Amid all these employments and amusements Mario grew to be the prettiest boy imaginable. His complexion, naturally white, assumed a soft tone like that of the inner petals of a flower, beneath the warm sun of autumn in our provinces. His little hands, once rough and covered with scratches, now gloved and cared for, became as soft as Lauriane's. His magnificent chestnut hair was the pride and admiration of the ex-wigmaker Adamas. The marquis had wasted his efforts to teach him grace and charm of manner by rules; he had retained his natural charm, and, as for the graceful manners of a gentleman, he had acquired them instinctively on the first day, when he put on the satin doublet. So that the lessons in dancing which he received served only to develop his physical organization, which was one of those which cannot be destroyed. As soon as his wardrobe was supplied, the marquis took him to pay visits to all the neighbors within ten leagues. The actual appearance of the child was a great event in the province, for the jealous folk and the gossips had sneered about him at first as a chimera and a shadow; but he assumed substance and reality every day. When people saw him riding rapidly through the streets of La Châtre on his little horse, escorted by Clindor and Aristandre, they began to screw up their eyes and say to one another: "So it was really true?" They asked what his name was and what his name was to be. Would the marquis, a man of quality, be content to have for his heir a petty country squire? But had he the right to bequeath his title and his _three hens diademed argent_ to a Bouron? Would the present king permit it? Was it not contrary to the laws and customs of the nobility? A momentous question! It was discussed for a fortnight, and then people ceased to discuss it; for one soon wearies of subjects that require deep thought, and when they saw the old marquis and the little count go out to dine with some neighbor, both dressed exactly alike, whether in white _à la paysanne_, or in sky blue trimmed with silver purl, or in apricot satin with white feathers, or in _light green_, or in _peach pink_, with ribbons interwoven with gold and silver, and both reposing gracefully on the crimson cushions of the stately chariot, drawn by their beautiful great horses as beplumed as themselves, and followed by an escort of servants whom one might have taken for noblemen, so well mounted and well armed they were, and resplendent with gold lace, there was not a noble, bourgeois or villein, in town or village, who did not jump to his feet, crying: "Up! up! I hear the marquis's carriage coming! Come quickly and let us see the beaux messieurs de Bois-Doré ride by!" While these things were taking place in the fortunate province of Berry, the effervescence in the South of France was increasing in intensity. About the 15th of November, there came reliable intelligence that the king had been obliged to raise the siege of Montauban.