“No longer than it will take me to engage men to carry the prizes to Rhodes.  I am afraid that sounds rude,” he broke off, as he noticed a smile on the faces of the ladies.

“Not rude,” said the countess; “though most knights would have put it differently, and said that their duty compelled them to leave as soon as the prizes could be manned.  But it comes to the same thing.  Of course, you will remain the guest of the doge as long as you are here; otherwise, it would have given us the greatest pleasure to have entertained you.  My cousin is, of course, staying with us, and you see we all feel a very deep obligation to you.  He has been so long a slave among the Moors, that we had almost come to hope death had freed him from his fetters; so you may imagine our pleasure when he arrived here so suddenly ten days ago.  We were expecting that he would remain with us for some time, but he says that he must first go back to Rhodes, after which he will ask for leave, and return here.  We have a banquet tomorrow evening to celebrate his return, and earnestly hoped that you would be present, but, since you say that you do not care for such gaieties, we shall, if you prefer it, be glad if you will come to join us at our family meal at twelve.”

“Thank you, countess, I should very greatly prefer it, and it will give me real pleasure to come.”

“Your friend, Sir Ralph Harcourt, has been telling us how you have destroyed the corsair fleet that has been so alarming us.  He, too, is an Englishman, though he speaks Italian well.”

“Yes, he speaks it a great deal better than I do,” Gervaise said.  “He is a dear friend of mine, and it is, indeed, chiefly owing to his support and influence that I have been able to manage so pleasantly and well in the command of a body of young knights, most of whom are my seniors.”

“He tells us that you speak Turkish?”

“Yes; I thought that it would be very useful, and spent nearly a year in acquiring it, the bailiff of my langue being kind enough to relieve me of all other duties.  I was fortunate enough to find in one of the servants of the auberge a well educated and widely informed Turk, who was a very pleasant companion, as well as an excellent instructor, and I learnt much from him besides his language.  The knowledge of Turkish has already proved to me most useful, and was indeed the means by which I obtained both my commandery and my appointment as captain of the galley.”

“Perhaps you will tell us the story tomorrow; that is, if it is too long to tell us now?”

“It is indeed much too long; but if it will interest you I shall be glad to recount it tomorrow.”

The next day Gervaise went to the palace of the Countess Da Forli.  She was a widow with no children, except Claudia, the young daughter who had accompanied her to the fete the evening before.  Caretto, and four or five relations of the family, were the only guests beside himself.  It was a quiet and sociable meal, and served with less ceremony than usual, as the countess wished to place Gervaise as much as possible at his ease.  During the meal but little was said about the affair with the pirates, Caretto telling them some of his experiences as a captive.