hero of yours, and I am sure that my daughter is longing to be introduced to him.”

Ralph waited until Gervaise was disengaged, and then brought him across, and, after introducing him, moved away at once, leaving Gervaise to be interrogated by the ladies.

“You must be accustomed to festivities, Sir Gervaise, for we have just heard that you were one of the grand master’s pages?”

“I am accustomed to them, signora; but that is not at all the same thing as liking them.”

The reply was given so earnestly that all the ladies smiled.

“Your taste is quite exceptional.  Do you mean to say that you would rather be on board your galley than here?”

“It would not be polite,” Gervaise said, with a laugh, “if I were to say that I would infinitely rather be on board; but indeed I have not, like most of my comrades, been brought up in court or castle.  Until the day I joined the Order, we led the lives of exiles.  My father belonged to the defeated party in England, and, save for a few months when the cause to which he was attached was triumphant, we lived quietly on the estates he had recovered, our life being one of care and anxiety.  So, you see, I had no training in gaiety and pleasure.  At Rhodes there are state receptions and religious pageants, but a meeting such as this, is, of course, impossible in a convent; and since I was eleven years old I think I have only once spoken to a woman.  So you can well understand, signora, that I feel awkward in speech, and I pray you to make allowance for my ignorance of the language of courtesy, such as would naturally be expected in a knight, even though belonging to a religious Order.”

“There is naught to make allowance for,” the countess said gently.  “Women can appreciate simple truth, and are not, as men seem to think, always yearning for compliments.  Those who are most proficient in turning phrases are not often among those foremost in battle, or wisest in council, and I can tell you that we women value deeds far higher than words.  Sir Fabricius Caretto is a cousin of mine, and has this afternoon been speaking so highly of you to me and my young daughter here, that I am glad indeed to make your acquaintance.  How long do you intend to stay in Genoa?”