While they were deliberating on this matter, there came to the Court a gentleman, the Captain of a galley, who had often served in the wars against the Turks, (2) and was now soliciting the King of France to undertake an expedition against one of their cities, which might yield great advantage to Christendom.  The old gentleman inquired of him concerning this expedition, and after hearing what he intended to do, asked him whether, on the completion of this business, he would make another journey to Jerusalem, whither he himself and his wife had a great desire to go.  The Captain was well pleased on hearing of this laudable desire, and he promised to conduct them thither, and to keep the matter secret.

2 M. Paul Lacroix, who believes that the heroine of this tale is Margaret herself (she is described as telling it under the name of Parlamente), is also of opinion that the gentleman referred to is the Baron de Malleville, a knight of Malta, who was killed at Beyrout during an expedition against the Turks, and whose death was recounted in verse by Clement Marot (OEuvres, 1731, vol. ii. p. 452-455).  Margaret’s gentleman, however, is represented as being married, whereas M. de Malleville, as a knight of Malta, was necessarily a bachelor.  Marot, moreover, calls Malleville a Parisian, whereas the gentleman in the tale belonged to Normandy (see post, p. 136).—­B.  J. and L.

The old gentleman was all impatience to find his wife and tell her of what he had done.  She was as anxious to make the journey as her husband, and on that account often spoke about it to the Captain, who, paying more attention to her person than her words, fell so deeply in love with her, that when speaking to her of the voyages he had made, he often confused the port of Marseilles with the Archipelago, and said “horse” when he meant to say “ship,” like one distracted and bereft of sense.  Her character, however, was such that he durst not give any token of the truth, and concealment kindled such fires in his heart that he often fell sick, when the lady showed as much solicitude for him as for the cross and guide of her road, (3) sending to inquire after him so often that the anxiety she showed cured him without the aid of any other medicine.

3 This may simply be an allusion to wayside crosses which serve to guide travellers on their road.  M. de Montaiglon points out, however, that in the alphabets used for teaching children in the olden time, the letter A was always preceded by a cross, and that the child, in reciting, invariably began:  “The cross of God, A, B, C, D,” &c.  In a like way, a cross figured at the beginning of the guide-books of the time, as a symbol inviting the traveller to pray, and reminding him upon whom he should rely amid the perils of his journey.  The best known French guide-book of the sixteenth century is Charles Estienne’s Guide des Chemins de France.—­M. and Ed.