Bring him to me to-morrow, when the princess will be here with the Queen of Navarre at a banquet.

I would fain thank him before her; and, although I have agreed--at the princess' earnest solicitation--to take no further notice of the matter, and to allow it to pass as if it had not been, yet I cannot forgive the treachery which has been used, and without letting all know exactly what has occurred would fain by my reception of your page let men see that something of great import has happened, of the nature of which I doubt not that rumor will give some notion." Upon the following day, therefore, Cuthbert to his confusion found himself the center of the royal circle.

The king expressed himself to him in the most gracious manner, patting him on the shoulder, and said that he would be one day one of the best and bravest of his knights.

The princess and the Queen of Navarre gave him their hands to kiss, and somewhat overwhelmed, he withdrew from the royal presence, the center of attention, and, in some minds, of envy.
Cnut too did not pass unrewarded.
His majesty, finding that Cnut was of gentle Saxon blood, gave him a gold chain in token of his favor, and distributed a heavy purse among the men who had followed him.
When the British fleet, numbering two hundred ships, set sail from Sicily, it was a grand and martial sight.

From the masts were the colors of England and those of the nobles who commanded; while the pennons of the knights, the bright plumes and mantles, the flash of armor and arms made the decks alive with light and color.
The king's ship advanced in the van, and round him were the vessels containing his principal followers.