"He lived some distance away, in the heart of the mountain. He placed us in a little cabin built of blocks of marble and covered with great flat black stones, and there was nothing in the house but dried grass. That saint had nothing better to give us than a roof over our heads and the word of God. He lived in a house little more luxurious than the hut in which we were. "But I had not been there a week before the child was neat and well cared for, and the house quite comfortable. The shepherds and peasants did not turn their backs upon me, their priest had so thoroughly imbued them with gentleness and pity. I soon taught them certain things about the care of their flocks and the cultivation of their fields which they did not know, but which are familiar to all Moorish husbandmen. They listened to me, and, finding that I could help them, they allowed me to lack nothing that I needed. "I should have been very happy at falling in with that man of peace and that indulgent country, if I could have forgotten my poor father, the house in which I was born, my kinsmen and my friends, whom I was never to see again; but I came to love the poor orphan so dearly, that little by little I was consoled for everything. "The priest educated him and taught him French and Spanish, while I taught him my language, so that I might have one person in the world with whom I could speak it; but, do not think that, in teaching him Arabian prayers, I turned him away from the religion the priest was teaching him. Do not think that I spurn your God. No, no! when I saw that sincere, compassionate, learned, virtuous man, who talked so eloquently of his prophet _Issa_[15] and of the beautiful precepts of the _Engil_,[16] which do not tell us to do what the Koran forbids, it seemed to me that the best religion must be the one that he practised; and as I had not received baptism, despite the immersion of the Spanish priests--for I sheltered myself with my hands so that no drop of Christian water should fall on my head,--I consented to be baptized anew by that holy man, and I swore to Allah that I would never again deny in my heart the worship of Issa and Paraclet."[17] This artless declaration gave great satisfaction to the marquis, who, despite his recent philosophical notions, was, no more than Adamas, an upholder of the heathen idolatry attributed to the Moors of Spain. "So," he said, patting Mario's brown cheeks, "we are not dealing with devils, but with human beings of our own species. _Numes célestes_! I am very glad to hear it, for this poor woman interests me and this orphan touches my heart. And so, my handsome friend Mario, you were brought up by an excellent and learned curé of the Pyrenees! and you are a little scholar yourself! I cannot speak Arabic to you; but if your mother will consent to give you to me, I promise to have you brought up as a gentleman."