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diff --git a/old/prppr11.txt b/old/prppr11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2f1213 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/prppr11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8116 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Prince and The Pauper, by Mark Twain +#14 in our series by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Prince and The Pauper + +Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +Release Date: July, 1999 [EBook #1837] +[This file was last updated on March 18, 2003] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] +The previous edition was prepared by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset + + + + + +The Prince and the Pauper + +by Mark Twain + + + + +Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, to Lord Cromwell, on the birth of the +Prince of Wales (afterward Edward VI.). + +From the National Manuscripts preserved by the British Government. + +Ryght honorable, Salutem in Christo Jesu, and Syr here ys no lesse joynge +and rejossynge in thes partees for the byrth of our prynce, hoom we +hungurde for so longe, then ther was (I trow), inter vicinos att the +byrth of S. J. Baptyste, as thys berer, Master Erance, can telle you. +Gode gyffe us alle grace, to yelde dew thankes to our Lorde Gode, Gode of +Inglonde, for verely He hathe shoyd Hym selff Gode of Inglonde, or rather +an Inglyssh Gode, yf we consydyr and pondyr welle alle Hys procedynges +with us from tyme to tyme. He hath over cumme alle our yllnesse with Hys +excedynge goodnesse, so that we are now moor then compellyd to serve Hym, +seke Hys glory, promott Hys wurde, yf the Devylle of alle Devylles be +natt in us. We have now the stooppe of vayne trustes ande the stey of +vayne expectations; lett us alle pray for hys preservatione. Ande I for +my partt wylle wyssh that hys Grace allways have, and evyn now from the +begynynge, Governares, Instructores and offyceres of ryght jugmente, ne +optimum ingenium non optima educatione deprevetur. + +Butt whatt a grett fowlle am I! So, whatt devotione shoyth many tymys +butt lytelle dyscretione! Ande thus the Gode of Inglonde be ever with +you in alle your procedynges. + +The 19 of October. + +Youres, H. L. B. of Wurcestere, now att Hartlebury. + +Yf you wolde excytt thys berere to be moore hartye ayen the abuse of +ymagry or mor forwarde to promotte the veryte, ytt myght doo goode. Natt +that ytt came of me, butt of your selffe, etc. + +(Addressed) To the Ryght Honorable Loorde P. Sealle hys synguler gode +Lorde. + + + +To those good-mannered and agreeable children Susie and Clara Clemens +this book is affectionately inscribed by their father. + + + +I will set down a tale as it was told to me by one who had it of his +father, which latter had it of HIS father, this last having in like +manner had it of HIS father--and so on, back and still back, three +hundred years and more, the fathers transmitting it to the sons and so +preserving it. It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. +It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it COULD have +happened. It may be that the wise and the learned believed it in the old +days; it may be that only the unlearned and the simple loved it and +credited it. + + + + +Contents. + +I. The birth of the Prince and the Pauper. +II. Tom's early life. +III. Tom's meeting with the Prince. +IV. The Prince's troubles begin. +V. Tom as a patrician. +VI. Tom receives instructions. +VII. Tom's first royal dinner. +VIII. The question of the Seal. +IX. The river pageant. +X. The Prince in the toils. +XI. At Guildhall. +XII. The Prince and his deliverer. +XIII. The disappearance of the Prince. +XIV. 'Le Roi est mort--vive le Roi.' +XV. Tom as King. +XVI. The state dinner. +XVII. Foo-foo the First. +XVIII. The Prince with the tramps. +XIX. The Prince with the peasants. +XX. The Prince and the hermit. +XXI. Hendon to the rescue. +XXII. A victim of treachery. +XXIII. The Prince a prisoner. +XXIV. The escape. +XXV. Hendon Hall. +XXVI. Disowned. +XXVII. In prison. +XXVIII. The sacrifice. +XXIX. To London. +XXX. Tom's progress. +XXXI. The Recognition procession. +XXXII. Coronation Day. +XXXIII. Edward as King. +Conclusion. Justice and Retribution. +Notes. + + + + 'The quality of mercy . . . is twice bless'd; + It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes; + 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes + The thron-ed monarch better than his crown'. + Merchant of Venice. + + + + +Chapter I. The birth of the Prince and the Pauper. + +In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second +quarter of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the +name of Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English +child was born to a rich family of the name of Tudor, who did want him. +All England wanted him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for +him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the +people went nearly mad for joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed +each other and cried. Everybody took a holiday, and high and low, rich +and poor, feasted and danced and sang, and got very mellow; and they kept +this up for days and nights together. By day, London was a sight to see, +with gay banners waving from every balcony and housetop, and splendid +pageants marching along. By night, it was again a sight to see, with its +great bonfires at every corner, and its troops of revellers making merry +around them. There was no talk in all England but of the new baby, +Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales, who lay lapped in silks and satins, +unconscious of all this fuss, and not knowing that great lords and ladies +were tending him and watching over him--and not caring, either. But +there was no talk about the other baby, Tom Canty, lapped in his poor +rags, except among the family of paupers whom he had just come to trouble +with his presence. + + + +Chapter II. Tom's early life. + +Let us skip a number of years. + +London was fifteen hundred years old, and was a great town--for that day. +It had a hundred thousand inhabitants--some think double as many. The +streets were very narrow, and crooked, and dirty, especially in the part +where Tom Canty lived, which was not far from London Bridge. The houses +were of wood, with the second story projecting over the first, and the +third sticking its elbows out beyond the second. The higher the houses +grew, the broader they grew. They were skeletons of strong criss-cross +beams, with solid material between, coated with plaster. The beams were +painted red or blue or black, according to the owner's taste, and this +gave the houses a very picturesque look. The windows were small, glazed +with little diamond-shaped panes, and they opened outward, on hinges, +like doors. + +The house which Tom's father lived in was up a foul little pocket called +Offal Court, out of Pudding Lane. It was small, decayed, and rickety, +but it was packed full of wretchedly poor families. Canty's tribe +occupied a room on the third floor. The mother and father had a sort of +bedstead in the corner; but Tom, his grandmother, and his two sisters, +Bet and Nan, were not restricted--they had all the floor to themselves, +and might sleep where they chose. There were the remains of a blanket or +two, and some bundles of ancient and dirty straw, but these could not +rightly be called beds, for they were not organised; they were kicked +into a general pile, mornings, and selections made from the mass at +night, for service. + +Bet and Nan were fifteen years old--twins. They were good-hearted girls, +unclean, clothed in rags, and profoundly ignorant. Their mother was like +them. But the father and the grandmother were a couple of fiends. They +got drunk whenever they could; then they fought each other or anybody +else who came in the way; they cursed and swore always, drunk or sober; +John Canty was a thief, and his mother a beggar. They made beggars of +the children, but failed to make thieves of them. Among, but not of, the +dreadful rabble that inhabited the house, was a good old priest whom the +King had turned out of house and home with a pension of a few farthings, +and he used to get the children aside and teach them right ways secretly. +Father Andrew also taught Tom a little Latin, and how to read and write; +and would have done the same with the girls, but they were afraid of the +jeers of their friends, who could not have endured such a queer +accomplishment in them. + +All Offal Court was just such another hive as Canty's house. Drunkenness, +riot and brawling were the order, there, every night and nearly all night +long. Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place. Yet little +Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it, but did not know it. It +was the sort of time that all the Offal Court boys had, therefore he +supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing. When he came home +empty-handed at night, he knew his father would curse him and thrash him +first, and that when he was done the awful grandmother would do it all +over again and improve on it; and that away in the night his starving +mother would slip to him stealthily with any miserable scrap or crust she +had been able to save for him by going hungry herself, notwithstanding +she was often caught in that sort of treason and soundly beaten for it by +her husband. + +No, Tom's life went along well enough, especially in summer. He only +begged just enough to save himself, for the laws against mendicancy were +stringent, and the penalties heavy; so he put in a good deal of his time +listening to good Father Andrew's charming old tales and legends about +giants and fairies, dwarfs and genii, and enchanted castles, and gorgeous +kings and princes. His head grew to be full of these wonderful things, +and many a night as he lay in the dark on his scant and offensive straw, +tired, hungry, and smarting from a thrashing, he unleashed his +imagination and soon forgot his aches and pains in delicious picturings +to himself of the charmed life of a petted prince in a regal palace. One +desire came in time to haunt him day and night: it was to see a real +prince, with his own eyes. He spoke of it once to some of his Offal +Court comrades; but they jeered him and scoffed him so unmercifully that +he was glad to keep his dream to himself after that. + +He often read the priest's old books and got him to explain and enlarge +upon them. His dreamings and readings worked certain changes in him, by- +and-by. His dream-people were so fine that he grew to lament his shabby +clothing and his dirt, and to wish to be clean and better clad. He went +on playing in the mud just the same, and enjoying it, too; but, instead +of splashing around in the Thames solely for the fun of it, he began to +find an added value in it because of the washings and cleansings it +afforded. + +Tom could always find something going on around the Maypole in Cheapside, +and at the fairs; and now and then he and the rest of London had a chance +to see a military parade when some famous unfortunate was carried +prisoner to the Tower, by land or boat. One summer's day he saw poor Anne +Askew and three men burned at the stake in Smithfield, and heard an ex- +Bishop preach a sermon to them which did not interest him. Yes, Tom's +life was varied and pleasant enough, on the whole. + +By-and-by Tom's reading and dreaming about princely life wrought such a +strong effect upon him that he began to ACT the prince, unconsciously. +His speech and manners became curiously ceremonious and courtly, to the +vast admiration and amusement of his intimates. But Tom's influence +among these young people began to grow now, day by day; and in time he +came to be looked up to, by them, with a sort of wondering awe, as a +superior being. He seemed to know so much! and he could do and say such +marvellous things! and withal, he was so deep and wise! Tom's remarks, +and Tom's performances, were reported by the boys to their elders; and +these, also, presently began to discuss Tom Canty, and to regard him as a +most gifted and extraordinary creature. Full-grown people brought their +perplexities to Tom for solution, and were often astonished at the wit +and wisdom of his decisions. In fact he was become a hero to all who +knew him except his own family--these, only, saw nothing in him. + +Privately, after a while, Tom organised a royal court! He was the +prince; his special comrades were guards, chamberlains, equerries, lords +and ladies in waiting, and the royal family. Daily the mock prince was +received with elaborate ceremonials borrowed by Tom from his romantic +readings; daily the great affairs of the mimic kingdom were discussed in +the royal council, and daily his mimic highness issued decrees to his +imaginary armies, navies, and viceroyalties. + +After which, he would go forth in his rags and beg a few farthings, eat +his poor crust, take his customary cuffs and abuse, and then stretch +himself upon his handful of foul straw, and resume his empty grandeurs in +his dreams. + +And still his desire to look just once upon a real prince, in the flesh, +grew upon him, day by day, and week by week, until at last it absorbed +all other desires, and became the one passion of his life. + +One January day, on his usual begging tour, he tramped despondently up +and down the region round about Mincing Lane and Little East Cheap, hour +after hour, bare-footed and cold, looking in at cook-shop windows and +longing for the dreadful pork-pies and other deadly inventions displayed +there--for to him these were dainties fit for the angels; that is, +judging by the smell, they were--for it had never been his good luck to +own and eat one. There was a cold drizzle of rain; the atmosphere was +murky; it was a melancholy day. At night Tom reached home so wet and +tired and hungry that it was not possible for his father and grandmother +to observe his forlorn condition and not be moved--after their fashion; +wherefore they gave him a brisk cuffing at once and sent him to bed. For +a long time his pain and hunger, and the swearing and fighting going on +in the building, kept him awake; but at last his thoughts drifted away to +far, romantic lands, and he fell asleep in the company of jewelled and +gilded princelings who live in vast palaces, and had servants salaaming +before them or flying to execute their orders. And then, as usual, he +dreamed that HE was a princeling himself. + +All night long the glories of his royal estate shone upon him; he moved +among great lords and ladies, in a blaze of light, breathing perfumes, +drinking in delicious music, and answering the reverent obeisances of the +glittering throng as it parted to make way for him, with here a smile, +and there a nod of his princely head. + +And when he awoke in the morning and looked upon the wretchedness about +him, his dream had had its usual effect--it had intensified the +sordidness of his surroundings a thousandfold. Then came bitterness, and +heart-break, and tears. + + + +Chapter III. Tom's meeting with the Prince. + +Tom got up hungry, and sauntered hungry away, but with his thoughts busy +with the shadowy splendours of his night's dreams. He wandered here and +there in the city, hardly noticing where he was going, or what was +happening around him. People jostled him, and some gave him rough +speech; but it was all lost on the musing boy. By-and-by he found +himself at Temple Bar, the farthest from home he had ever travelled in +that direction. He stopped and considered a moment, then fell into his +imaginings again, and passed on outside the walls of London. The Strand +had ceased to be a country-road then, and regarded itself as a street, +but by a strained construction; for, though there was a tolerably compact +row of houses on one side of it, there were only some scattered great +buildings on the other, these being palaces of rich nobles, with ample +and beautiful grounds stretching to the river--grounds that are now +closely packed with grim acres of brick and stone. + +Tom discovered Charing Village presently, and rested himself at the +beautiful cross built there by a bereaved king of earlier days; then +idled down a quiet, lovely road, past the great cardinal's stately +palace, toward a far more mighty and majestic palace beyond--Westminster. +Tom stared in glad wonder at the vast pile of masonry, the wide-spreading +wings, the frowning bastions and turrets, the huge stone gateway, with +its gilded bars and its magnificent array of colossal granite lions, and +other the signs and symbols of English royalty. Was the desire of his +soul to be satisfied at last? Here, indeed, was a king's palace. Might +he not hope to see a prince now--a prince of flesh and blood, if Heaven +were willing? + +At each side of the gilded gate stood a living statue--that is to say, an +erect and stately and motionless man-at-arms, clad from head to heel in +shining steel armour. At a respectful distance were many country folk, +and people from the city, waiting for any chance glimpse of royalty that +might offer. Splendid carriages, with splendid people in them and +splendid servants outside, were arriving and departing by several other +noble gateways that pierced the royal enclosure. + +Poor little Tom, in his rags, approached, and was moving slowly and +timidly past the sentinels, with a beating heart and a rising hope, when +all at once he caught sight through the golden bars of a spectacle that +almost made him shout for joy. Within was a comely boy, tanned and brown +with sturdy outdoor sports and exercises, whose clothing was all of +lovely silks and satins, shining with jewels; at his hip a little +jewelled sword and dagger; dainty buskins on his feet, with red heels; +and on his head a jaunty crimson cap, with drooping plumes fastened with +a great sparkling gem. Several gorgeous gentlemen stood near--his +servants, without a doubt. Oh! he was a prince--a prince, a living +prince, a real prince--without the shadow of a question; and the prayer +of the pauper-boy's heart was answered at last. + +Tom's breath came quick and short with excitement, and his eyes grew big +with wonder and delight. Everything gave way in his mind instantly to +one desire: that was to get close to the prince, and have a good, +devouring look at him. Before he knew what he was about, he had his face +against the gate-bars. The next instant one of the soldiers snatched him +rudely away, and sent him spinning among the gaping crowd of country +gawks and London idlers. The soldier said,-- + +"Mind thy manners, thou young beggar!" + +The crowd jeered and laughed; but the young prince sprang to the gate +with his face flushed, and his eyes flashing with indignation, and cried +out,-- + +"How dar'st thou use a poor lad like that? How dar'st thou use the King +my father's meanest subject so? Open the gates, and let him in!" + +You should have seen that fickle crowd snatch off their hats then. You +should have heard them cheer, and shout, "Long live the Prince of Wales!" + +The soldiers presented arms with their halberds, opened the gates, and +presented again as the little Prince of Poverty passed in, in his +fluttering rags, to join hands with the Prince of Limitless Plenty. + +Edward Tudor said-- + +"Thou lookest tired and hungry: thou'st been treated ill. Come with +me." + +Half a dozen attendants sprang forward to--I don't know what; interfere, +no doubt. But they were waved aside with a right royal gesture, and they +stopped stock still where they were, like so many statues. Edward took +Tom to a rich apartment in the palace, which he called his cabinet. By +his command a repast was brought such as Tom had never encountered before +except in books. The prince, with princely delicacy and breeding, sent +away the servants, so that his humble guest might not be embarrassed by +their critical presence; then he sat near by, and asked questions while +Tom ate. + +"What is thy name, lad?" + +"Tom Canty, an' it please thee, sir." + +"'Tis an odd one. Where dost live?" + +"In the city, please thee, sir. Offal Court, out of Pudding Lane." + +"Offal Court! Truly 'tis another odd one. Hast parents?" + +"Parents have I, sir, and a grand-dam likewise that is but indifferently +precious to me, God forgive me if it be offence to say it--also twin +sisters, Nan and Bet." + +"Then is thy grand-dam not over kind to thee, I take it?" + +"Neither to any other is she, so please your worship. She hath a wicked +heart, and worketh evil all her days." + +"Doth she mistreat thee?" + +"There be times that she stayeth her hand, being asleep or overcome with +drink; but when she hath her judgment clear again, she maketh it up to me +with goodly beatings." + +A fierce look came into the little prince's eyes, and he cried out-- + +"What! Beatings?" + +"Oh, indeed, yes, please you, sir." + +"BEATINGS!