"Why, one of them is a rich lord from Touraine and the other a knight of Malta, of noble family.
"Jesus Dieu!" he cried; "one of them is trembling with fever, having failed to adapt himself to this charming country of yours, and the other is a knight of Malta, as timid as a young girl; and for greater security we have taken from them even their penknives and pocket scissors."
It will be well to prepare a light supper, of which you, Athos and Aramis, are not to partake -- Athos, because I told him you had a fever; Aramis, because you are a knight of Malta and won't mix with fellows like us.
"My intention is to make profession, and become a
knight of Malta," added Bragelonne, letting fall, one by one, words more icy than the drops which fall from the bare trees after the tempests of winter.
(39) The
Knight of Malta (1647), collaboratively authored by John Fletcher, Philip Mas-singer, and Nathan Field, was written nearly thirty years after Marlowe's play and is tragicomic in mode (ibid, 348).
Here is a thoroughly decent cove:
Knight of Malta; Knight of the Garter; much loved husband, father, and grandfather; blood donor; and lord lieutenant of one of England's oldest counties.