The latter had taken a liking to the little fellow who was always kicking about his heels, and asked Adelaide to let him come, refusing to take anything for his board and lodging.

Silvere eagerly accepted, already foreseeing the time when he would be able to make his poor aunt Dide some return for all she had spent upon him.
In a short time he became an excellent workman.

He cherished, however, much higher ambitions.

Having once seen, at a coachbuilder's at Plassans, a fine new carriage, shining with varnish, he vowed that he would one day build carriages himself.

He remembered this carriage as a rare and unique work of art, an ideal towards which his aspirations should tend.