--and thou so frail and little. Hark ye: before the night +come, she shall hie her to the Tower. The King my father"-- + +"In sooth, you forget, sir, her low degree. The Tower is for the great +alone." + +"True, indeed. I had not thought of that. I will consider of her +punishment. Is thy father kind to thee?" + +"Not more than Gammer Canty, sir." + +"Fathers be alike, mayhap. Mine hath not a doll's temper. He smiteth +with a heavy hand, yet spareth me: he spareth me not always with his +tongue, though, sooth to say. How doth thy mother use thee?" + +"She is good, sir, and giveth me neither sorrow nor pain of any sort. +And Nan and Bet are like to her in this." + +"How old be these?" + +"Fifteen, an' it please you, sir." + +"The Lady Elizabeth, my sister, is fourteen, and the Lady Jane Grey, my +cousin, is of mine own age, and comely and gracious withal; but my sister +the Lady Mary, with her gloomy mien and--Look you: do thy sisters forbid +their servants to smile, lest the sin destroy their souls?" + +"They? Oh, dost think, sir, that THEY have servants?" + +The little prince contemplated the little pauper gravely a moment, then +said-- + +"And prithee, why not? Who helpeth them undress at night? Who attireth +them when they rise?" + +"None, sir. Would'st have them take off their garment, and sleep +without--like the beasts?" + +"Their garment! Have they but one?" + +"Ah, good your worship, what would they do with more? Truly they have +not two bodies each." + +"It is a quaint and marvellous thought! Thy pardon, I had not meant to +laugh. But thy good Nan and thy Bet shall have raiment and lackeys enow, +and that soon, too: my cofferer shall look to it. No, thank me not; +'tis nothing. Thou speakest well; thou hast an easy grace in it. Art +learned?" + +"I know not if I am or not, sir. The good priest that is called Father +Andrew taught me, of his kindness, from his books." + +"Know'st thou the Latin?" + +"But scantly, sir, I doubt." + +"Learn it, lad: 'tis hard only at first. The Greek is harder; but +neither these nor any tongues else, I think, are hard to the Lady +Elizabeth and my cousin. Thou should'st hear those damsels at it! But +tell me of thy Offal Court. Hast thou a pleasant life there?" + +"In truth, yes, so please you, sir, save when one is hungry. There be +Punch-and-Judy shows, and monkeys--oh such antic creatures! and so +bravely dressed!--and there be plays wherein they that play do shout and +fight till all are slain, and 'tis so fine to see, and costeth but a +farthing--albeit 'tis main hard to get the farthing, please your +worship." + +"Tell me more." + +"We lads of Offal Court do strive against each other with the cudgel, +like to the fashion of the 'prentices, sometimes." + +The prince's eyes flashed. Said he-- + +"Marry, that would not I mislike. Tell me more." + +"We strive in races, sir, to see who of us shall be fleetest." + +"That would I like also. Speak on." + +"In summer, sir, we wade and swim in the canals and in the river, and +each doth duck his neighbour, and splatter him with water, and dive and +shout and tumble and--" + +"'Twould be worth my father's kingdom but to enjoy it once! Prithee go +on." + +"We dance and sing about the Maypole in Cheapside; we play in the sand, +each covering his neighbour up; and times we make mud pastry--oh the +lovely mud, it hath not its like for delightfulness in all the world!--we +do fairly wallow in the mud, sir, saving your worship's presence." + +"Oh, prithee, say no more, 'tis glorious! If that I could but clothe me +in raiment like to thine, and strip my feet, and revel in the mud once, +just once, with none to rebuke me or forbid, meseemeth I could forego the +crown!" + +"And if that I could clothe me once, sweet sir, as thou art clad--just +once--" + +"Oho, would'st like it? Then so shall it be. Doff thy rags, and don +these splendours, lad! It is a brief happiness, but will be not less +keen for that. We will have it while we may, and change again before any +come to molest." + +A few minutes later the little Prince of Wales was garlanded with Tom's +fluttering odds and ends, and the little Prince of Pauperdom was tricked +out in the gaudy plumage of royalty. The two went and stood side by side +before a great mirror, and lo, a miracle: there did not seem to have been +any change made! They stared at each other, then at the glass, then at +each other again. At last the puzzled princeling said-- + +"What dost thou make of this?" + +"Ah, good your worship, require me not to answer. It is not meet that +one of my degree should utter the thing." + +"Then will _I_ utter it. Thou hast the same hair, the same eyes, the +same voice and manner, the same form and stature, the same face and +countenance that I bear. Fared we forth naked, there is none could say +which was you, and which the Prince of Wales. And, now that I am clothed +as thou wert clothed, it seemeth I should be able the more nearly to feel +as thou didst when the brute soldier--Hark ye, is not this a bruise upon +your hand?" + +"Yes; but it is a slight thing, and your worship knoweth that the poor +man-at-arms--" + +"Peace! It was a shameful thing and a cruel!" cried the little prince, +stamping his bare foot. "If the King--Stir not a step till I come again! +It is a command!" + +In a moment he had snatched up and put away an article of national +importance that lay upon a table, and was out at the door and flying +through the palace grounds in his bannered rags, with a hot face and +glowing eyes. As soon as he reached the great gate, he seized the bars, +and tried to shake them, shouting-- + +"Open! Unbar the gates!" + +The soldier that had maltreated Tom obeyed promptly; and as the prince +burst through the portal, half-smothered with royal wrath, the soldier +fetched him a sounding box on the ear that sent him whirling to the +roadway, and said-- + +"Take that, thou beggar's spawn, for what thou got'st me from his +Highness!" + +The crowd roared with laughter. The prince picked himself out of the +mud, and made fiercely at the sentry, shouting-- + +"I am the Prince of Wales, my person is sacred; and thou shalt hang for +laying thy hand upon me!" + +The soldier brought his halberd to a present-arms and said mockingly-- + +"I salute your gracious Highness." Then angrily--"Be off, thou crazy +rubbish!" + +Here the jeering crowd closed round the poor little prince, and hustled +him far down the road, hooting him, and shouting-- + +"Way for his Royal Highness! Way for the Prince of Wales!" + + + +Chapter IV. The Prince's troubles begin. + +After hours of persistent pursuit and persecution, the little prince was +at last deserted by the rabble and left to himself. As long as he had +been able to rage against the mob, and threaten it royally, and royally +utter commands that were good stuff to laugh at, he was very +entertaining; but when weariness finally forced him to be silent, he was +no longer of use to his tormentors, and they sought amusement elsewhere. +He looked about him, now, but could not recognise the locality. He was +within the city of London--that was all he knew. He moved on, aimlessly, +and in a little while the houses thinned, and the passers-by were +infrequent. He bathed his bleeding feet in the brook which flowed then +where Farringdon Street now is; rested a few moments, then passed on, and +presently came upon a great space with only a few scattered houses in it, +and a prodigious church. He recognised this church. Scaffoldings were +about, everywhere, and swarms of workmen; for it was undergoing elaborate +repairs. The prince took heart at once--he felt that his troubles were +at an end, now. He said to himself, "It is the ancient Grey Friars' +Church, which the king my father hath taken from the monks and given for +a home for ever for poor and forsaken children, and new-named it Christ's +Church. Right gladly will they serve the son of him who hath done so +generously by them--and the more that that son is himself as poor and as +forlorn as any that be sheltered here this day, or ever shall be." + +He was soon in the midst of a crowd of boys who were running, jumping, +playing at ball and leap-frog, and otherwise disporting themselves, and +right noisily, too. They were all dressed alike, and in the fashion +which in that day prevailed among serving-men and 'prentices{1}--that is +to say, each had on the crown of his head a flat black cap about the size +of a saucer, which was not useful as a covering, it being of such scanty +dimensions, neither was it ornamental; from beneath it the hair fell, +unparted, to the middle of the forehead, and was cropped straight around; +a clerical band at the neck; a blue gown that fitted closely and hung as +low as the knees or lower; full sleeves; a broad red belt; bright yellow +stockings, gartered above the knees; low shoes with large metal buckles. +It was a sufficiently ugly costume. + +The boys stopped their play and flocked about the prince, who said with +native dignity-- + +"Good lads, say to your master that Edward Prince of Wales desireth +speech with him." + +A great shout went up at this, and one rude fellow said-- + +"Marry, art thou his grace's messenger, beggar?" + +The prince's face flushed with anger, and his ready hand flew to his hip, +but there was nothing there. There was a storm of laughter, and one boy +said-- + +"Didst mark that? He fancied he had a sword--belike he is the prince +himself." + +This sally brought more laughter. Poor Edward drew himself up proudly +and said-- + +"I am the prince; and it ill beseemeth you that feed upon the king my +father's bounty to use me so." + +This was vastly enjoyed, as the laughter testified. The youth who had +first spoken, shouted to his comrades-- + +"Ho, swine, slaves, pensioners of his grace's princely father, where be +your manners? Down on your marrow bones, all of ye, and do reverence to +his kingly port and royal rags!" + +With boisterous mirth they dropped upon their knees in a body and did +mock homage to their prey. The prince spurned the nearest boy with his +foot, and said fiercely-- + +"Take thou that, till the morrow come and I build thee a gibbet!" + +Ah, but this was not a joke--this was going beyond fun. The laughter +ceased on the instant, and fury took its place. A dozen shouted-- + +"Hale him forth! To the horse-pond, to the horse-pond! Where be the +dogs? Ho, there, Lion! ho, Fangs!" + +Then followed such a thing as England had never seen before--the sacred +person of the heir to the throne rudely buffeted by plebeian hands, and +set upon and torn by dogs. + +As night drew to a close that day, the prince found himself far down in +the close-built portion of the city. His body was bruised, his hands +were bleeding, and his rags were all besmirched with mud. He wandered on +and on, and grew more and more bewildered, and so tired and faint he +could hardly drag one foot after the other. He had ceased to ask +questions of anyone, since they brought him only insult instead of +information. He kept muttering to himself, "Offal Court--that is the +name; if I can but find it before my strength is wholly spent and I drop, +then am I saved--for his people will take me to the palace and prove that +I am none of theirs, but the true prince, and I shall have mine own +again." And now and then his mind reverted to his treatment by those +rude Christ's Hospital boys, and he said, "When I am king, they shall not +have bread and shelter only, but also teachings out of books; for a full +belly is little worth where the mind is starved, and the heart. I will +keep this diligently in my remembrance, that this day's lesson be not +lost upon me, and my people suffer thereby; for learning softeneth the +heart and breedeth gentleness and charity." {1} + +The lights began to twinkle, it came on to rain, the wind rose, and a raw +and gusty night set in. The houseless prince, the homeless heir to the +throne of England, still moved on, drifting deeper into the maze of +squalid alleys where the swarming hives of poverty and misery were massed +together. + +Suddenly a great drunken ruffian collared him and said-- + +"Out to this time of night again, and hast not brought a farthing home, I +warrant me! If it be so, an' I do not break all the bones in thy lean +body, then am I not John Canty, but some other." + +The prince twisted himself loose, unconsciously brushed his profaned +shoulder, and eagerly said-- + +"Oh, art HIS father, truly? Sweet heaven grant it be so--then wilt thou +fetch him away and restore me!" + +"HIS father? I know not what thou mean'st; I but know I am THY father, +as thou shalt soon have cause to--" + +"Oh, jest not, palter not, delay not!--I am worn, I am wounded, I can +bear no more. Take me to the king my father, and he will make thee rich +beyond thy wildest dreams. Believe me, man, believe me!--I speak no lie, +but only the truth!--put forth thy hand and save me! I am indeed the +Prince of Wales!" + +The man stared down, stupefied, upon the lad, then shook his head and +muttered-- + +"Gone stark mad as any Tom o' Bedlam!"--then collared him once more, and +said with a coarse laugh and an oath, "But mad or no mad, I and thy +Gammer Canty will soon find where the soft places in thy bones lie, or +I'm no true man!" + +With this he dragged the frantic and struggling prince away, and +disappeared up a front court followed by a delighted and noisy swarm of +human vermin. + + + +Chapter V. Tom as a patrician. + +Tom Canty, left alone in the prince's cabinet, made good use of his +opportunity. He turned himself this way and that before the great +mirror, admiring his finery; then walked away, imitating the prince's +high-bred carriage, and still observing results in the glass. Next he +drew the beautiful sword, and bowed, kissing the blade, and laying it +across his breast, as he had seen a noble knight do, by way of salute to +the lieutenant of the Tower, five or six weeks before, when delivering +the great lords of Norfolk and Surrey into his hands for captivity. Tom +played with the jewelled dagger that hung upon his thigh; he examined the +costly and exquisite ornaments of the room; he tried each of the +sumptuous chairs, and thought how proud he would be if the Offal Court +herd could only peep in and see him in his grandeur. He wondered if they +would believe the marvellous tale he should tell when he got home, or if +they would shake their heads, and say his overtaxed imagination had at +last upset his reason. + +At the end of half an hour it suddenly occurred to him that the prince +was gone a long time; then right away he began to feel lonely; very soon +he fell to listening and longing, and ceased to toy with the pretty +things about him; he grew uneasy, then restless, then distressed. +Suppose some one should come, and catch him in the prince's clothes, and +the prince not there to explain. Might they not hang him at once, and +inquire into his case afterward? He had heard that the great were prompt +about small matters. His fear rose higher and higher; and trembling he +softly opened the door to the antechamber, resolved to fly and seek the +prince, and, through him, protection and release. Six gorgeous +gentlemen-servants and two young pages of high degree, clothed like +butterflies, sprang to their feet and bowed low before him. He stepped +quickly back and shut the door. He said-- + +"Oh, they mock at me! They will go and tell. Oh! why came I here to +cast away my life?" + +He walked up and down the floor, filled with nameless fears, listening, +starting at every trifling sound. Presently the door swung open, and a +silken page said-- + +"The Lady Jane Grey." + +The door closed and a sweet young girl, richly clad, bounded toward him. +But she stopped suddenly, and said in a distressed voice-- + +"Oh, what aileth thee, my lord?" + +Tom's breath was nearly failing him; but he made shift to stammer out-- + +"Ah, be merciful, thou! In sooth I am no lord, but only poor Tom Canty +of Offal Court in the city. Prithee let me see the prince, and he will +of his grace restore to me my rags, and let me hence unhurt. Oh, be thou +merciful, and save me!" + +By this time the boy was on his knees, and supplicating with his eyes and +uplifted hands as well as with his tongue. The young girl seemed horror- +stricken. She cried out-- + +"O my lord, on thy knees?