and i said why not , there was nothing so awful about bein ' french , not everybody could be scots , and i didna think his hand mattered a bit either-after all , there was mr. murray wi ' his wooden leg , and mother liked him well enough-but then he said , no , it was none of those things , and then he told me-about paris , i mean , and being born in a brothel and being a pick-pocket until he met da . ''