Page 366 - A Knight of the White Cross

rendered such great service as you have done. Since I have been lying
unable to move, I have thought of many things; among them, that I had

forgotten to give you the letters and presents that came for you after you
sailed away. They are in that cabinet; please bring them to me. There," he

said, as Gervaise brought a bulky parcel which the grand master opened,
"this letter is from the Holy Father himself. That, as you may see from the
arms on the seal, is from Florence. The others are from Pisa, Leghorn, and

Naples. Rarely, Sir Gervaise, has any potentate or knight earned the thanks
of so many great cities. These caskets accompanied them. Sit down and

read your letters. They must be copied in our records."

Gervaise first opened the one from the Pope. It was written by his own

hand, and expressed his thanks as a temporal sovereign for the great benefit
to the commerce of his subjects by the destruction of the corsair fleet, and

as the head of the Christian Church for the blow struck at the Moslems. The
other three letters were alike in character, expressing the gratitude of the
cities for their deliverance from the danger, and of their admiration for the

action by which a fleet was destroyed with a single galley. Along with the
letter from Pisa was a casket containing a heavy gold chain set with gems.

Florence sent a casket containing a document bestowing upon him the
freedom of the city, and an order upon the treasury for five thousand ducats
that had been voted to him by the grand council of the Republic; while

Ferdinand, King of Naples, bestowed on him the grand cross of the Order
of St. Michael.

"The armour I had hung up in the armoury, where it has been carefully kept
clean. I guessed what it was by the weight of the case when it came, and

thought it best to open it, as it might have got spoilt by rust. It is a timely
gift, Sir Gervaise, for the siege has played havoc with the suit Genoa gave

you; it is sorely battered, dinted, and broken, and, although you can
doubtless get it repaired, if I were you I would keep it in its present state as
a memorial -- and there could be no prouder one -- of the part you bore in

the siege. I have seen Caretto this morning. He sails for Genoa tomorrow,
where he will, I hope, soon recover his strength, for the wounds he received

at St. Nicholas have healed but slowly. He said" -- and a momentary smile
crossed the grand master's face -- "that he thought a change might benefit