--and to ME!" + +Then she fled away in fright; and Tom, smitten with despair, sank down, +murmuring-- + +"There is no help, there is no hope. Now will they come and take me." + +Whilst he lay there benumbed with terror, dreadful tidings were speeding +through the palace. The whisper--for it was whispered always--flew from +menial to menial, from lord to lady, down all the long corridors, from +story to story, from saloon to saloon, "The prince hath gone mad, the +prince hath gone mad!" Soon every saloon, every marble hall, had its +groups of glittering lords and ladies, and other groups of dazzling +lesser folk, talking earnestly together in whispers, and every face had +in it dismay. Presently a splendid official came marching by these +groups, making solemn proclamation-- + +"IN THE NAME OF THE KING! + +Let none list to this false and foolish matter, upon pain of death, nor +discuss the same, nor carry it abroad. In the name of the King!" + +The whisperings ceased as suddenly as if the whisperers had been stricken +dumb. + +Soon there was a general buzz along the corridors, of "The prince! See, +the prince comes!" + +Poor Tom came slowly walking past the low-bowing groups, trying to bow in +return, and meekly gazing upon his strange surroundings with bewildered +and pathetic eyes. Great nobles walked upon each side of him, making him +lean upon them, and so steady his steps. Behind him followed the court- +physicians and some servants. + +Presently Tom found himself in a noble apartment of the palace and heard +the door close behind him. Around him stood those who had come with him. +Before him, at a little distance, reclined a very large and very fat man, +with a wide, pulpy face, and a stern expression. His large head was very +grey; and his whiskers, which he wore only around his face, like a frame, +were grey also. His clothing was of rich stuff, but old, and slightly +frayed in places. One of his swollen legs had a pillow under it, and was +wrapped in bandages. There was silence now; and there was no head there +but was bent in reverence, except this man's. This stern-countenanced +invalid was the dread Henry VIII. He said--and his face grew gentle as +he began to speak-- + +"How now, my lord Edward, my prince? Hast been minded to cozen me, the +good King thy father, who loveth thee, and kindly useth thee, with a +sorry jest?" + +Poor Tom was listening, as well as his dazed faculties would let him, to +the beginning of this speech; but when the words 'me, the good King' fell +upon his ear, his face blanched, and he dropped as instantly upon his +knees as if a shot had brought him there. Lifting up his hands, he +exclaimed-- + +"Thou the KING? Then am I undone indeed!" + +This speech seemed to stun the King. His eyes wandered from face to face +aimlessly, then rested, bewildered, upon the boy before him. Then he +said in a tone of deep disappointment-- + +"Alack, I had believed the rumour disproportioned to the truth; but I +fear me 'tis not so." He breathed a heavy sigh, and said in a gentle +voice, "Come to thy father, child: thou art not well." + +Tom was assisted to his feet, and approached the Majesty of England, +humble and trembling. The King took the frightened face between his +hands, and gazed earnestly and lovingly into it awhile, as if seeking +some grateful sign of returning reason there, then pressed the curly head +against his breast, and patted it tenderly. Presently he said-- + +"Dost not know thy father, child? Break not mine old heart; say thou +know'st me. Thou DOST know me, dost thou not?" + +"Yea: thou art my dread lord the King, whom God preserve!" + +"True, true--that is well--be comforted, tremble not so; there is none +here would hurt thee; there is none here but loves thee. Thou art better +now; thy ill dream passeth--is't not so? Thou wilt not miscall thyself +again, as they say thou didst a little while agone?" + +"I pray thee of thy grace believe me, I did but speak the truth, most +dread lord; for I am the meanest among thy subjects, being a pauper born, +and 'tis by a sore mischance and accident I am here, albeit I was therein +nothing blameful. I am but young to die, and thou canst save me with one +little word. Oh speak it, sir!" + +"Die? Talk not so, sweet prince--peace, peace, to thy troubled heart-- +thou shalt not die!" + +Tom dropped upon his knees with a glad cry-- + +"God requite thy mercy, O my King, and save thee long to bless thy land!" +Then springing up, he turned a joyful face toward the two lords in +waiting, and exclaimed, "Thou heard'st it! I am not to die: the King +hath said it!" There was no movement, save that all bowed with grave +respect; but no one spoke. He hesitated, a little confused, then turned +timidly toward the King, saying, "I may go now?" + +"Go? Surely, if thou desirest. But why not tarry yet a little? Whither +would'st go?" + +Tom dropped his eyes, and answered humbly-- + +"Peradventure I mistook; but I did think me free, and so was I moved to +seek again the kennel where I was born and bred to misery, yet which +harboureth my mother and my sisters, and so is home to me; whereas these +pomps and splendours whereunto I am not used--oh, please you, sir, to let +me go!" + +The King was silent and thoughtful a while, and his face betrayed a +growing distress and uneasiness. Presently he said, with something of +hope in his voice-- + +"Perchance he is but mad upon this one strain, and hath his wits unmarred +as toucheth other matter. God send it may be so! We will make trial." + +Then he asked Tom a question in Latin, and Tom answered him lamely in the +same tongue. The lords and doctors manifested their gratification also. +The King said-- + +"'Twas not according to his schooling and ability, but showeth that his +mind is but diseased, not stricken fatally. How say you, sir?" + +The physician addressed bowed low, and replied-- + +"It jumpeth with my own conviction, sire, that thou hast divined aright." + +The King looked pleased with this encouragement, coming as it did from so +excellent authority, and continued with good heart-- + +"Now mark ye all: we will try him further." + +He put a question to Tom in French. Tom stood silent a moment, +embarrassed by having so many eyes centred upon him, then said +diffidently-- + +"I have no knowledge of this tongue, so please your majesty." + +The King fell back upon his couch. The attendants flew to his +assistance; but he put them aside, and said-- + +"Trouble me not--it is nothing but a scurvy faintness. Raise me! There, +'tis sufficient. Come hither, child; there, rest thy poor troubled head +upon thy father's heart, and be at peace. Thou'lt soon be well: 'tis +but a passing fantasy. Fear thou not; thou'lt soon be well." Then he +turned toward the company: his gentle manner changed, and baleful +lightnings began to play from his eyes. He said-- + +"List ye all! This my son is mad; but it is not permanent. Over-study +hath done this, and somewhat too much of confinement. Away with his +books and teachers! see ye to it. Pleasure him with sports, beguile him +in wholesome ways, so that his health come again." He raised himself +higher still, and went on with energy, "He is mad; but he is my son, and +England's heir; and, mad or sane, still shall he reign! And hear ye +further, and proclaim it: whoso speaketh of this his distemper worketh +against the peace and order of these realms, and shall to the gallows! +. . . Give me to drink--I burn: this sorrow sappeth my strength. . . . +There, take away the cup. . . . Support me. There, that is well. Mad, +is he? Were he a thousand times mad, yet is he Prince of Wales, and I the +King will confirm it. This very morrow shall he be installed in his +princely dignity in due and ancient form. Take instant order for it, my +lord Hertford." + +One of the nobles knelt at the royal couch, and said-- + +"The King's majesty knoweth that the Hereditary Great Marshal of England +lieth attainted in the Tower. It were not meet that one attainted--" + +"Peace! Insult not mine ears with his hated name. Is this man to live +for ever? Am I to be baulked of my will? Is the prince to tarry +uninstalled, because, forsooth, the realm lacketh an Earl Marshal free of +treasonable taint to invest him with his honours? No, by the splendour of +God! Warn my Parliament to bring me Norfolk's doom before the sun rise +again, else shall they answer for it grievously!" {1} + +Lord Hertford said-- + +"The King's will is law;" and, rising, returned to his former place. + +Gradually the wrath faded out of the old King's face, and he said-- + +"Kiss me, my prince. There . . . what fearest thou? Am I not thy loving +father?" + +"Thou art good to me that am unworthy, O mighty and gracious lord: that +in truth I know. But--but--it grieveth me to think of him that is to +die, and--" + +"Ah, 'tis like thee, 'tis like thee! I know thy heart is still the same, +even though thy mind hath suffered hurt, for thou wert ever of a gentle +spirit. But this duke standeth between thee and thine honours: I will +have another in his stead that shall bring no taint to his great office. +Comfort thee, my prince: trouble not thy poor head with this matter." + +"But is it not I that speed him hence, my liege? How long might he not +live, but for me?" + +"Take no thought of him, my prince: he is not worthy. Kiss me once +again, and go to thy trifles and amusements; for my malady distresseth +me. I am aweary, and would rest. Go with thine uncle Hertford and thy +people, and come again when my body is refreshed." + +Tom, heavy-hearted, was conducted from the presence, for this last +sentence was a death-blow to the hope he had cherished that now he would +be set free. Once more he heard the buzz of low voices exclaiming, "The +prince, the prince comes!" + +His spirits sank lower and lower as he moved between the glittering files +of bowing courtiers; for he recognised that he was indeed a captive now, +and might remain for ever shut up in this gilded cage, a forlorn and +friendless prince, except God in his mercy take pity on him and set him +free. + +And, turn where he would, he seemed to see floating in the air the +severed head and the remembered face of the great Duke of Norfolk, the +eyes fixed on him reproachfully. + +His old dreams had been so pleasant; but this reality was so dreary! + + + +Chapter VI. Tom receives instructions. + +Tom was conducted to the principal apartment of a noble suite, and made +to sit down--a thing which he was loth to do, since there were elderly +men and men of high degree about him. He begged them to be seated also, +but they only bowed their thanks or murmured them, and remained standing. +He would have insisted, but his 'uncle' the Earl of Hertford whispered in +his ear-- + +"Prithee, insist not, my lord; it is not meet that they sit in thy +presence." + +The Lord St. John was announced, and after making obeisance to Tom, he +said-- + +"I come upon the King's errand, concerning a matter which requireth +privacy. Will it please your royal highness to dismiss all that attend +you here, save my lord the Earl of Hertford?" + +Observing that Tom did not seem to know how to proceed, Hertford +whispered him to make a sign with his hand, and not trouble himself to +speak unless he chose. When the waiting gentlemen had retired, Lord St. +John said-- + +"His majesty commandeth, that for due and weighty reasons of state, the +prince's grace shall hide his infirmity in all ways that be within his +power, till it be passed and he be as he was before. To wit, that he +shall deny to none that he is the true prince, and heir to England's +greatness; that he shall uphold his princely dignity, and shall receive, +without word or sign of protest, that reverence and observance which unto +it do appertain of right and ancient usage; that he shall cease to speak +to any of that lowly birth and life his malady hath conjured out of the +unwholesome imaginings of o'er-wrought fancy; that he shall strive with +diligence to bring unto his memory again those faces which he was wont to +know--and where he faileth he shall hold his peace, neither betraying by +semblance of surprise or other sign that he hath forgot; that upon +occasions of state, whensoever any matter shall perplex him as to the +thing he should do or the utterance he should make, he shall show nought +of unrest to the curious that look on, but take advice in that matter of +the Lord Hertford, or my humble self, which are commanded of the King to +be upon this service and close at call, till this commandment be +dissolved. Thus saith the King's majesty, who sendeth greeting to your +royal highness, and prayeth that God will of His mercy quickly heal you +and have you now and ever in His holy keeping." + +The Lord St. John made reverence and stood aside. Tom replied +resignedly-- + +"The King hath said it. None may palter with the King's command, or fit +it to his ease, where it doth chafe, with deft evasions. The King shall +be obeyed." + +Lord Hertford said-- + +"Touching the King's majesty's ordainment concerning books and such like +serious matters, it may peradventure please your highness to ease your +time with lightsome entertainment, lest you go wearied to the banquet and +suffer harm thereby." + +Tom's face showed inquiring surprise; and a blush followed when he saw +Lord St. John's eyes bent sorrowfully upon him. His lordship said-- + +"Thy memory still wrongeth thee, and thou hast shown surprise--but suffer +it not to trouble thee, for 'tis a matter that will not bide, but depart +with thy mending malady. My Lord of Hertford speaketh of the city's +banquet which the King's majesty did promise, some two months flown, your +highness should attend. Thou recallest it now?" + +"It grieves me to confess it had indeed escaped me," said Tom, in a +hesitating voice; and blushed again. + +At this moment the Lady Elizabeth and the Lady Jane Grey were announced. +The two lords exchanged significant glances, and Hertford stepped quickly +toward the door. As the young girls passed him, he said in a low voice-- + +"I pray ye, ladies, seem not to observe his humours, nor show surprise +when his memory doth lapse--it will grieve you to note how it doth stick +at every trifle." + +Meantime Lord St. John was saying in Tom's ear-- + +"Please you, sir, keep diligently in mind his majesty's desire. Remember +all thou canst--SEEM to remember all else. Let them not perceive that +thou art much changed from thy wont, for thou knowest how tenderly thy +old play-fellows bear thee in their hearts and how 'twould grieve them. +Art willing, sir, that I remain?--and thine uncle?" + +Tom signified assent with a gesture and a murmured word, for he was +already learning, and in his simple heart was resolved to acquit himself +as best he might, according to the King's command. + +In spite of every precaution, the conversation among the young people +became a little embarrassing at times. More than once, in truth, Tom was +near to breaking down and confessing himself unequal to his tremendous +part; but the tact of the Princess Elizabeth saved him, or a word from +one or the other of the vigilant lords, thrown in apparently by chance, +had the same happy effect. Once the little Lady Jane turned to Tom and +dismayed him with this question,-- + +"Hast paid thy duty to the Queen's majesty to-day, my lord?" + +Tom hesitated, looked distressed, and was about to stammer out something +at hazard, when Lord St. John took the word and answered for him with the +easy grace of a courtier accustomed to encounter delicate difficulties +and to be ready for them-- + +"He hath indeed, madam, and she did greatly hearten him, as touching his +majesty's condition; is it not so, your highness?" + +Tom mumbled something that stood for assent, but felt that he was getting +upon dangerous ground. Somewhat later it was mentioned that Tom was to +study no more at present, whereupon her little ladyship exclaimed-- + +"'Tis a pity, 'tis a pity! Thou wert proceeding bravely. But bide thy +time in patience: it will not be for long. Thou'lt yet be graced with +learning like thy father, and make thy tongue master of as many languages +as his, good my prince." + +"My father!" cried Tom, off his guard for the moment. "I trow he cannot +speak his own so that any but the swine that kennel in the styes may tell +his meaning; and as for learning of any sort soever--" + +He looked up and encountered a solemn warning in my Lord St. John's eyes. + +He stopped, blushed, then continued low and sadly: "Ah, my malady +persecuteth me again, and my mind wandereth. I meant the King's grace no +irreverence." + +"We know it, sir," said the Princess Elizabeth, taking her 'brother's' +hand between her two palms, respectfully but caressingly; "trouble not +thyself as to that. The fault is none of thine, but thy distemper's." + +"Thou'rt a gentle comforter, sweet lady," said Tom, gratefully, "and my +heart moveth me to thank thee for't, an' I may be so bold." + +Once the giddy little Lady Jane fired a simple Greek phrase at Tom. The +Princess Elizabeth's quick eye saw by the serene blankness of the +target's front that the shaft was overshot; so she tranquilly delivered a +return volley of sounding Greek on Tom's behalf, and then straightway +changed the talk to other matters. + +Time wore on pleasantly, and likewise smoothly, on the whole. Snags and +sandbars grew less and less frequent, and Tom grew more and more at his +ease, seeing that all were so lovingly bent upon helping him and +overlooking his mistakes. When it came out that the little ladies were +to accompany him to the Lord Mayor's banquet in the evening, his heart +gave a bound of relief and delight, for he felt that he should not be +friendless, now, among that multitude of strangers; whereas, an hour +earlier, the idea of their going with him would have been an +insupportable terror to him. + +Tom's guardian angels, the two lords, had had less comfort in the +interview than the other parties to it. They felt much as if they were +piloting a great ship through a dangerous channel; they were on the alert +constantly, and found their office no child's play. Wherefore, at last, +when the ladies' visit was drawing to a close and the Lord Guilford +Dudley was announced, they not only felt that their charge had been +sufficiently taxed for the present, but also that they themselves were +not in the best condition to take their ship back and make their anxious +voyage all over again. So they respectfully advised Tom to excuse +himself, which he was very glad to do, although a slight shade of +disappointment might have been observed upon my Lady Jane's face when she +heard the splendid stripling denied admittance. + +There was a pause now, a sort of waiting silence which Tom could not +understand. He glanced at Lord Hertford, who gave him a sign--but he +failed to understand that also. The ready Elizabeth came to the rescue +with her usual easy grace. She made reverence and said-- + +"Have we leave of the prince's grace my brother to go?" + +Tom said-- + +"Indeed your ladyships can have whatsoever of me they will, for the +asking; yet would I rather give them any other thing that in my poor +power lieth, than leave to take the light and blessing of their presence +hence. Give ye good den, and God be with ye!" Then he smiled inwardly at +the thought, "'Tis not for nought I have dwelt but among princes in my +reading, and taught my tongue some slight trick of their broidered and +gracious speech withal!" + +When the illustrious maidens were gone, Tom turned wearily to his keepers +and said-- + +"May it please your lordships to grant me leave to go into some corner +and rest me?" + +Lord Hertford said-- + +"So please your highness, it is for you to command, it is for us to obey. +That thou should'st rest is indeed a needful thing, since thou must +journey to the city presently." + +He touched a bell, and a page appeared, who was ordered to desire the +presence of Sir William Herbert. This gentleman came straightway, and +conducted Tom to an inner apartment. Tom's first movement there was to +reach for a cup of water; but a silk-and-velvet servitor seized it, +dropped upon one knee, and offered it to him on a golden salver. + +Next the tired captive sat down and was going to take off his buskins, +timidly asking leave with his eye, but another silk-and-velvet +discomforter went down upon his knees and took the office from him. He +made two or three further efforts to help himself, but being promptly +forestalled each time, he finally gave up, with a sigh of resignation and +a murmured "Beshrew me, but I marvel they do not require to breathe for +me also!" Slippered, and wrapped in a sumptuous robe, he laid himself +down at last to rest, but not to sleep, for his head was too full of +thoughts and the room too full of people. He could not dismiss the +former, so they stayed; he did not know enough to dismiss the latter, so +they stayed also, to his vast regret--and theirs. + + +Tom's departure had left his two noble guardians alone. They mused a +while, with much head-shaking and walking the floor, then Lord St. John +said-- + +"Plainly, what dost thou think?" + +"Plainly, then, this. The King is near his end; my nephew is mad--mad +will mount the throne, and mad remain. God protect England, since she +will need it!" + +"Verily it promiseth so, indeed. But . . . have you no misgivings as to +. . . as to . . ." + +The speaker hesitated, and finally stopped. He evidently felt that he +was upon delicate ground. Lord Hertford stopped before him, looked into +his face with a clear, frank eye, and said-- + +"Speak on--there is none to hear but me. Misgivings as to what?" + +"I am full loth to word the thing that is in my mind, and thou so near to +him in blood, my lord. But craving pardon if I do offend, seemeth it not +strange that madness could so change his port and manner?