The Prince and the Pauper Mark Twain (readict books .TXT) đ
- Author: Mark Twain
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âYes, Sire,â Miles replied; then observed to himself, âIf I must humor the poor ladâs madness, I must âSireâ him, I must âMajestyâ him, I must not go by halves, I must stick at nothing that belongeth to the part I play, else shall I play it ill and work evil to this charitable and kindly cause.â
The king warmed his heart with a second glass of wine, and saidâ ââI would know theeâ âtell me thy story. Thou hast a gallant way with thee, and a nobleâ âart nobly born?â
âWe are of the tail of the nobility, good your Majesty. My father is a baronetâ âone of the smaller lords by knight service8â âSir Richard Hendon of Hendon Hall, by Monkâs Holm in Kent.â
âThe name has escaped my memory. Go onâ âtell me thy story.â
âââTis not much, your Majesty, yet perchance it may beguile a short half-hour for want of a better. My father, Sir Richard, is very rich, and of a most generous nature. My mother died whilst I was yet a boy. I have two brothers: Arthur, my elder, with a soul like to his fatherâs; and Hugh, younger than I, a mean spirit, covetous, treacherous, vicious, underhandedâ âa reptile. Such was he from the cradle; such was he ten years past, when I last saw himâ âa ripe rascal at nineteen, I being twenty then, and Arthur twenty-two. There is none other of us but the Lady Edith, my cousinâ âshe was sixteen thenâ âbeautiful, gentle, good, the daughter of an earl, the last of her race, heiress of a great fortune and a lapsed title. My father was her guardian. I loved her and she loved me; but she was betrothed to Arthur from the cradle, and Sir Richard would not suffer the contract to be broken. Arthur loved another maid, and bade us be of good cheer and hold fast to the hope that delay and luck together would some day give success to our several causes. Hugh loved the Lady Edithâs fortune, though in truth he said it was herself he lovedâ âbut then âtwas his way, alway, to say the one thing and mean the other. But he lost his arts upon the girl; he could deceive my father, but none else. My father loved him best of us all, and trusted and believed him; for he was the youngest child, and others hated himâ âthese qualities being in all ages sufficient to win a parentâs dearest love; and he had a smooth persuasive tongue, with an admirable gift of lyingâ âand these be qualities which do mightily assist a blind affection to cozen itself. I was wildâ âin troth I might go yet farther and say very wild, though âtwas a wildness of an innocent sort, since it hurt none but me, brought shame to none, nor loss, nor had in it any taint of crime or baseness, or what might not beseem mine honorable degree.
âYet did my brother Hugh turn these faults to good accountâ âhe seeing that our brother Arthurâs health was but indifferent, and hoping the worst might work him profit were I swept out of the pathâ âsoâ âbut âtwere a long tale, good my liege, and little worth the telling. Briefly, then, this brother did deftly magnify my faults and make them crimes; ending his base work with finding a silken ladder in mine apartmentsâ âconveyed thither by his own meansâ âand did convince my father by this, and suborned evidence of servants and other lying knaves, that I was minded to carry off my Edith and marry with her in rank defiance of his will.
âThree years of banishment from home and England might make a soldier and a man of me, my father said, and teach me some degree of wisdom. I fought out my long probation in the continental wars, tasting sumptuously of hard knocks, privation, and adventure; but in my last battle I was taken captive, and during the seven years that have waxed and waned since then, a foreign dungeon hath harbored me. Through wit and courage I won to the free air at last, and fled hither straight; and am but just arrived, right poor in purse and raiment, and poorer still in knowledge of what these dull seven years have wrought at Hendon Hall, its people and belongings. So please you, sir, my meagre tale is told.â
âThou hast been shamefully abused!â said the little king, with a flashing eye. âBut I will right theeâ âby the cross will I! The king hath said it.â
Then, fired by the story of Milesâs wrongs, he loosed his tongue and poured the history of his own recent misfortunes into the ears of his astonished listener. When he had finished, Miles said to himselfâ â
âLo, what an imagination he hath! Verily, this is no common mind; else, crazed or sane, it could not weave so straight and gaudy a tale as this out of the airy nothings wherewith it hath wrought this curious romaunt. Poor ruined little head, it shall not lack friend or shelter whilst I bide with the living. He shall never leave my side; he shall be my pet, my little comrade. And he shall be cured!â âay, made whole and soundâ âthen will he make himself a nameâ âand proud shall I be to say, âYes, he is mineâ âI took him, a homeless little ragamuffin, but I saw what was in him, and I said his name would be heard some dayâ âbehold him, observe himâ âwas I right?âââ
The king spokeâ âin a thoughtful, measured voiceâ â
âThou didst save me injury and shame, perchance my life, and so my crown. Such service demandeth rich reward. Name thy desire, and so it be within the compass of my royal power, it is thine.â
This fantastic suggestion startled Hendon out of his reverie. He was about to thank the king and put the matter aside with saying he had only done his duty and desired no reward, but a wiser thought came into his head, and he asked leave to be silent a few moments and
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