"In regard to his education, my good father," I replied, "all I can give him, I am afraid, will be a military one; but, as I trust that you and I will never again be separated so long as we have lately been, you must take upon you to supply all that which I am incompetent to afford." "Willingly, willingly," replied Father Ferdinand; "and I think, upon those conditions, there can be no other difficulty; yet, still, I should like to consider of the matter for at least two days; and, in the meanwhile, you can ask Monsieur de Villardin's approbation of these arrangements." "Oh, I am sure he will consent," replied I, "if you, on your part, have power to consent for young Clement de la Marke, which I suppose you have," I added, with a smile, "for he is so like you, that there must be some relationship." "It is very extraordinary," replied Father Ferdinand, "but there certainly is a likeness strong enough to be visible to my own eyes; and yet he has nearer relations than myself living, to whom his resemblance is not so great." Two days after this conversation, I informed Father Ferdinand that Monsieur de Villardin had consented to my making any arrangement of the kind that I liked. He, on his part, signified his full approbation, and, on the subsequent evening, little Clement de la Marke was removed to the château. So engaging were his manners, and so amiable his disposition, that though Monsieur de Villardin smiled at the diminutive size of my page, I myself remained very well satisfied with the transaction; and, fortunately, soon after I procured a burly Breton as a groom, who made up in size for all that little Clement wanted. CHAPTER XXXI. The convalescence of Laura de Villardin proceeded rapidly, and she was soon able to take the air in the huge lumbering coach of those times, which was a very different sort of machine from the gay and gilded equipages of the present day. I was always selected to carry her from her couch to the carriage; and no one suspecting that our feelings would ever become dangerous to our own peace, our childish partiality only excited a smile on the part of Monsieur de Villardin, and was the source of no small pleasure to ourselves. As she acquired strength, it was decided by her physician that exercise on horseback would complete her recovery; and I sought and obtained the task both of breaking a horse for her service and teaching her to ride. She was then as sweet a girl as ever I beheld, and each day was adding new graces to her person and to her mind. Her heart was as gentle and as kind as that of Madame de Villardin, and she had a degree of the same graceful playfulness, which I had observed in her mother when first I saw her, mingled with the deeper and more intense feelings, which--misguided and abused--had been the cause of misery in her father's bosom.