ave seen that he lacked nothing, but was provided
with all necessaries for his position. I will in the future take care
that in all things he is on a par with his companions." He touched a
bell on the table, and a servitor entered.

"Tell Richard de Deauville to come here," he said.

A minute later the hangings at the door were pushed aside, and a lad
about a year older than Gervaise appeared, and, bowing deeply to the
knight, stood in a respectful attitude, awaiting his orders.

"Deauville, take this youth, Gervaise Tresham to your room. He is
appointed one of the pages of the grand master. He is English, but he
speaks French as well as you do, having lived in France for some years.
Take him to your apartment and treat him kindly and well, seeing that he
is a stranger and new to all here. Tomorrow he will go to the palace."

Gervaise bowed deeply to the two knights, and then followed the page.

"I suppose you arrived in that ship which came in today," the latter
said, as soon as they had left the room. "You are in luck indeed to have
obtained a pageship at the grand master's. You begin to count your time
at once, while we do not begin to count ours until we are seventeen.
Still, good luck may befall us yet, for if the grand master dies, Sir
Peter is sure to be chosen to succeed him. Then, you see, we too shall
be pages of the grand master."

"How many are there of you?"

"Only De Lille and myself. Of course D'Aubusson will take on the grand
master's present pages; but as there are five vacancies on an average
every year, he will be able to find room for us among the number."

"Why, how many pages has the grand master?" Gervaise asked, in surprise.

"Sixteen of them, so you may guess the duties are easy enough, as only
two are generally employed, except, of course on solemn occasions."

"Are there any other English besides myself?"

The boy shook his head. "There are eight belonging to the French
langues; the others are Spaniards, Italians, or Germans. There, this is
our room and this is De Lille. De Lille, this is the grand master's new
page, Master Gervaise Tresham, and our lord says we are to treat him
kindly and entertain him well until tomorrow, when he will go to the
palace. He speaks our language, and has been some years in France."

"How came you to be there?" De Lille asked Gervaise.

"My father was a Lancastrian, and my mother a great friend of our
Queen Margaret of Anjou, and they were with her a