--not but that +his port and speech are princely still, but that they DIFFER, in one +unweighty trifle or another, from what his custom was aforetime. Seemeth +it not strange that madness should filch from his memory his father's +very lineaments; the customs and observances that are his due from such +as be about him; and, leaving him his Latin, strip him of his Greek and +French? My lord, be not offended, but ease my mind of its disquiet and +receive my grateful thanks. It haunteth me, his saying he was not the +prince, and so--" + +"Peace, my lord, thou utterest treason! Hast forgot the King's command? +Remember I am party to thy crime if I but listen." + +St. John paled, and hastened to say-- + +"I was in fault, I do confess it. Betray me not, grant me this grace out +of thy courtesy, and I will neither think nor speak of this thing more. +Deal not hardly with me, sir, else am I ruined." + +"I am content, my lord. So thou offend not again, here or in the ears of +others, it shall be as though thou hadst not spoken. But thou need'st +not have misgivings. He is my sister's son; are not his voice, his face, +his form, familiar to me from his cradle? Madness can do all the odd +conflicting things thou seest in him, and more. Dost not recall how that +the old Baron Marley, being mad, forgot the favour of his own countenance +that he had known for sixty years, and held it was another's; nay, even +claimed he was the son of Mary Magdalene, and that his head was made of +Spanish glass; and, sooth to say, he suffered none to touch it, lest by +mischance some heedless hand might shiver it? Give thy misgivings +easement, good my lord. This is the very prince--I know him well--and +soon will be thy king; it may advantage thee to bear this in mind, and +more dwell upon it than the other." + +After some further talk, in which the Lord St. John covered up his +mistake as well as he could by repeated protests that his faith was +thoroughly grounded now, and could not be assailed by doubts again, the +Lord Hertford relieved his fellow-keeper, and sat down to keep watch and +ward alone. He was soon deep in meditation, and evidently the longer he +thought, the more he was bothered. By-and-by he began to pace the floor +and mutter. + +"Tush, he MUST be the prince! Will any he in all the land maintain there +can be two, not of one blood and birth, so marvellously twinned? And +even were it so, 'twere yet a stranger miracle that chance should cast +the one into the other's place. Nay, 'tis folly, folly, folly!" + +Presently he said-- + +"Now were he impostor and called himself prince, look you THAT would be +natural; that would be reasonable. But lived ever an impostor yet, who, +being called prince by the king, prince by the court, prince by all, +DENIED his dignity and pleaded against his exaltation? NO! By the soul +of St. Swithin, no! This is the true prince, gone mad!" + + + +Chapter VII. Tom's first royal dinner. + +Somewhat after one in the afternoon, Tom resignedly underwent the ordeal +of being dressed for dinner. He found himself as finely clothed as +before, but everything different, everything changed, from his ruff to +his stockings. He was presently conducted with much state to a spacious +and ornate apartment, where a table was already set for one. Its +furniture was all of massy gold, and beautified with designs which well- +nigh made it priceless, since they were the work of Benvenuto. The room +was half-filled with noble servitors. A chaplain said grace, and Tom was +about to fall to, for hunger had long been constitutional with him, but +was interrupted by my lord the Earl of Berkeley, who fastened a napkin +about his neck; for the great post of Diaperers to the Prince of Wales +was hereditary in this nobleman's family. Tom's cupbearer was present, +and forestalled all his attempts to help himself to wine. The Taster to +his highness the Prince of Wales was there also, prepared to taste any +suspicious dish upon requirement, and run the risk of being poisoned. He +was only an ornamental appendage at this time, and was seldom called upon +to exercise his function; but there had been times, not many generations +past, when the office of taster had its perils, and was not a grandeur to +be desired. Why they did not use a dog or a plumber seems strange; but +all the ways of royalty are strange. My Lord d'Arcy, First Groom of the +Chamber, was there, to do goodness knows what; but there he was--let that +suffice. The Lord Chief Butler was there, and stood behind Tom's chair, +overseeing the solemnities, under command of the Lord Great Steward and +the Lord Head Cook, who stood near. Tom had three hundred and eighty- +four servants beside these; but they were not all in that room, of +course, nor the quarter of them; neither was Tom aware yet that they +existed. + +All those that were present had been well drilled within the hour to +remember that the prince was temporarily out of his head, and to be +careful to show no surprise at his vagaries. These 'vagaries' were soon +on exhibition before them; but they only moved their compassion and their +sorrow, not their mirth. It was a heavy affliction to them to see the +beloved prince so stricken. + +Poor Tom ate with his fingers mainly; but no one smiled at it, or even +seemed to observe it. He inspected his napkin curiously, and with deep +interest, for it was of a very dainty and beautiful fabric, then said +with simplicity-- + +"Prithee, take it away, lest in mine unheedfulness it be soiled." + +The Hereditary Diaperer took it away with reverent manner, and without +word or protest of any sort. + +Tom examined the turnips and the lettuce with interest, and asked what +they were, and if they were to be eaten; for it was only recently that +men had begun to raise these things in England in place of importing them +as luxuries from Holland. {1} His question was answered with grave +respect, and no surprise manifested. When he had finished his dessert, +he filled his pockets with nuts; but nobody appeared to be aware of it, +or disturbed by it. But the next moment he was himself disturbed by it, +and showed discomposure; for this was the only service he had been +permitted to do with his own hands during the meal, and he did not doubt +that he had done a most improper and unprincely thing. At that moment +the muscles of his nose began to twitch, and the end of that organ to +lift and wrinkle. This continued, and Tom began to evince a growing +distress. He looked appealingly, first at one and then another of the +lords about him, and tears came into his eyes. They sprang forward with +dismay in their faces, and begged to know his trouble. Tom said with +genuine anguish-- + +"I crave your indulgence: my nose itcheth cruelly. What is the custom +and usage in this emergence? Prithee, speed, for 'tis but a little time +that I can bear it." + +None smiled; but all were sore perplexed, and looked one to the other in +deep tribulation for counsel. But behold, here was a dead wall, and +nothing in English history to tell how to get over it. The Master of +Ceremonies was not present: there was no one who felt safe to venture +upon this uncharted sea, or risk the attempt to solve this solemn +problem. Alas! there was no Hereditary Scratcher. Meantime the tears +had overflowed their banks, and begun to trickle down Tom's cheeks. His +twitching nose was pleading more urgently than ever for relief. At last +nature broke down the barriers of etiquette: Tom lifted up an inward +prayer for pardon if he was doing wrong, and brought relief to the +burdened hearts of his court by scratching his nose himself. + +His meal being ended, a lord came and held before him a broad, shallow, +golden dish with fragrant rosewater in it, to cleanse his mouth and +fingers with; and my lord the Hereditary Diaperer stood by with a napkin +for his use. Tom gazed at the dish a puzzled moment or two, then raised +it to his lips, and gravely took a draught. Then he returned it to the +waiting lord, and said-- + +"Nay, it likes me not, my lord: it hath a pretty flavour, but it wanteth +strength." + +This new eccentricity of the prince's ruined mind made all the hearts +about him ache; but the sad sight moved none to merriment. + +Tom's next unconscious blunder was to get up and leave the table just +when the chaplain had taken his stand behind his chair, and with uplifted +hands, and closed, uplifted eyes, was in the act of beginning the +blessing. Still nobody seemed to perceive that the prince had done a +thing unusual. + +By his own request our small friend was now conducted to his private +cabinet, and left there alone to his own devices. Hanging upon hooks in +the oaken wainscoting were the several pieces of a suit of shining steel +armour, covered all over with beautiful designs exquisitely inlaid in +gold. This martial panoply belonged to the true prince--a recent present +from Madam Parr the Queen. Tom put on the greaves, the gauntlets, the +plumed helmet, and such other pieces as he could don without assistance, +and for a while was minded to call for help and complete the matter, but +bethought him of the nuts he had brought away from dinner, and the joy it +would be to eat them with no crowd to eye him, and no Grand Hereditaries +to pester him with undesired services; so he restored the pretty things +to their several places, and soon was cracking nuts, and feeling almost +naturally happy for the first time since God for his sins had made him a +prince. When the nuts were all gone, he stumbled upon some inviting +books in a closet, among them one about the etiquette of the English +court. This was a prize. He lay down upon a sumptuous divan, and +proceeded to instruct himself with honest zeal. Let us leave him there +for the present. + + + +Chapter VIII. The question of the Seal. + +About five o'clock Henry VIII. awoke out of an unrefreshing nap, and +muttered to himself, "Troublous dreams, troublous dreams! Mine end is now +at hand: so say these warnings, and my failing pulses do confirm it." +Presently a wicked light flamed up in his eye, and he muttered, "Yet will +not I die till HE go before." + +His attendants perceiving that he was awake, one of them asked his +pleasure concerning the Lord Chancellor, who was waiting without. + +"Admit him, admit him!" exclaimed the King eagerly. + +The Lord Chancellor entered, and knelt by the King's couch, saying-- + +"I have given order, and, according to the King's command, the peers of +the realm, in their robes, do now stand at the bar of the House, where, +having confirmed the Duke of Norfolk's doom, they humbly wait his +majesty's further pleasure in the matter." + +The King's face lit up with a fierce joy. Said he-- + +"Lift me up! In mine own person will I go before my Parliament, and with +mine own hand will I seal the warrant that rids me of--" + +His voice failed; an ashen pallor swept the flush from his cheeks; and +the attendants eased him back upon his pillows, and hurriedly assisted +him with restoratives. Presently he said sorrowfully-- + +"Alack, how have I longed for this sweet hour! and lo, too late it +cometh, and I am robbed of this so coveted chance. But speed ye, speed +ye! let others do this happy office sith 'tis denied to me. I put my +Great Seal in commission: choose thou the lords that shall compose it, +and get ye to your work. Speed ye, man! Before the sun shall rise and +set again, bring me his head that I may see it." + +"According to the King's command, so shall it be. Will't please your +majesty to order that the Seal be now restored to me, so that I may forth +upon the business?" + +"The Seal? Who keepeth the Seal but thou?" + +"Please your majesty, you did take it from me two days since, saying it +should no more do its office till your own royal hand should use it upon +the Duke of Norfolk's warrant." + +"Why, so in sooth I did: I do remember . . . What did I with it?. . . I +am very feeble . . . So oft these days doth my memory play the traitor +with me . . . 'Tis strange, strange--" + +The King dropped into inarticulate mumblings, shaking his grey head +weakly from time to time, and gropingly trying to recollect what he had +done with the Seal. At last my Lord Hertford ventured to kneel and offer +information-- + +"Sire, if that I may be so bold, here be several that do remember with me +how that you gave the Great Seal into the hands of his highness the +Prince of Wales to keep against the day that--" + +"True, most true!" interrupted the King. "Fetch it! Go: time flieth!" + +Lord Hertford flew to Tom, but returned to the King before very long, +troubled and empty-handed. He delivered himself to this effect-- + +"It grieveth me, my lord the King, to bear so heavy and unwelcome +tidings; but it is the will of God that the prince's affliction abideth +still, and he cannot recall to mind that he received the Seal. So came I +quickly to report, thinking it were waste of precious time, and little +worth withal, that any should attempt to search the long array of +chambers and saloons that belong unto his royal high--" + +A groan from the King interrupted the lord at this point. After a little +while his majesty said, with a deep sadness in his tone-- + +"Trouble him no more, poor child. The hand of God lieth heavy upon him, +and my heart goeth out in loving compassion for him, and sorrow that I +may not bear his burden on mine old trouble-weighted shoulders, and so +bring him peace." + +He closed his eyes, fell to mumbling, and presently was silent. After a +time he opened his eyes again, and gazed vacantly around until his glance +rested upon the kneeling Lord Chancellor. Instantly his face flushed with +wrath-- + +"What, thou here yet! By the glory of God, an' thou gettest not about +that traitor's business, thy mitre shall have holiday the morrow for lack +of a head to grace withal!" + +The trembling Chancellor answered-- + +"Good your Majesty, I cry you mercy! I but waited for the Seal." + +"Man, hast lost thy wits? The small Seal which aforetime I was wont to +take with me abroad lieth in my treasury. And, since the Great Seal hath +flown away, shall not it suffice? Hast lost thy wits? Begone! And hark +ye--come no more till thou do bring his head." + +The poor Chancellor was not long in removing himself from this dangerous +vicinity; nor did the commission waste time in giving the royal assent to +the work of the slavish Parliament, and appointing the morrow for the +beheading of the premier peer of England, the luckless Duke of Norfolk. +{1} + + + +Chapter IX. The river pageant. + +At nine in the evening the whole vast river-front of the palace was +blazing with light. The river itself, as far as the eye could reach +citywards, was so thickly covered with watermen's boats and with +pleasure-barges, all fringed with coloured lanterns, and gently agitated +by the waves, that it resembled a glowing and limitless garden of flowers +stirred to soft motion by summer winds. The grand terrace of stone steps +leading down to the water, spacious enough to mass the army of a German +principality upon, was a picture to see, with its ranks of royal +halberdiers in polished armour, and its troops of brilliantly costumed +servitors flitting up and down, and to and fro, in the hurry of +preparation. + +Presently a command was given, and immediately all living creatures +vanished from the steps. Now the air was heavy with the hush of suspense +and expectancy. As far as one's vision could carry, he might see the +myriads of people in the boats rise up, and shade their eyes from the +glare of lanterns and torches, and gaze toward the palace. + +A file of forty or fifty state barges drew up to the steps. They were +richly gilt, and their lofty prows and sterns were elaborately carved. +Some of them were decorated with banners and streamers; some with cloth- +of-gold and arras embroidered with coats-of-arms; others with silken +flags that had numberless little silver bells fastened to them, which +shook out tiny showers of joyous music whenever the breezes fluttered +them; others of yet higher pretensions, since they belonged to nobles in +the prince's immediate service, had their sides picturesquely fenced with +shields gorgeously emblazoned with armorial bearings. Each state barge +was towed by a tender. Besides the rowers, these tenders carried each a +number of men-at-arms in glossy helmet and breastplate, and a company of +musicians. + +The advance-guard of the expected procession now appeared in the great +gateway, a troop of halberdiers. 