Grandpapa, in a terrible to do, began to question him: "Come here! Where did you hit yourself? On the head, eh! Let us see! Why, it is swollen up—quite red in fact! Put some opodeldoc on it! Clementina, do you hear?—some opodeldoc for Maksi!" So the family medicament had to be fetched at once; but Maksi, snatching it from the worthy spinster's hand, threw it violently to the ground, so that the whole carpet was bespattered with it.
Nobody was allowed to scold him for this, however, as grandpapa was instantly ready with an excuse: "Maksi must not be vexed," said he. "Does not Maksi wear a sword by his side already? Maksi will be a great soldier one of these days!"
"Yes," replied the lad defiantly, "I'll be a general!"
"Yes, Maksi shall be a general; nothing less than a general, of course. But come, my boy, take your finger out of your mouth."
The English governess here thought she saw an opportunity of insinuating a professional remark.
"He who would be a general, must, first of all, learn a great deal."
"I don't want to learn. I mean to know everything without learning it. I say, grandpapa, if you've lots of money, you will know everything at once without learning it, won't you?"
The old man looked around him triumphantly.
"Now that I call genius, wit!" cried he.
And with that he tenderly pressed the little urchin's head to his breast and murmured: "Ah! he is my very grandson, my own flesh and blood."