mail.

The old knight was thus debarred from bringing up his son as his own
squire. But the Bishop of Grenoble, his wife's brother, was a close
friend of Charles the Warrior, the great Duke of Savoy. When Pierre was
in his fourteenth year it was proposed that he should begin his knightly
education among the pages of the duke. The bishop promised to present
him. A little horse was bought; a tailor was set to work to make a
gorgeous suit of silk and velvet; and Pierre was ready to set out.

During six months the palace of Charles became his home. The lovable and
handsome boy soon won all hearts about him. The duke with delight saw
him leap and wrestle, throw the bar, and ride a horse better than any
page about the court. The duchess and her ladies loved to send him on
their dainty missions. His temper was bright and joyous; his only fault,
if fault it can be called, was an over-generosity of nature. His purse
was always empty; and when he had no money, any trifling service of a
lackey or a groom would be requited with a silver button, a dagger, or a
clasp of gold. And such was to be his character through life. Time after
time, in after years, his share of treasure, after some great victory,
would have paid a prince's ransom; yet often he could not lay his hand
on five gold pieces.

When Pierre had lived at the palace about half a year, the duke made a
visit to Lyons, to pay his duty to the king. That king was Charles the
Eighth, then a boy of twenty, who was making his days fly merrily with
tilts and hawking parties, and his nights with dances and the whispers
of fair dames. The duke desired to carry with him to his sovereign a
present worthy of a king's acceptance. A happy notion struck him. He
resolved to present the king with Bayard and his horse.

King Charles, delighted with his new page, placed him in the palace of
Lord Ligny, a prince of the great house of Luxemburg, and there for
three years he continued to reside. During that time his training was
the usual training of a page. But the child was the father of the man.
Thoughts of great deeds, of tilts and battle-fields, of champions going
down before his lance, of crowns of myrtle, and the smiles of lovely
ladies--such already were the dreams which set his soul on fire.

At seventeen Pierre received the rank of gentleman. Thenceforward he was
free to follow his own fortune; he was free to seek the glorious
Dulcinea of his dreams--a fame as bright and sparklin