'They were dressed in striped hose of +black and tawny, velvet caps graced at the sides with silver roses, and +doublets of murrey and blue cloth, embroidered on the front and back with +the three feathers, the prince's blazon, woven in gold. Their halberd +staves were covered with crimson velvet, fastened with gilt nails, and +ornamented with gold tassels. Filing off on the right and left, they +formed two long lines, extending from the gateway of the palace to the +water's edge. A thick rayed cloth or carpet was then unfolded, and laid +down between them by attendants in the gold-and-crimson liveries of the +prince. This done, a flourish of trumpets resounded from within. A +lively prelude arose from the musicians on the water; and two ushers with +white wands marched with a slow and stately pace from the portal. They +were followed by an officer bearing the civic mace, after whom came +another carrying the city's sword; then several sergeants of the city +guard, in their full accoutrements, and with badges on their sleeves; +then the Garter King-at-arms, in his tabard; then several Knights of the +Bath, each with a white lace on his sleeve; then their esquires; then the +judges, in their robes of scarlet and coifs; then the Lord High +Chancellor of England, in a robe of scarlet, open before, and purfled +with minever; then a deputation of aldermen, in their scarlet cloaks; and +then the heads of the different civic companies, in their robes of state. +Now came twelve French gentlemen, in splendid habiliments, consisting of +pourpoints of white damask barred with gold, short mantles of crimson +velvet lined with violet taffeta, and carnation coloured hauts-de- +chausses, and took their way down the steps. They were of the suite of +the French ambassador, and were followed by twelve cavaliers of the suite +of the Spanish ambassador, clothed in black velvet, unrelieved by any +ornament. Following these came several great English nobles with their +attendants.' + +There was a flourish of trumpets within; and the Prince's uncle, the +future great Duke of Somerset, emerged from the gateway, arrayed in a +'doublet of black cloth-of-gold, and a cloak of crimson satin flowered +with gold, and ribanded with nets of silver.' He turned, doffed his +plumed cap, bent his body in a low reverence, and began to step backward, +bowing at each step. A prolonged trumpet-blast followed, and a +proclamation, "Way for the high and mighty the Lord Edward, Prince of +Wales!" High aloft on the palace walls a long line of red tongues of +flame leapt forth with a thunder-crash; the massed world on the river +burst into a mighty roar of welcome; and Tom Canty, the cause and hero of +it all, stepped into view and slightly bowed his princely head. + +He was 'magnificently habited in a doublet of white satin, with a front- +piece of purple cloth-of-tissue, powdered with diamonds, and edged with +ermine. Over this he wore a mantle of white cloth-of-gold, pounced with +the triple-feathered crest, lined with blue satin, set with pearls and +precious stones, and fastened with a clasp of brilliants. About his neck +hung the order of the Garter, and several princely foreign orders;' and +wherever light fell upon him jewels responded with a blinding flash. O +Tom Canty, born in a hovel, bred in the gutters of London, familiar with +rags and dirt and misery, what a spectacle is this! + + + +Chapter X. The Prince in the toils. + +We left John Canty dragging the rightful prince into Offal Court, with a +noisy and delighted mob at his heels. There was but one person in it who +offered a pleading word for the captive, and he was not heeded; he was +hardly even heard, so great was the turmoil. The Prince continued to +struggle for freedom, and to rage against the treatment he was suffering, +until John Canty lost what little patience was left in him, and raised +his oaken cudgel in a sudden fury over the Prince's head. The single +pleader for the lad sprang to stop the man's arm, and the blow descended +upon his own wrist. Canty roared out-- + +"Thou'lt meddle, wilt thou? Then have thy reward." + +His cudgel crashed down upon the meddler's head: there was a groan, a +dim form sank to the ground among the feet of the crowd, and the next +moment it lay there in the dark alone. The mob pressed on, their +enjoyment nothing disturbed by this episode. + +Presently the Prince found himself in John Canty's abode, with the door +closed against the outsiders. By the vague light of a tallow candle +which was thrust into a bottle, he made out the main features of the +loathsome den, and also the occupants of it. Two frowsy girls and a +middle-aged woman cowered against the wall in one corner, with the aspect +of animals habituated to harsh usage, and expecting and dreading it now. +From another corner stole a withered hag with streaming grey hair and +malignant eyes. John Canty said to this one-- + +"Tarry! There's fine mummeries here. Mar them not till thou'st enjoyed +them: then let thy hand be heavy as thou wilt. Stand forth, lad. Now +say thy foolery again, an thou'st not forgot it. Name thy name. Who art +thou?" + +The insulted blood mounted to the little prince's cheek once more, and he +lifted a steady and indignant gaze to the man's face and said-- + +"'Tis but ill-breeding in such as thou to command me to speak. I tell +thee now, as I told thee before, I am Edward, Prince of Wales, and none +other." + +The stunning surprise of this reply nailed the hag's feet to the floor +where she stood, and almost took her breath. She stared at the Prince in +stupid amazement, which so amused her ruffianly son, that he burst into a +roar of laughter. But the effect upon Tom Canty's mother and sisters was +different. Their dread of bodily injury gave way at once to distress of +a different sort. They ran forward with woe and dismay in their faces, +exclaiming-- + +"Oh, poor Tom, poor lad!" + +The mother fell on her knees before the Prince, put her hands upon his +shoulders, and gazed yearningly into his face through her rising tears. +Then she said-- + +"Oh, my poor boy! Thy foolish reading hath wrought its woeful work at +last, and ta'en thy wit away. Ah! why did'st thou cleave to it when I so +warned thee 'gainst it? Thou'st broke thy mother's heart." + +The Prince looked into her face, and said gently-- + +"Thy son is well, and hath not lost his wits, good dame. Comfort thee: +let me to the palace where he is, and straightway will the King my father +restore him to thee." + +"The King thy father! Oh, my child! unsay these words that be freighted +with death for thee, and ruin for all that be near to thee. Shake of +this gruesome dream. Call back thy poor wandering memory. Look upon me. +Am not I thy mother that bore thee, and loveth thee?" + +The Prince shook his head and reluctantly said-- + +"God knoweth I am loth to grieve thy heart; but truly have I never looked +upon thy face before." + +The woman sank back to a sitting posture on the floor, and, covering her +eyes with her hands, gave way to heart-broken sobs and wailings. + +"Let the show go on!" shouted Canty. "What, Nan!--what, Bet! mannerless +wenches! will ye stand in the Prince's presence? Upon your knees, ye +pauper scum, and do him reverence!" + +He followed this with another horse-laugh. The girls began to plead +timidly for their brother; and Nan said-- + +"An thou wilt but let him to bed, father, rest and sleep will heal his +madness: prithee, do." + +"Do, father," said Bet; "he is more worn than is his wont. To-morrow +will he be himself again, and will beg with diligence, and come not empty +home again." + +This remark sobered the father's joviality, and brought his mind to +business. He turned angrily upon the Prince, and said-- + +"The morrow must we pay two pennies to him that owns this hole; two +pennies, mark ye--all this money for a half-year's rent, else out of this +we go. Show what thou'st gathered with thy lazy begging." + +The Prince said-- + +"Offend me not with thy sordid matters. I tell thee again I am the +King's son." + +A sounding blow upon the Prince's shoulder from Canty's broad palm sent +him staggering into goodwife Canty's arms, who clasped him to her breast, +and sheltered him from a pelting rain of cuffs and slaps by interposing +her own person. The frightened girls retreated to their corner; but the +grandmother stepped eagerly forward to assist her son. The Prince sprang +away from Mrs. Canty, exclaiming-- + +"Thou shalt not suffer for me, madam. Let these swine do their will upon +me alone." + +This speech infuriated the swine to such a degree that they set about +their work without waste of time. Between them they belaboured the boy +right soundly, and then gave the girls and their mother a beating for +showing sympathy for the victim. + +"Now," said Canty, "to bed, all of ye. The entertainment has tired me." + +The light was put out, and the family retired. As soon as the snorings +of the head of the house and his mother showed that they were asleep, the +young girls crept to where the Prince lay, and covered him tenderly from +the cold with straw and rags; and their mother crept to him also, and +stroked his hair, and cried over him, whispering broken words of comfort +and compassion in his ear the while. She had saved a morsel for him to +eat, also; but the boy's pains had swept away all appetite--at least for +black and tasteless crusts. He was touched by her brave and costly +defence of him, and by her commiseration; and he thanked her in very +noble and princely words, and begged her to go to her sleep and try to +forget her sorrows. And he added that the King his father would not let +her loyal kindness and devotion go unrewarded. This return to his +'madness' broke her heart anew, and she strained him to her breast again +and again, and then went back, drowned in tears, to her bed. + +As she lay thinking and mourning, the suggestion began to creep into her +mind that there was an undefinable something about this boy that was +lacking in Tom Canty, mad or sane. She could not describe it, she could +not tell just what it was, and yet her sharp mother-instinct seemed to +detect it and perceive it. What if the boy were really not her son, +after all? Oh, absurd! She almost smiled at the idea, spite of her +griefs and troubles. No matter, she found that it was an idea that would +not 'down,' but persisted in haunting her. It pursued her, it harassed +her, it clung to her, and refused to be put away or ignored. At last she +perceived that there was not going to be any peace for her until she +should devise a test that should prove, clearly and without question, +whether this lad was her son or not, and so banish these wearing and +worrying doubts. Ah, yes, this was plainly the right way out of the +difficulty; therefore she set her wits to work at once to contrive that +test. But it was an easier thing to propose than to accomplish. She +turned over in her mind one promising test after another, but was obliged +to relinquish them all--none of them were absolutely sure, absolutely +perfect; and an imperfect one could not satisfy her. Evidently she was +racking her head in vain--it seemed manifest that she must give the +matter up. While this depressing thought was passing through her mind, +her ear caught the regular breathing of the boy, and she knew he had +fallen asleep. And while she listened, the measured breathing was broken +by a soft, startled cry, such as one utters in a troubled dream. This +chance occurrence furnished her instantly with a plan worth all her +laboured tests combined. She at once set herself feverishly, but +noiselessly, to work to relight her candle, muttering to herself, "Had I +but seen him THEN, I should have known! Since that day, when he was +little, that the powder burst in his face, he hath never been startled of +a sudden out of his dreams or out of his thinkings, but he hath cast his +hand before his eyes, even as he did that day; and not as others would do +it, with the palm inward, but always with the palm turned outward--I have +seen it a hundred times, and it hath never varied nor ever failed. Yes, +I shall soon know, now!" + +By this time she had crept to the slumbering boy's side, with the candle, +shaded, in her hand. She bent heedfully and warily over him, scarcely +breathing in her suppressed excitement, and suddenly flashed the light in +his face and struck the floor by his ear with her knuckles. The +sleeper's eyes sprang wide open, and he cast a startled stare about him-- +but he made no special movement with his hands. + +The poor woman was smitten almost helpless with surprise and grief; but +she contrived to hide her emotions, and to soothe the boy to sleep again; +then she crept apart and communed miserably with herself upon the +disastrous result of her experiment. She tried to believe that her Tom's +madness had banished this habitual gesture of his; but she could not do +it. "No," she said, "his HANDS are not mad; they could not unlearn so +old a habit in so brief a time. Oh, this is a heavy day for me!" + +Still, hope was as stubborn now as doubt had been before; she could not +bring herself to accept the verdict of the test; she must try the thing +again--the failure must have been only an accident; so she startled the +boy out of his sleep a second and a third time, at intervals--with the +same result which had marked the first test; then she dragged herself to +bed, and fell sorrowfully asleep, saying, "But I cannot give him up--oh +no, I cannot, I cannot--he MUST be my boy!" + +The poor mother's interruptions having ceased, and the Prince's pains +having gradually lost their power to disturb him, utter weariness at last +sealed his eyes in a profound and restful sleep. Hour after hour slipped +away, and still he slept like the dead. Thus four or five hours passed. +Then his stupor began to lighten. Presently, while half asleep and half +awake, he murmured-- + +"Sir William!" + +After a moment-- + +"Ho, Sir William Herbert! Hie thee hither, and list to the strangest +dream that ever . . . Sir William! dost hear? Man, I did think me +changed to a pauper, and . . . Ho there! Guards! Sir William! What! is +there no groom of the chamber in waiting? Alack! it shall go hard with--" + +"What aileth thee?" asked a whisper near him. "Who art thou calling?" + +"Sir William Herbert. Who art thou?" + +"I? Who should I be, but thy sister Nan? Oh, Tom, I had forgot! Thou'rt +mad yet--poor lad, thou'rt mad yet: would I had never woke to know it +again! But prithee master thy tongue, lest we be all beaten till we +die!" + +The startled Prince sprang partly up, but a sharp reminder from his +stiffened bruises brought him to himself, and he sank back among his foul +straw with a moan and the ejaculation-- + +"Alas! it was no dream, then!" + +In a moment all the heavy sorrow and misery which sleep had banished were +upon him again, and he realised that he was no longer a petted prince in +a palace, with the adoring eyes of a nation upon him, but a pauper, an +outcast, clothed in rags, prisoner in a den fit only for beasts, and +consorting with beggars and thieves. + +In the midst of his grief he began to be conscious of hilarious noises +and shoutings, apparently but a block or two away. The next moment there +were several sharp raps at the door; John Canty ceased from snoring and +said-- + +"Who knocketh? What wilt thou?" + +A voice answered-- + +"Know'st thou who it was thou laid thy cudgel on?" + +"No. Neither know I, nor care." + +"Belike thou'lt change thy note eftsoons. An thou would save thy neck, +nothing but flight may stead thee. The man is this moment delivering up +the ghost. 'Tis the priest, Father Andrew!" + +"God-a-mercy!" exclaimed Canty. He roused his family, and hoarsely +commanded, "Up with ye all and fly--or bide where ye are and perish!" + +Scarcely five minutes later the Canty household were in the street and +flying for their lives. John Canty held the Prince by the wrist, and +hurried him along the dark way, giving him this caution in a low voice-- + +"Mind thy tongue, thou mad fool, and speak not our name. I will choose +me a new name, speedily, to throw the law's dogs off the scent. Mind thy +tongue, I tell thee!" + +He growled these words to the rest of the family-- + +"If it so chance that we be separated, let each make for London Bridge; +whoso findeth himself as far as the last linen-draper's shop on the +bridge, let him tarry there till the others be come, then will we flee +into Southwark together." + +At this moment the party burst suddenly out of darkness into light; and +not only into light, but into the midst of a multitude of singing, +dancing, and shouting people, massed together on the river frontage. +There was a line of bonfires stretching as far as one could see, up and +down the Thames; London Bridge was illuminated; Southwark Bridge +likewise; the entire river was aglow with the flash and sheen of coloured +lights; and constant explosions of fireworks filled the skies with an +intricate commingling of shooting splendours and a thick rain of dazzling +sparks that almost turned night into day; everywhere were crowds of +revellers; all London seemed to be at large. + +John Canty delivered himself of a furious curse and commanded a retreat; +but it was too late. He and his tribe were swallowed up in that swarming +hive of humanity, and hopelessly separated from each other in an instant. +We are not considering that the Prince was one of his tribe; Canty still +kept his grip upon him. The Prince's heart was beating high with hopes +of escape, now. A burly waterman, considerably exalted with liquor, +found himself rudely shoved by Canty in his efforts to plough through the +crowd; he laid his great hand on Canty's shoulder and said-- + +"Nay, whither so fast, friend? Dost canker thy soul with sordid business +when all that be leal men and true make holiday?" + +"Mine affairs are mine own, they concern thee not," answered Canty, +roughly; "take away thy hand and let me pass." + +"Sith that is thy humour, thou'lt NOT pass, till thou'st drunk to the +Prince of Wales, I tell thee that," said the waterman, barring the way +resolutely. + +"Give me the cup, then, and make speed, make speed!" + +Other revellers were interested by this time. They cried out-- + +"The loving-cup, the loving-cup! make the sour knave drink the loving- +cup, else will we feed him to the fishes." + +So a huge loving-cup was brought; the waterman, grasping it by one of its +handles, and with the other hand bearing up the end of an imaginary +napkin, presented it in due and ancient form to Canty, who had to grasp +the opposite handle with one of his hands and take off the lid with the +other, according to ancient custom. {1} This left the Prince hand-free +for a second, of course. He wasted no time, but dived among the forest +of legs about him and disappeared. In another moment he could not have +been harder to find, under that tossing sea of life, if its billows had +been the Atlantic's and he a lost sixpence. + +He very soon realised this fact, and straightway busied himself about his +own affairs without further thought of John Canty. He quickly realised +another thing, too. To wit, that a spurious Prince of Wales was being +feasted by the city in his stead. He easily concluded that the pauper +lad, Tom Canty, had deliberately taken advantage of his stupendous +opportunity and become a usurper. + +Therefore there was but one course to pursue--find his way to the +Guildhall, make himself known, and denounce the impostor. He also made +up his mind that Tom should be allowed a reasonable time for spiritual +preparation, and then be hanged, drawn and quartered, according to the +law and usage of the day in cases of high treason. + + + +Chapter XI. At Guildhall. + +The royal barge, attended by its gorgeous fleet, took its stately way +down the Thames through the wilderness of illuminated boats. The air was +laden with music; the river banks were beruffled with joy-flames; the +distant city lay in a soft luminous glow from its countless invisible +bonfires; above it rose many a slender spire into the sky, incrusted with +sparkling lights, wherefore in their remoteness they seemed like jewelled +lances thrust aloft; as the fleet swept along, it was greeted from the +banks with a continuous hoarse roar of cheers and