“I make my excuses _ut iterum_, and that does not prevent me from saying once more that I am the very humble servant of monsieur le marquis _junior_.” “Not Junior! de Grandvilain,” said Jasmin solemnly. “One does not prevent the other,” replied Monsieur Gérondif, with a sly smile, “permit me to inform you, brave Eumæus; for you remind me much of that virtuous and royal retainer of Ulysses, King of Ithaca. I do not know whether he was bald too--Homer does not say, but it is very probable. I am at the orders of Monsieur le Marquis de Grandvilain, who can now tell me what he wants of me instantly.” The schoolmaster’s long sentences, and the quotations with which he seasoned his discourse, produced the best effect upon Jasmin, who, like most fools, placed a high estimate on whatever he did not understand; so he nodded his head to the nurse, muttering: “He is a learned man! a very learned man, in fact; he will do very well for us.” As for Chérubin, who was not of his old servant’s opinion, and who found Monsieur Gérondif very tiresome, he answered without hesitation: “I don’t want you at all; it was Jasmin who insisted on sending for you, to make me study--I don’t know what! I am perfectly willing to learn, but Louise must stay with me during my lessons.” Having said this, Chérubin abruptly turned his back on the schoolmaster; Louise did the same, laughing heartily at Monsieur Gérondif’s nose; and the two children ran from the room, to return to the garden and eat more plums. The others deemed it best to let them go, and Jasmin asked Monsieur Gérondif, with a respectful air, if he were willing to give lessons to his young master, who had learned nothing as yet, and to whom it was high time that some attention should be paid if they wished him to have any education. Monsieur Gérondif received the proposal with delight; he shook Jasmin’s hand warmly and said: “Trust me, we will make up for lost time. I will make the young marquis work like a horse.” “Oh, no!” cried the old servant, “my young master is very delicate; he isn’t used to studying and you will make him ill; you must go gently with him.” “Of course, of course!” replied Gérondif, scratching his nose. “When I say like a horse, I use a figure of speech--a metaphor, if you prefer; we will go _piano et sano--ecce rem!_ In addition to writing and mathematics, I will teach monsieur le marquis his own language, root and branch, so that he may speak it as I do; that is to say, with elegance; also Latin, Greek, Italian, philosophy, history, ancient and modern, mythology, rhetoric, the art of versification, geography, astronomy, a little physics, and chemistry, and mineralogy, and----” “Oh! that is enough, monsieur le professeur!” cried Jasmin, bewildered by all that he heard, and aghast with admiration at Monsieur Gérondif’s learning. “When my young master knows all those things, he will be quite learned enough.”