Page 127 - A Knight of the White Cross

"Well, I am bound to say, Gervaise," Ralph said, a little irritably, "I have
never heard so grave an accusation brought on such insufficient evidence -­

or rather, as far as I can see, without a shadow of evidence of any kind. We
drop in upon a man who is one of our most respected merchants, whose

family has been established here many years, whose interests must be the
same as those of the Order; and because a guest of his does not care to take
any active part in my joking with the girls, and because you imagine that

there is a cunning expression on his face, you must straightway take it into
your head that he must be a spy."

"Excuse me, Ralph, I simply said that the idea occurred to me that he might
be a spy, which is a very different thing to my accusing him of being one. I

am ready to admit that the chances are infinitely greater that he is an honest
trader or a relation of the merchant, and that his presence here is perfectly

legitimate and natural, than that he should be a spy. Still, there is a chance,
if it be but one out of a thousand, that he may be the latter. I don't think that
I am at all of a suspicious nature, but I really should like to learn a little

about this man. I do not mean that I am going to try to do so. It would be an
unworthy action to pry into another's business, when it is no concern of

one's own. Still, I should like to know why he is here."

Ralph shrugged his shoulders.

"This comes of living the life of a hermit, Gervaise. Other people meet and

talk, and enjoy what society there is in the city, without troubling their
heads for a moment as to where people come from or what their business is
here, still less whether they are spies. Such ideas do not so much as occur to

them, and I must say that I think the sooner you fall into the ways of other
people the better."

"There is no harm done," Gervaise said composedly. "I am not thinking of
asking our bailiff to order him to be arrested on suspicion. I only remarked

that I did not like the man's face, nor the way in which, while he pretended
to be thinking of nothing, he was trying to overhear what we were saying. I

am quite willing to admit that I have made a mistake, not in devoting
myself to Turkish, but in going to the merchant's with you this evening. I