the ceaseless flash and +boom of artillery. + +To Tom Canty, half buried in his silken cushions, these sounds and this +spectacle were a wonder unspeakably sublime and astonishing. To his +little friends at his side, the Princess Elizabeth and the Lady Jane +Grey, they were nothing. + +Arrived at the Dowgate, the fleet was towed up the limpid Walbrook (whose +channel has now been for two centuries buried out of sight under acres of +buildings) to Bucklersbury, past houses and under bridges populous with +merry-makers and brilliantly lighted, and at last came to a halt in a +basin where now is Barge Yard, in the centre of the ancient city of +London. Tom disembarked, and he and his gallant procession crossed +Cheapside and made a short march through the Old Jewry and Basinghall +Street to the Guildhall. + +Tom and his little ladies were received with due ceremony by the Lord +Mayor and the Fathers of the City, in their gold chains and scarlet robes +of state, and conducted to a rich canopy of state at the head of the +great hall, preceded by heralds making proclamation, and by the Mace and +the City Sword. The lords and ladies who were to attend upon Tom and his +two small friends took their places behind their chairs. + +At a lower table the Court grandees and other guests of noble degree were +seated, with the magnates of the city; the commoners took places at a +multitude of tables on the main floor of the hall. From their lofty +vantage-ground the giants Gog and Magog, the ancient guardians of the +city, contemplated the spectacle below them with eyes grown familiar to +it in forgotten generations. There was a bugle-blast and a proclamation, +and a fat butler appeared in a high perch in the leftward wall, followed +by his servitors bearing with impressive solemnity a royal baron of beef, +smoking hot and ready for the knife. + +After grace, Tom (being instructed) rose--and the whole house with him-- +and drank from a portly golden loving-cup with the Princess Elizabeth; +from her it passed to the Lady Jane, and then traversed the general +assemblage. So the banquet began. + +By midnight the revelry was at its height. Now came one of those +picturesque spectacles so admired in that old day. A description of it +is still extant in the quaint wording of a chronicler who witnessed it: + +'Space being made, presently entered a baron and an earl appareled after +the Turkish fashion in long robes of bawdkin powdered with gold; hats on +their heads of crimson velvet, with great rolls of gold, girded with two +swords, called scimitars, hanging by great bawdricks of gold. Next came +yet another baron and another earl, in two long gowns of yellow satin, +traversed with white satin, and in every bend of white was a bend of +crimson satin, after the fashion of Russia, with furred hats of gray on +their heads; either of them having an hatchet in their hands, and boots +with pykes' (points a foot long), 'turned up. And after them came a +knight, then the Lord High Admiral, and with him five nobles, in doublets +of crimson velvet, voyded low on the back and before to the cannell-bone, +laced on the breasts with chains of silver; and over that, short cloaks +of crimson satin, and on their heads hats after the dancers' fashion, +with pheasants' feathers in them. These were appareled after the fashion +of Prussia. The torchbearers, which were about an hundred, were +appareled in crimson satin and green, like Moors, their faces black. +Next came in a mommarye. Then the minstrels, which were disguised, +danced; and the lords and ladies did wildly dance also, that it was a +pleasure to behold.' + +And while Tom, in his high seat, was gazing upon this 'wild' dancing, +lost in admiration of the dazzling commingling of kaleidoscopic colours +which the whirling turmoil of gaudy figures below him presented, the +ragged but real little Prince of Wales was proclaiming his rights and his +wrongs, denouncing the impostor, and clamouring for admission at the +gates of Guildhall! The crowd enjoyed this episode prodigiously, and +pressed forward and craned their necks to see the small rioter. +Presently they began to taunt him and mock at him, purposely to goad him +into a higher and still more entertaining fury. Tears of mortification +sprang to his eyes, but he stood his ground and defied the mob right +royally. Other taunts followed, added mockings stung him, and he +exclaimed-- + +"I tell ye again, you pack of unmannerly curs, I am the Prince of Wales! +And all forlorn and friendless as I be, with none to give me word of +grace or help me in my need, yet will not I be driven from my ground, but +will maintain it!" + +"Though thou be prince or no prince, 'tis all one, thou be'st a gallant +lad, and not friendless neither! Here stand I by thy side to prove it; +and mind I tell thee thou might'st have a worser friend than Miles Hendon +and yet not tire thy legs with seeking. Rest thy small jaw, my child; I +talk the language of these base kennel-rats like to a very native." + +The speaker was a sort of Don Caesar de Bazan in dress, aspect, and +bearing. He was tall, trim-built, muscular. His doublet and trunks were +of rich material, but faded and threadbare, and their gold-lace +adornments were sadly tarnished; his ruff was rumpled and damaged; the +plume in his slouched hat was broken and had a bedraggled and +disreputable look; at his side he wore a long rapier in a rusty iron +sheath; his swaggering carriage marked him at once as a ruffler of the +camp. The speech of this fantastic figure was received with an explosion +of jeers and laughter. Some cried, "'Tis another prince in disguise!" +"'Ware thy tongue, friend: belike he is dangerous!" "Marry, he looketh +it--mark his eye!" "Pluck the lad from him--to the horse-pond wi' the +cub!" + +Instantly a hand was laid upon the Prince, under the impulse of this +happy thought; as instantly the stranger's long sword was out and the +meddler went to the earth under a sounding thump with the flat of it. +The next moment a score of voices shouted, "Kill the dog! Kill him! +Kill him!" and the mob closed in on the warrior, who backed himself +against a wall and began to lay about him with his long weapon like a +madman. His victims sprawled this way and that, but the mob-tide poured +over their prostrate forms and dashed itself against the champion with +undiminished fury. His moments seemed numbered, his destruction certain, +when suddenly a trumpet-blast sounded, a voice shouted, "Way for the +King's messenger!" and a troop of horsemen came charging down upon the +mob, who fled out of harm's reach as fast as their legs could carry them. +The bold stranger caught up the Prince in his arms, and was soon far away +from danger and the multitude. + +Return we within the Guildhall. Suddenly, high above the jubilant roar +and thunder of the revel, broke the clear peal of a bugle-note. There +was instant silence--a deep hush; then a single voice rose--that of the +messenger from the palace--and began to pipe forth a proclamation, the +whole multitude standing listening. + +The closing words, solemnly pronounced, were-- + +"The King is dead!" + +The great assemblage bent their heads upon their breasts with one accord; +remained so, in profound silence, a few moments; then all sank upon their +knees in a body, stretched out their hands toward Tom, and a mighty shout +burst forth that seemed to shake the building-- + +"Long live the King!" + +Poor Tom's dazed eyes wandered abroad over this stupefying spectacle, and +finally rested dreamily upon the kneeling princesses beside him, a +moment, then upon the Earl of Hertford. A sudden purpose dawned in his +face. He said, in a low tone, at Lord Hertford's ear-- + +"Answer me truly, on thy faith and honour! Uttered I here a command, the +which none but a king might hold privilege and prerogative to utter, +would such commandment be obeyed, and none rise up to say me nay?" + +"None, my liege, in all these realms. In thy person bides the majesty of +England. Thou art the king--thy word is law." + +Tom responded, in a strong, earnest voice, and with great animation-- + +"Then shall the king's law be law of mercy, from this day, and never more +be law of blood! Up from thy knees and away! To the Tower, and say the +King decrees the Duke of Norfolk shall not die!" {1} + +The words were caught up and carried eagerly from lip to lip far and wide +over the hall, and as Hertford hurried from the presence, another +prodigious shout burst forth-- + +"The reign of blood is ended! Long live Edward, King of England!" + + + +Chapter XII. The Prince and his deliverer. + +As soon as Miles Hendon and the little prince were clear of the mob, they +struck down through back lanes and alleys toward the river. Their way +was unobstructed until they approached London Bridge; then they ploughed +into the multitude again, Hendon keeping a fast grip upon the Prince's-- +no, the King's--wrist. The tremendous news was already abroad, and the +boy learned it from a thousand voices at once--"The King is dead!" The +tidings struck a chill to the heart of the poor little waif, and sent a +shudder through his frame. He realised the greatness of his loss, and +was filled with a bitter grief; for the grim tyrant who had been such a +terror to others had always been gentle with him. The tears sprang to +his eyes and blurred all objects. For an instant he felt himself the +most forlorn, outcast, and forsaken of God's creatures--then another cry +shook the night with its far-reaching thunders: "Long live King Edward +the Sixth!" and this made his eyes kindle, and thrilled him with pride to +his fingers' ends. "Ah," he thought, "how grand and strange it seems--I +AM KING!" + +Our friends threaded their way slowly through the throngs upon the +bridge. This structure, which had stood for six hundred years, and had +been a noisy and populous thoroughfare all that time, was a curious +affair, for a closely packed rank of stores and shops, with family +quarters overhead, stretched along both sides of it, from one bank of the +river to the other. The Bridge was a sort of town to itself; it had its +inn, its beer-houses, its bakeries, its haberdasheries, its food markets, +its manufacturing industries, and even its church. It looked upon the +two neighbours which it linked together--London and Southwark--as being +well enough as suburbs, but not otherwise particularly important. It was +a close corporation, so to speak; it was a narrow town, of a single +street a fifth of a mile long, its population was but a village +population and everybody in it knew all his fellow-townsmen intimately, +and had known their fathers and mothers before them--and all their little +family affairs into the bargain. It had its aristocracy, of course--its +fine old families of butchers, and bakers, and what-not, who had occupied +the same old premises for five or six hundred years, and knew the great +history of the Bridge from beginning to end, and all its strange legends; +and who always talked bridgy talk, and thought bridgy thoughts, and lied +in a long, level, direct, substantial bridgy way. It was just the sort +of population to be narrow and ignorant and self-conceited. Children were +born on the Bridge, were reared there, grew to old age, and finally died +without ever having set a foot upon any part of the world but London +Bridge alone. Such people would naturally imagine that the mighty and +interminable procession which moved through its street night and day, +with its confused roar of shouts and cries, its neighings and bellowing +and bleatings and its muffled thunder-tramp, was the one great thing in +this world, and themselves somehow the proprietors of it. And so they +were, in effect--at least they could exhibit it from their windows, and +did--for a consideration--whenever a returning king or hero gave it a +fleeting splendour, for there was no place like it for affording a long, +straight, uninterrupted view of marching columns. + +Men born and reared upon the Bridge found life unendurably dull and inane +elsewhere. History tells of one of these who left the Bridge at the age +of seventy-one and retired to the country. But he could only fret and +toss in his bed; he could not go to sleep, the deep stillness was so +painful, so awful, so oppressive. When he was worn out with it, at last, +he fled back to his old home, a lean and haggard spectre, and fell +peacefully to rest and pleasant dreams under the lulling music of the +lashing waters and the boom and crash and thunder of London Bridge. + +In the times of which we are writing, the Bridge furnished 'object +lessons' in English history for its children--namely, the livid and +decaying heads of renowned men impaled upon iron spikes atop of its +gateways. But we digress. + +Hendon's lodgings were in the little inn on the Bridge. As he neared the +door with his small friend, a rough voice said-- + +"So, thou'rt come at last! Thou'lt not escape again, I warrant thee; and +if pounding thy bones to a pudding can teach thee somewhat, thou'lt not +keep us waiting another time, mayhap"--and John Canty put out his hand to +seize the boy. + +Miles Hendon stepped in the way and said-- + +"Not too fast, friend. Thou art needlessly rough, methinks. What is the +lad to thee?" + +"If it be any business of thine to make and meddle in others' affairs, he +is my son." + +"'Tis a lie!" cried the little King, hotly. + +"Boldly said, and I believe thee, whether thy small headpiece be sound or +cracked, my boy. But whether this scurvy ruffian be thy father or no, +'tis all one, he shall not have thee to beat thee and abuse, according to +his threat, so thou prefer to bide with me." + +"I do, I do--I know him not, I loathe him, and will die before I will go +with him." + +"Then 'tis settled, and there is nought more to say." + +"We will see, as to that!" exclaimed John Canty, striding past Hendon to +get at the boy; "by force shall he--" + +"If thou do but touch him, thou animated offal, I will spit thee like a +goose!" said Hendon, barring the way and laying his hand upon his sword +hilt. Canty drew back. "Now mark ye," continued Hendon, "I took this +lad under my protection when a mob of such as thou would have mishandled +him, mayhap killed him; dost imagine I will desert him now to a worser +fate?--for whether thou art his father or no--and sooth to say, I think +it is a lie--a decent swift death were better for such a lad than life in +such brute hands as thine. So go thy ways, and set quick about it, for I +like not much bandying of words, being not over-patient in my nature." + +John Canty moved off, muttering threats and curses, and was swallowed +from sight in the crowd. Hendon ascended three flights of stairs to his +room, with his charge, after ordering a meal to be sent thither. It was +a poor apartment, with a shabby bed and some odds and ends of old +furniture in it, and was vaguely lighted by a couple of sickly candles. +The little King dragged himself to the bed and lay down upon it, almost +exhausted with hunger and fatigue. He had been on his feet a good part +of a day and a night (for it was now two or three o'clock in the +morning), and had eaten nothing meantime. He murmured drowsily-- + +"Prithee call me when the table is spread," and sank into a deep sleep +immediately. + +A smile twinkled in Hendon's eye, and he said to himself-- + +"By the mass, the little beggar takes to one's quarters and usurps one's +bed with as natural and easy a grace as if he owned them--with never a +by-your-leave or so-please-it-you, or anything of the sort. In his +diseased ravings he called himself the Prince of Wales, and bravely doth +he keep up the character. Poor little friendless rat, doubtless his mind +has been disordered with ill-usage. Well, I will be his friend; I have +saved him, and it draweth me strongly to him; already I love the bold- +tongued little rascal. How soldier-like he faced the smutty rabble and +flung back his high defiance! And what a comely, sweet and gentle face +he hath, now that sleep hath conjured away its troubles and its griefs. +I will teach him; I will cure his malady; yea, I will be his elder +brother, and care for him and watch over him; and whoso would shame him +or do him hurt may order his shroud, for though I be burnt for it he +shall need it!" + +He bent over the boy and contemplated him with kind and pitying interest, +tapping the young cheek tenderly and smoothing back the tangled curls +with his great brown hand. A slight shiver passed over the boy's form. +Hendon muttered-- + +"See, now, how like a man it was to let him lie here uncovered and fill +his body with deadly rheums. Now what shall I do? 'twill wake him to +take him up and put him within the bed, and he sorely needeth sleep." + +He looked about for extra covering, but finding none, doffed his doublet +and wrapped the lad in it, saying, "I am used to nipping air and scant +apparel, 'tis little I shall mind the cold!"