Mario did not know what being a gentleman was. He was unquestionably very far advanced for his age, and for the period and the environment in which he had been reared; but, in every other direction than religion, morality and languages, he was a genuine little savage, having no conception of the society which the marquis invited him to enter. He saw in the proposal nothing but ribbons, sweetmeats, pet dogs, and beautiful rooms filled with _bibelots_, which he took for toys. His eyes shone with ingenuous greed, and Bois-Doré, who was as ingenuous as he in his way, cried: "_Vive Dieu_! Master Jovelin, this child was born to high station. Did you see how his eyes sparkled at the word gentleman? Come, Mario, ask Mercedes to remain with us." "And me too!" said the child, naturally assuming that the offer was made first of all to his adopted mother. "You and she," replied Bois-Doré; "I know that it would be very cruel to separate you." Mario, overjoyed, hastened to say to the Moorish woman in Arabic, covering her with kisses: "Mother, we are not to travel the highroads any more. This kind lord is going to keep us here in his fine house!" Mercedes expressed her thanks with a sigh. "The child is not mine," she said, "he is God's, who has placed him in my care. I must seek his family until I find it. If his family no longer exists, or does not want him, I will return here, and on my knees I will say to you: 'Take him and turn me away if you will. I prefer to weep alone outside the door of the house where he lives and is happy, than to make him beg his bread any more." "This woman has a noble heart," said the marquis. "We will assist her with our money and our influence to find the persons she is seeking; but why does she not tell us what she knows of them? Perhaps we shall be able to assist her at once when we know the child's family name." "I do not know his name," said the Moor. "What hope had she then, when she left the mountains?" "Tell them what they want to know," said Mercedes to Mario, "but nothing of that which they must not know yet." [Footnote 14: Aurora.] [Footnote 15: Jesus.] [Footnote 16: The Gospel.] [Footnote 17: The Holy Spirit.] XVII Mario, enchanted to have an opportunity to tell his story, but without imprudence or affectation, with all the charm of his natural candor and of his limpid glance, began as follows: "We were very happy there; there were grottoes, cascades, high peaks and tall trees; everything was much bigger than it is here, and the water made much more noise. My mother kept some very good cows, and she dyed and spun wool and made a very strong cloth. Look at my white cap and her red cape. She made the material for both of them. I worked too. I made baskets; oh! I can make very nice ones! If I come back here to be a gentleman, you shall see! I will make all the baskets for the house!