“Well, that is honest,” Hector said with a smile.  “However, I will ask him a few questions.  Now, Paolo, in the first place, could you be faithful?”

“I could be faithful to a master I loved,” he said.

“In the second place, are you honest?”

“He is honest,” the man said, “I will say that for him.”

“Are you truthful?”

“I am as truthful as other people,” the boy said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, sir, that if I were asked a straightforward question I would give a straightforward answer, unless it were wiser not to do so.  I would tell the truth to my master, but I do not consider it necessary always to do so to others.  For instance, sir, if you were my master, and questions were asked about you, there might be times when it would not be convenient for you that I should mention where you had gone, or what you were doing.”

“That is so,” Hector said with a laugh.  “The important thing for me to know is, would you always tell me the truth?”

“I think that I could promise to do that, sir, or at least to be very near the truth.”

“You understand horses?”

“I do, sir.”

“And you can ride?”

“Yes, sir, I can ride and run too.  In a long day’s journey I should get to the end on foot nearly as fast as you would on horseback.”

“He can make himself useful on a campaign,” the brother said.  “He has been with my master and myself in the field for the last three years, and knows his work well if he chooses to do it.”

“The principal point with me is that which I first asked him about, can he be faithful?  I may have to ride on dangerous missions for the general.  I may have to enter an enemy’s town to obtain information.  There is another thing, being of the general’s staff, and sometimes quartered in the same house with him and chatting freely with his other aides-de-camp, secrets might be picked up by a sharp pair of ears that if repeated would do grievous harm to the cause of the duchess, as you can well understand.  Now, the question, Paolo, is, can you be absolutely trusted; can you, as to all matters you may hear, be as one who is deaf and dumb?”

“I could, sir,” the boy said earnestly.  “I am all for the duchess, and I hate the Spaniards.  I once was found out in a bit of mischief in the palace, and should have been whipped for it and turned out of the town, but the duchess herself said that I was only a boy and forgave me, and I would do anything for her.  I would indeed, sir, and I swear that I would be always honest and truthful with you.  I should like you as a master.  You don’t speak to me as if I were dirt under your feet, and I am sure by your voice that you would be kind.  Try me, sir; my brother will tell you that I have never said as much before to anyone to whom he has taken me, for indeed I never meant to stay with them, preferring my liberty, rough though my fare may sometimes be.”