--then walked up and down the +room, to keep his blood in motion, soliloquising as before. + +"His injured mind persuades him he is Prince of Wales; 'twill be odd to +have a Prince of Wales still with us, now that he that WAS the prince is +prince no more, but king--for this poor mind is set upon the one fantasy, +and will not reason out that now it should cast by the prince and call +itself the king. . . If my father liveth still, after these seven years +that I have heard nought from home in my foreign dungeon, he will welcome +the poor lad and give him generous shelter for my sake; so will my good +elder brother, Arthur; my other brother, Hugh--but I will crack his crown +an HE interfere, the fox-hearted, ill-conditioned animal! Yes, thither +will we fare--and straightway, too." + +A servant entered with a smoking meal, disposed it upon a small deal +table, placed the chairs, and took his departure, leaving such cheap +lodgers as these to wait upon themselves. The door slammed after him, +and the noise woke the boy, who sprang to a sitting posture, and shot a +glad glance about him; then a grieved look came into his face and he +murmured to himself, with a deep sigh, "Alack, it was but a dream, woe is +me!" Next he noticed Miles Hendon's doublet--glanced from that to +Hendon, comprehended the sacrifice that had been made for him, and said, +gently-- + +"Thou art good to me, yes, thou art very good to me. Take it and put it +on--I shall not need it more." + +Then he got up and walked to the washstand in the corner and stood there, +waiting. Hendon said in a cheery voice-- + +"We'll have a right hearty sup and bite, now, for everything is savoury +and smoking hot, and that and thy nap together will make thee a little +man again, never fear!" + +The boy made no answer, but bent a steady look, that was filled with +grave surprise, and also somewhat touched with impatience, upon the tall +knight of the sword. Hendon was puzzled, and said-- + +"What's amiss?" + +"Good sir, I would wash me." + +"Oh, is that all? Ask no permission of Miles Hendon for aught thou +cravest. Make thyself perfectly free here, and welcome, with all that +are his belongings." + +Still the boy stood, and moved not; more, he tapped the floor once or +twice with his small impatient foot. Hendon was wholly perplexed. Said +he-- + +"Bless us, what is it?" + +"Prithee pour the water, and make not so many words!" + +Hendon, suppressing a horse-laugh, and saying to himself, "By all the +saints, but this is admirable!" stepped briskly forward and did the small +insolent's bidding; then stood by, in a sort of stupefaction, until the +command, "Come--the towel!" woke him sharply up. He took up a towel, +from under the boy's nose, and handed it to him without comment. He now +proceeded to comfort his own face with a wash, and while he was at it his +adopted child seated himself at the table and prepared to fall to. +Hendon despatched his ablutions with alacrity, then drew back the other +chair and was about to place himself at table, when the boy said, +indignantly-- + +"Forbear! Wouldst sit in the presence of the King?" + +This blow staggered Hendon to his foundations. He muttered to himself, +"Lo, the poor thing's madness is up with the time! It hath changed with +the great change that is come to the realm, and now in fancy is he KING! +Good lack, I must humour the conceit, too--there is no other way--faith, +he would order me to the Tower, else!" + +And pleased with this jest, he removed the chair from the table, took his +stand behind the King, and proceeded to wait upon him in the courtliest +way he was capable of. + +While the King ate, the rigour of his royal dignity relaxed a little, and +with his growing contentment came a desire to talk. He said--"I think +thou callest thyself Miles Hendon, if I heard thee aright?" + +"Yes, Sire," Miles replied; then observed to himself, "If I MUST humour +the poor lad's madness, I must 'Sire' him, I must 'Majesty' 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." + +The King warmed his heart with a second glass of wine, and said--"I would +know thee--tell me thy story. Thou hast a gallant way with thee, and a +noble--art nobly born?" + +"We are of the tail of the nobility, good your Majesty. My father is a +baronet--one of the smaller lords by knight service {2}--Sir Richard +Hendon of Hendon Hall, by Monk's Holm in Kent." + +"The name has escaped my memory. Go on--tell me thy story." + +"'Tis 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 father's; and +Hugh, younger than I, a mean spirit, covetous, treacherous, vicious, +underhanded--a reptile. Such was he from the cradle; such was he ten +years past, when I last saw him--a ripe rascal at nineteen, I being +twenty then, and Arthur twenty-two. There is none other of us but the +Lady Edith, my cousin--she was sixteen then--beautiful, 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 Edith's fortune, though in truth he said it was herself he +loved--but then 'twas 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 him--these +qualities being in all ages sufficient to win a parent's dearest love; +and he had a smooth persuasive tongue, with an admirable gift of lying-- +and these be qualities which do mightily assist a blind affection to +cozen itself. I was wild--in troth I might go yet farther and say VERY +wild, though 'twas 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 honourable degree. + +"Yet did my brother Hugh turn these faults to good account--he seeing +that our brother Arthur's health was but indifferent, and hoping the +worst might work him profit were I swept out of the path--so--but 'twere +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 apartments--conveyed +thither by his own means--and 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. + +"Three 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 harboured 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." + +"Thou hast been shamefully abused!" said the little King, with a flashing +eye. "But I will right thee--by the cross will I! The King hath said +it." + +Then, fired by the story of Miles's 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 himself-- + +"Lo, 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!--ay, made whole and sound-- +then will he make himself a name--and proud shall I be to say, 'Yes, he +is mine--I took him, a homeless little ragamuffin, but I saw what was in +him, and I said his name would be heard some day--behold him, observe +him--was I right?'" + +The King spoke--in a thoughtful, measured voice-- + +"Thou 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." + +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 consider the +gracious offer--an idea which the King gravely approved, remarking that +it was best to be not too hasty with a thing of such great import. + +Miles reflected during some moments, then said to himself, "Yes, that is +the thing to do--by any other means it were impossible to get at it--and +certes, this hour's experience has taught me 'twould be most wearing and +inconvenient to continue it as it is. Yes, I will propose it; 'twas a +happy accident that I did not throw the chance away." Then he dropped +upon one knee and said-- + +"My poor service went not beyond the limit of a subject's simple duty, +and therefore hath no merit; but since your Majesty is pleased to hold it +worthy some reward, I take heart of grace to make petition to this +effect. Near four hundred years ago, as your grace knoweth, there being +ill blood betwixt John, King of England, and the King of France, it was +decreed that two champions should fight together in the lists, and so +settle the dispute by what is called the arbitrament of God. These two +kings, and the Spanish king, being assembled to witness and judge the +conflict, the French champion appeared; but so redoubtable was he, that +our English knights refused to measure weapons with him. So the matter, +which was a weighty one, was like to go against the English monarch by +default. Now in the Tower lay the Lord de Courcy, the mightiest arm in +England, stripped of his honours and possessions, and wasting with long +captivity. Appeal was made to him; he gave assent, and came forth +arrayed for battle; but no sooner did the Frenchman glimpse his huge +frame and hear his famous name but he fled away, and the French king's +cause was lost. King John restored De Courcy's titles and possessions, +and said, 'Name thy wish and thou shalt have it, though it cost me half +my kingdom;' whereat De Courcy, kneeling, as I do now, made answer, +'This, then, I ask, my liege; that I and my successors may have and hold +the privilege of remaining covered in the presence of the kings of +England, henceforth while the throne shall last.' The boon was granted, +as your Majesty knoweth; and there hath been no time, these four hundred +years, that that line has failed of an heir; and so, even unto this day, +the head of that ancient house still weareth his hat or helm before the +King's Majesty, without let or hindrance, and this none other may do. {3} +Invoking this precedent in aid of my prayer, I beseech the King to grant +to me but this one grace and privilege--to my more than sufficient +reward--and none other, to wit: that I and my heirs, for ever, may SIT +in the presence of the Majesty of England!" + +"Rise, Sir Miles Hendon, Knight," said the King, gravely--giving the +accolade with Hendon's sword--"rise, and seat thyself. Thy petition is +granted. Whilst England remains, and the crown continues, the privilege +shall not lapse." + +His Majesty walked apart, musing, and Hendon dropped into a chair at +table, observing to himself, "'Twas a brave thought, and hath wrought me +a mighty deliverance; my legs are grievously wearied. An I had not +thought of that, I must have had to stand for weeks, till my poor lad's +wits are cured." After a little, he went on, "And so I am become a +knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows! A most odd and strange +position, truly, for one so matter-of-fact as I. I will not laugh--no, +God forbid, for this thing which is so substanceless to me is REAL to +him. And to me, also, in one way, it is not a falsity, for it reflects +with truth the sweet and generous spirit that is in him." After a pause: +"Ah, what if he should call me by my fine title before folk!--there'd be +a merry contrast betwixt my glory and my raiment! But no matter, let him +call me what he will, so it please him; I shall be content." + + + +Chapter XIII. The disappearance of the Prince. + +A heavy drowsiness presently fell upon the two comrades. The King said-- + +"Remove these rags"--meaning his clothing. + +Hendon disapparelled the boy without dissent or remark, tucked him up in +bed, then glanced about the room, saying to himself, ruefully, "He hath +taken my bed again, as before--marry, what shall _I_ do?" The little +King observed his perplexity, and dissipated it with a word. He said, +sleepily-- + +"Thou wilt sleep athwart the door, and guard it." In a moment more he +was out of his troubles, in a deep slumber. + +"Dear heart, he should have been born a king!" muttered Hendon, +admiringly; "he playeth the part to a marvel." + +Then he stretched himself across the door, on the floor, saying +contentedly-- + +"I have lodged worse for seven years; 'twould be but ill gratitude to Him +above to find fault with this." + +He dropped asleep as the dawn appeared. Toward noon he rose, uncovered +his unconscious ward--a section at a time--and took his measure with a +string. The King awoke, just as he had completed his work, complained of +the cold, and asked what he was doing. + +"'Tis done, now, my liege," said Hendon; "I have a bit of business +outside, but will presently return; sleep thou again--thou needest it. +There--let me cover thy head also--thou'lt be warm the sooner." + +The King was back in dreamland before this speech was ended. Miles +slipped softly out, and slipped as softly in again, in the course of +thirty or forty minutes, with a complete second-hand suit of boy's +clothing, of cheap material, and showing signs of wear; but tidy, and +suited to the season of the year. He seated himself, and began to +overhaul his purchase, mumbling to himself-- + +"A longer purse would have got a better sort, but when one has not the +long purse one must be content with what a short one may do-- + +"'There was a woman in our town, In our town did dwell--' + +"He stirred, methinks--I must sing in a less thunderous key; 'tis not +good to mar his sleep, with this journey before him, and he so wearied +out, poor chap . . . This garment--'tis well enough--a stitch here and +another one there will set it aright. This other is better, albeit a +stitch or two will not come amiss in it, likewise . . . THESE be very +good and sound, and will keep his small feet warm and dry--an odd new +thing to him, belike, since he has doubtless been used to foot it bare, +winters and summers the same . . . Would thread were bread, seeing one +getteth a year's sufficiency for a farthing, and such a brave big needle +without cost, for mere love. Now shall I have the demon's own time to +thread it!" + +And so he had. He did as men have always done, and probably always will +do, to the end of time--held the needle still, and tried to thrust the +thread through the eye, which is the opposite of a woman's way. Time and +time again the thread missed the mark, going sometimes on one side of the +needle, sometimes on the other, sometimes doubling up against the shaft; +but he was patient, having been through these experiences before, when he +was soldiering. He succeeded at last, and took up the garment that had +lain waiting, meantime, across his lap, and began his work. + +"The inn is paid--the breakfast that is to come, included--and there is +wherewithal left to buy a couple of donkeys and meet our little costs for +the two or three days betwixt this and the plenty that awaits us at +Hendon Hall-- + +"'She loved her hus--' + +"Body o' me! I have driven the needle under my nail! . . . It matters +little--'tis not a novelty--yet 'tis not a convenience, neither . . .We +shall be merry there, little one, never doubt it! Thy troubles will +vanish there, and likewise thy sad distemper-- + +"'She loved her husband dearilee, But another man--' + +"These be noble large stitches!"--holding the garment up and viewing it +admiringly--"they have a grandeur and a majesty that do cause these small +stingy ones of the tailor-man to look mightily paltry and plebeian-- + +"'She loved her husband dearilee, But another man he loved she,--' + +"Marry, 'tis done--a goodly piece of work, too, and wrought with +expedition. Now will I wake him, apparel him, pour for him, feed him, +and then will we hie us to the mart by the Tabard Inn in Southwark and-- +be pleased to rise, my liege!--he answereth not--what ho, my liege!--of a +truth must I profane his sacred person with a touch, sith his slumber is +deaf to speech. What!" + +He threw back the covers--the boy was gone! + +He stared about him in speechless astonishment for a moment; noticed for +the first time that his ward's ragged raiment was also missing; then he +began to rage and storm and shout for the innkeeper. At that moment a +servant entered with the breakfast. + +"Explain, thou limb of Satan, or thy time is come!" roared the man of +war, and made so savage a spring toward the waiter that this latter could +not find his tongue, for the instant, for fright and surprise. "Where is +the boy?" + +In disjointed and trembling syllables the man gave the information +desired. + +"You were hardly gone from the place, your worship, when a youth came +running and said it was your worship's will that the boy come to you +straight, at the bridge-end on the Southwark side. I brought him hither; +and when he woke the lad and gave his message, the lad did grumble some +little for being disturbed 'so early,' as he called it, but straightway +trussed on his rags and went with the youth, only saying it had been +better manners that your worship came yourself, not sent a stranger--and +so--" + +"And so thou'rt a fool!--a fool and easily cozened--hang all thy breed! +Yet mayhap no hurt is done. Possibly no harm is meant the boy. I will +go fetch him. Make the table ready. Stay! the coverings of the bed were +disposed as if one lay beneath them--happened that by accident?" + +"I know not, good your worship. I saw the youth meddle with them--he +that came for the boy." + +"Thousand deaths! 'Twas done to deceive me--'tis plain 'twas done to +gain time. Hark ye! Was that youth alone?" + +"All alone, your worship." + +"Art sure?" + +"Sure, your worship." + +"Collect thy scattered wits--bethink thee--take time, man." + +After a moment's thought, the servant said-- + +"When he came, none came with him; but now I remember me that as the two +stepped into the throng of the Bridge, a ruffian-looking man plunged out +from some near place; and just as he was joining them--" + +"What THEN?--out with it!" thundered the impatient Hendon, interrupting. + +"Just then the crowd lapped them up and closed them in, and I saw no +more, being called by my master, who was in a rage because a joint that +the scrivener had ordered was forgot, though I take all the saints to +witness that to blame ME for that miscarriage were like holding the +unborn babe to judgment for sins com--" + +"Out of my sight, idiot! Thy prating drives me mad! Hold! Whither art +flying? Canst not bide still an instant? Went they toward Southwark?" + +"Even so, your worship--for, as I said before, as to that detestable +joint, the babe unborn is no whit more blameless than--" + +"Art here YET! And prating still! Vanish, lest I throttle thee!" The +servitor vanished. Hendon followed after him, passed him, and plunged +down the stairs two steps at a stride, muttering, "'Tis that scurvy +villain that claimed he was his son. I have lost thee, my poor little +mad master--it is a bitter thought--and I had come to love thee so! No! +by book and bell, NOT lost! Not lost, for I will ransack the land till I +find thee again. Poor child, yonder is his breakfast--and mine, but I +have no hunger now; so, let the rats have it--speed, speed! that is the +word!" As he wormed his swift way through the noisy multitudes upon the +Bridge he several times said to himself--clinging to the thought as if it +were a particularly pleasing one--"He grumbled, but he WENT--he went, +yes, because he thought Miles Hendon asked it, sweet lad--he would ne'er +have done it for another, I know it well." + + + +Chapter XIV. 'Le Roi est mort--vive le Roi.' + +Toward daylight of the same morning, Tom Canty stirred out of a heavy +sleep and opened his eyes in the dark. He lay silent a few moments, +trying to analyse his confused thoughts and impressions, and get some +sort of meaning out of them; then suddenly he burst out in a rapturous +but guarded voice-- + +"I see it all, I see it all! Now God be thanked, I am indeed awake at +last! Come, joy! vanish, sorrow! Ho, Nan! Bet! kick off your straw and +hie ye hither to my side, till I do pour into your unbelieving ears the +wildest madcap dream that ever the spirits of night did conjure up to +astonish the soul of man withal! . . . Ho, Nan, I say! Bet!" + +A dim form appeared at his side, and a voice said-- + +"Wilt deign to deliver thy commands?" + +"Commands? . . . O, woe is me, I know thy voice! Speak thou--who am I?" + +"Thou? In sooth, yesternight wert thou the Prince of Wales; to-day art +thou my most gracious liege, Edward, King of England." + +Tom buried his head among his pillows, murmuring plaintively-- + +"Alack, it was no dream! Go to thy rest, sweet sir--leave me to my +sorrows." + +Tom slept again, and after a time he had this pleasant dream. He thought +it was summer, and he was playing, all alone, in the fair meadow called +Goodman's Fields, when a dwarf only a foot high, with long red whiskers +and a humped back, appeared to him suddenly and said, "Dig by that +stump." He did so, and found twelve bright new pennies--wonderful +riches! Yet this was not the best of it; for the dwarf said-- + +"I know thee. Thou art a good lad, and a deserving; thy distresses shall +end, for the day of thy reward is come. Dig here every seventh day, and +thou shalt find always the same treasure, twelve bright new pennies. +Tell none--keep the secret." + +Then the dwarf vanished, and Tom flew to Offal Court with his prize, +saying to himself, "Every night will I give my father a penny; he will +think I begged it, it will glad his heart, and I shall no more be beaten. +One penny every week the good priest that teacheth me shall have; mother, +Nan, and Bet the other four. We be done with hunger and rags, now, done +with fears and frets and savage usage." + +In his dream he reached his sordid home all out of breath, but with eyes +dancing with grateful enthusiasm; cast four of his pennies into his +mother's lap and cried out-- + +"They are for thee!--all of them, every one!