self."

"What sort of a fellow is he?"

"Well, to tell you the truth he is a sort of ne'er-do-well," the
merchant laughed. "I grant that he has not had much chance. His
father died when he was a child, and his mother soon married again.
There is no doubt that he was badly treated at home, and when he
was twelve he ran away. He was taken back and beaten, time after
time; but in a few hours he was always off again, and at last they
let him go his own way. There is nothing he hasn't turned his hand
to. First he lived in the woods, I fancy; and they say he was the
most arrant young poacher in the district, though he was so cunning
that he was never caught. At last he had to give that up. Then he
fished for a bit, but he couldn't stick to it. He has been always
doing odd jobs, turning his hand to whatever turned up. He worked
in a shipyard for a bit, then I took him as a sort of errand boy
and porter. He didn't stop long, and the next I heard of him he was
servant at a priest's. He has been a dozen other things, and for
the last three or four months he has been in the stables where your
horse was standing. I fancy you saw him there. Some people think he
is half a fool, but I don't agree with them; he is as sharp as a
needle, to my mind. But, as I say, he has never had a fair chance.
A fellow like that, without friends, is sure to get roughly
treated."

"Is he a young man of about one or two and twenty?" Philip asked.
"I remember a fellow of about that age brought out the horse, and
as he seemed to me a shrewd fellow, and had evidently taken great
pains in grooming Robin, I gave him a crown. I thought he needed
it, for his clothes were old and tattered, and he looked as if he
hadn't had a hearty meal for a week.

"Well, Maitre Bertram, can you tell me if, among his other
occupations, he has ever been charged with theft?"

"No, I have never heard that brought against him."

"Why did he leave you?"

"It was from no complaint as to his honesty. Indeed, he left of his
own accord, after a quarrel with one of the men, who was, as far as
I could learn, in the wrong. I did not even hear that he had left
until a week after, and it was too late then to go thoroughly into
the matter. Boys are always troublesome and, as everyone had warned
me that Pierre would turn out badly, I gave the matter but little
thought at the time. Of course, you will not think of taking the
luckless rascal as your servant."

"I don't know. I will h