"Never!"
"Master Jovelin," he said, addressing the mute, "is it not a melancholy thing to think of changing this child's sweet mode of speech, which strikes so melodiously upon the ear? Nay, we will allow him to use the familiar form of address to me in private, since in his mouth that familiarity is a sign of affection."
"Must I say vous to you?" queried Mario in amazement.
"Yes, my child, at least before other people. That is the custom."
"Ah! yes, that is how I spoke to Monsieur l'Abbé Anjorrant! But I love you more than I loved him."
"So you love me already, Mario? I am very glad! But how does it happen? You do not know me yet."
"No matter, I love you."
"And you do not know why?"
"Yes I do! I love you because I love you."
"My friend," said the marquis to Lucilio, "there is nothing so lovely and so lovable as childhood! It speaks as the angels must speak among themselves, and its reasons, which are no reasons, are worth more than all the wisdom of older heads. You must teach this cherub for me. You must fashion for him a noble brain like your own; for I am only an ignorant creature and I wish him to know much more than I do. The times are not so wholly given up to civil war as they were in my youth, and I think that gentlemen should turn their thoughts toward the enlightenment of the mind. But try to let him retain the pretty simple ways that he owes to his life among the shepherds. In truth he is my ideal of the lovely children who play among the flowers on the enchanted banks of the Lignon with its transparent waves."