--for thee and Nan and Bet-- +and honestly come by, not begged nor stolen!" + +The happy and astonished mother strained him to her breast and exclaimed-- + +"It waxeth late--may it please your Majesty to rise?" + +Ah! that was not the answer he was expecting. The dream had snapped +asunder--he was awake. + +He opened his eyes--the richly clad First Lord of the Bedchamber was +kneeling by his couch. The gladness of the lying dream faded away--the +poor boy recognised that he was still a captive and a king. The room was +filled with courtiers clothed in purple mantles--the mourning colour--and +with noble servants of the monarch. Tom sat up in bed and gazed out from +the heavy silken curtains upon this fine company. + +The weighty business of dressing began, and one courtier after another +knelt and paid his court and offered to the little King his condolences +upon his heavy loss, whilst the dressing proceeded. In the beginning, a +shirt was taken up by the Chief Equerry in Waiting, who passed it to the +First Lord of the Buckhounds, who passed it to the Second Gentleman of +the Bedchamber, who passed it to the Head Ranger of Windsor Forest, who +passed it to the Third Groom of the Stole, who passed it to the +Chancellor Royal of the Duchy of Lancaster, who passed it to the Master +of the Wardrobe, who passed it to Norroy King-at-Arms, who passed it to +the Constable of the Tower, who passed it to the Chief Steward of the +Household, who passed it to the Hereditary Grand Diaperer, who passed it +to the Lord High Admiral of England, who passed it to the Archbishop of +Canterbury, who passed it to the First Lord of the Bedchamber, who took +what was left of it and put it on Tom. Poor little wondering chap, it +reminded him of passing buckets at a fire. + +Each garment in its turn had to go through this slow and solemn process; +consequently Tom grew very weary of the ceremony; so weary that he felt +an almost gushing gratefulness when he at last saw his long silken hose +begin the journey down the line and knew that the end of the matter was +drawing near. But he exulted too soon. The First Lord of the Bedchamber +received the hose and was about to encase Tom's legs in them, when a +sudden flush invaded his face and he hurriedly hustled the things back +into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury with an astounded look and +a whispered, "See, my lord!" pointing to a something connected with the +hose. The Archbishop paled, then flushed, and passed the hose to the +Lord High Admiral, whispering, "See, my lord!" The Admiral passed the +hose to the Hereditary Grand Diaperer, and had hardly breath enough in +his body to ejaculate, "See, my lord!" The hose drifted backward along +the line, to the Chief Steward of the Household, the Constable of the +Tower, Norroy King-at-Arms, the Master of the Wardrobe, the Chancellor +Royal of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Third Groom of the Stole, the Head +Ranger of Windsor Forest, the Second Gentleman of the Bedchamber, the +First Lord of the Buckhounds,--accompanied always with that amazed and +frightened "See! see!"--till they finally reached the hands of the Chief +Equerry in Waiting, who gazed a moment, with a pallid face, upon what had +caused all this dismay, then hoarsely whispered, "Body of my life, a tag +gone from a truss-point!--to the Tower with the Head Keeper of the King's +Hose!"--after which he leaned upon the shoulder of the First Lord of the +Buckhounds to regather his vanished strength whilst fresh hose, without +any damaged strings to them, were brought. + +But all things must have an end, and so in time Tom Canty was in a +condition to get out of bed. The proper official poured water, the +proper official engineered the washing, the proper official stood by with +a towel, and by-and-by Tom got safely through the purifying stage and was +ready for the services of the Hairdresser-royal. When he at length +emerged from this master's hands, he was a gracious figure and as pretty +as a girl, in his mantle and trunks of purple satin, and purple-plumed +cap. He now moved in state toward his breakfast-room, through the midst +of the courtly assemblage; and as he passed, these fell back, leaving his +way free, and dropped upon their knees. + +After breakfast he was conducted, with regal ceremony, attended by his +great officers and his guard of fifty Gentlemen Pensioners bearing gilt +battle-axes, to the throne-room, where he proceeded to transact business +of state. His 'uncle,' Lord Hertford, took his stand by the throne, to +assist the royal mind with wise counsel. + +The body of illustrious men named by the late King as his executors +appeared, to ask Tom's approval of certain acts of theirs--rather a form, +and yet not wholly a form, since there was no Protector as yet. The +Archbishop of Canterbury made report of the decree of the Council of +Executors concerning the obsequies of his late most illustrious Majesty, +and finished by reading the signatures of the Executors, to wit: the +Archbishop of Canterbury; the Lord Chancellor of England; William Lord +St. John; John Lord Russell; Edward Earl of Hertford; John Viscount +Lisle; Cuthbert Bishop of Durham-- + +Tom was not listening--an earlier clause of the document was puzzling +him. At this point he turned and whispered to Lord Hertford-- + +"What day did he say the burial hath been appointed for?" + +"The sixteenth of the coming month, my liege." + +"'Tis a strange folly. Will he keep?" + +Poor chap, he was still new to the customs of royalty; he was used to +seeing the forlorn dead of Offal Court hustled out of the way with a very +different sort of expedition. However, the Lord Hertford set his mind at +rest with a word or two. + +A secretary of state presented an order of the Council appointing the +morrow at eleven for the reception of the foreign ambassadors, and +desired the King's assent. + +Tom turned an inquiring look toward Hertford, who whispered-- + +"Your Majesty will signify consent. They come to testify their royal +masters' sense of the heavy calamity which hath visited your Grace and +the realm of England." + +Tom did as he was bidden. Another secretary began to read a preamble +concerning the expenses of the late King's household, which had amounted +to 28,000 pounds during the preceding six months--a sum so vast that it +made Tom Canty gasp; he gasped again when the fact appeared that 20,000 +pounds of this money was still owing and unpaid; {4} and once more when +it appeared that the King's coffers were about empty, and his twelve +hundred servants much embarrassed for lack of the wages due them. Tom +spoke out, with lively apprehension-- + +"We be going to the dogs, 'tis plain. 'Tis meet and necessary that we +take a smaller house and set the servants at large, sith they be of no +value but to make delay, and trouble one with offices that harass the +spirit and shame the soul, they misbecoming any but a doll, that hath nor +brains nor hands to help itself withal. I remember me of a small house +that standeth over against the fish-market, by Billingsgate--" + +A sharp pressure upon Tom's arm stopped his foolish tongue and sent a +blush to his face; but no countenance there betrayed any sign that this +strange speech had been remarked or given concern. + +A secretary made report that forasmuch as the late King had provided in +his will for conferring the ducal degree upon the Earl of Hertford and +raising his brother, Sir Thomas Seymour, to the peerage, and likewise +Hertford's son to an earldom, together with similar aggrandisements to +other great servants of the Crown, the Council had resolved to hold a +sitting on the 16th of February for the delivering and confirming of +these honours, and that meantime, the late King not having granted, in +writing, estates suitable to the support of these dignities, the Council, +knowing his private wishes in that regard, had thought proper to grant to +Seymour '500 pound lands,' and to Hertford's son '800 pound lands, and +300 pound of the next bishop's lands which should fall vacant,'--his +present Majesty being willing. {5} + +Tom was about to blurt out something about the propriety of paying the +late King's debts first, before squandering all this money, but a timely +touch upon his arm, from the thoughtful Hertford, saved him this +indiscretion; wherefore he gave the royal assent, without spoken comment, +but with much inward discomfort. While he sat reflecting a moment over +the ease with which he was doing strange and glittering miracles, a happy +thought shot into his mind: why not make his mother Duchess of Offal +Court, and give her an estate? But a sorrowful thought swept it +instantly away: he was only a king in name, these grave veterans and +great nobles were his masters; to them his mother was only the creature +of a diseased mind; they would simply listen to his project with +unbelieving ears, then send for the doctor. + +The dull work went tediously on. Petitions were read, and proclamations, +patents, and all manner of wordy, repetitious, and wearisome papers +relating to the public business; and at last Tom sighed pathetically and +murmured to himself, "In what have I offended, that the good God should +take me away from the fields and the free air and the sunshine, to shut +me up here and make me a king and afflict me so?" Then his poor muddled +head nodded a while and presently drooped to his shoulder; and the +business of the empire came to a standstill for want of that august +factor, the ratifying power. Silence ensued around the slumbering child, +and the sages of the realm ceased from their deliberations. + +During the forenoon, Tom had an enjoyable hour, by permission of his +keepers, Hertford and St. John, with the Lady Elizabeth and the little +Lady Jane Grey; though the spirits of the princesses were rather subdued +by the mighty stroke that had fallen upon the royal house; and at the end +of the visit his 'elder sister'--afterwards the 'Bloody Mary' of history +--chilled him with a solemn interview which had but one merit in his eyes, +its brevity. He had a few moments to himself, and then a slim lad of +about twelve years of age was admitted to his presence, whose clothing, +except his snowy ruff and the laces about his wrists, was of black,-- +doublet, hose, and all. He bore no badge of mourning but a knot of +purple ribbon on his shoulder. He advanced hesitatingly, with head bowed +and bare, and dropped upon one knee in front of Tom. Tom sat still and +contemplated him soberly a moment. Then he said-- + +"Rise, lad. Who art thou. What wouldst have?" + +The boy rose, and stood at graceful ease, but with an aspect of concern +in his face. He said-- + +"Of a surety thou must remember me, my lord. I am thy whipping-boy." + +"My WHIPPING-boy?" + +"The same, your Grace. I am Humphrey--Humphrey Marlow." + +Tom perceived that here was someone whom his keepers ought to have posted +him about. The situation was delicate. What should he do?--pretend he +knew this lad, and then betray by his every utterance that he had never +heard of him before? No, that would not do. An idea came to his relief: +accidents like this might be likely to happen with some frequency, now +that business urgencies would often call Hertford and St. John from his +side, they being members of the Council of Executors; therefore perhaps +it would be well to strike out a plan himself to meet the requirements of +such emergencies. Yes, that would be a wise course--he would practise on +this boy, and see what sort of success he might achieve. So he stroked +his brow perplexedly a moment or two, and presently said-- + +"Now I seem to remember thee somewhat--but my wit is clogged and dim with +suffering--" + +"Alack, my poor master!" ejaculated the whipping-boy, with feeling; +adding, to himself, "In truth 'tis as they said--his mind is gone--alas, +poor soul! But misfortune catch me, how am I forgetting! They said one +must not seem to observe that aught is wrong with him." + +"'Tis strange how my memory doth wanton with me these days," said Tom. +"But mind it not--I mend apace--a little clue doth often serve to bring +me back again the things and names which had escaped me. (And not they, +only, forsooth, but e'en such as I ne'er heard before--as this lad shall +see.) Give thy business speech." + +"'Tis matter of small weight, my liege, yet will I touch upon it, an' it +please your Grace. Two days gone by, when your Majesty faulted thrice in +your Greek--in the morning lessons,--dost remember it?" + +"Y-e-s--methinks I do. (It is not much of a lie--an' I had meddled with +the Greek at all, I had not faulted simply thrice, but forty times.) +Yes, I do recall it, now--go on." + +"The master, being wroth with what he termed such slovenly and doltish +work, did promise that he would soundly whip me for it--and--" + +"Whip THEE!" said Tom, astonished out of his presence of mind. "Why +should he whip THEE for faults of mine?" + +"Ah, your Grace forgetteth again. He always scourgeth me when thou dost +fail in thy lessons." + +"True, true--I had forgot. Thou teachest me in private--then if I fail, +he argueth that thy office was lamely done, and--" + +"Oh, my liege, what words are these? I, the humblest of thy servants, +presume to teach THEE?" + +"Then where is thy blame? What riddle is this? Am I in truth gone mad, +or is it thou? Explain--speak out." + +"But, good your Majesty, there's nought that needeth simplifying.--None +may visit the sacred person of the Prince of Wales with blows; wherefore, +when he faulteth, 'tis I that take them; and meet it is and right, for +that it is mine office and my livelihood." {1} + +Tom stared at the tranquil boy, observing to himself, "Lo, it is a +wonderful thing,--a most strange and curious trade; I marvel they have +not hired a boy to take my combings and my dressings for me--would heaven +they would!--an' they will do this thing, I will take my lashings in mine +own person, giving God thanks for the change." Then he said aloud-- + +"And hast thou been beaten, poor friend, according to the promise?" + +"No, good your Majesty, my punishment was appointed for this day, and +peradventure it may be annulled, as unbefitting the season of mourning +that is come upon us; I know not, and so have made bold to come hither +and remind your Grace about your gracious promise to intercede in my +behalf--" + +"With the master? To save thee thy whipping?" + +"Ah, thou dost remember!" + +"My memory mendeth, thou seest. Set thy mind at ease--thy back shall go +unscathed--I will see to it." + +"Oh, thanks, my good lord!" cried the boy, dropping upon his knee again. +"Mayhap I have ventured far enow; and yet--" + +Seeing Master Humphrey hesitate, Tom encouraged him to go on, saying he +was "in the granting mood." + +"Then will I speak it out, for it lieth near my heart. Sith thou art no +more Prince of Wales but King, thou canst order matters as thou wilt, +with none to say thee nay; wherefore it is not in reason that thou wilt +longer vex thyself with dreary studies, but wilt burn thy books and turn +thy mind to things less irksome. Then am I ruined, and mine orphan +sisters with me!" + +"Ruined? Prithee how?" + +"My back is my bread, O my gracious liege! if it go idle, I starve. An' +thou cease from study mine office is gone thou'lt need no whipping-boy. +Do not turn me away!" + +Tom was touched with this pathetic distress. He said, with a right royal +burst of generosity-- + +"Discomfort thyself no further, lad. Thine office shall be permanent in +thee and thy line for ever." Then he struck the boy a light blow on the +shoulder with the flat of his sword, exclaiming, "Rise, Humphrey Marlow, +Hereditary Grand Whipping-Boy to the Royal House of England! Banish +sorrow--I will betake me to my books again, and study so ill that they +must in justice treble thy wage, so mightily shall the business of thine +office be augmented." + +The grateful Humphrey responded fervidly-- + +"Thanks, O most noble master, this princely lavishness doth far surpass +my most distempered dreams of fortune. Now shall I be happy all my days, +and all the house of Marlow after me." + +Tom had wit enough to perceive that here was a lad who could be useful to +him. He encouraged Humphrey to talk, and he was nothing loath. He was +delighted to believe that he was helping in Tom's 'cure'; for always, as +soon as he had finished calling back to Tom's diseased mind the various +particulars of his experiences and adventures in the royal school-room +and elsewhere about the palace, he noticed that Tom was then able to +'recall' the circumstances quite clearly. At the end of an hour Tom +found himself well freighted with very valuable information concerning +personages and matters pertaining to the Court; so he resolved to draw +instruction from this source daily; and to this end he would give order +to admit Humphrey to the royal closet whenever he might come, provided +the Majesty of England was not engaged with other people. Humphrey had +hardly been dismissed when my Lord Hertford arrived with more trouble for +Tom. + +He said that the Lords of the Council, fearing that some overwrought +report of the King's damaged health might have leaked out and got abroad, +they deemed it wise and best that his Majesty should begin to dine in +public after a day or two--his wholesome complexion and vigorous step, +assisted by a carefully guarded repose of manner and ease and grace of +demeanour, would more surely quiet the general pulse--in case any evil +rumours HAD gone about--than any other scheme that could be devised. + +Then the Earl proceeded, very delicately, to instruct Tom as to the +observances proper to the stately occasion, under the rather thin +disguise of 'reminding' him concerning things already known to him; but +to his vast gratification it turned out that Tom needed very little help +in this line--he had been making use of Humphrey in that direction, for +Humphrey had mentioned that within a few days he was to begin to dine in +public; having gathered it from the swift-winged gossip of the Court. +Tom kept these facts to himself, however. + +Seeing the royal memory so improved, the Earl ventured to apply a few +tests to it, in an apparently casual way, to find out how far its +amendment had progressed. The results were happy, here and there, in +spots--spots where Humphrey's tracks remained--and on the whole my lord +was greatly pleased and encouraged. So encouraged was he, indeed, that +he spoke up and said in a quite hopeful voice-- + +"Now am I persuaded that if your Majesty will but tax your memory yet a +little further, it will resolve the puzzle of the Great Seal--a loss +which was of moment yesterday, although of none to-day, since its term of +service ended with our late lord's life. May it please your Grace to make +the trial?" + +Tom was at sea--a Great Seal was something which he was totally +unacquainted with. After a moment's hesitation he looked up innocently +and asked-- + +"What was it like, my lord?" + +The Earl started, almost imperceptibly, muttering to himself, "Alack, his +wits are flown again!--it was ill wisdom to lead him on to strain them"-- +then he deftly turned the talk to other matters, with the purpose of +sweeping the unlucky seal out of Tom's thoughts--a purpose which easily +succeeded. + + + +Chapter XV. Tom as King. + +The next day the foreign ambassadors came, with their gorgeous trains; +and Tom, throned in awful state, received them. The splendours of the +scene delighted his eye and fired his imagination at first, but the +audience was long and dreary, and so were most of the addresses-- +wherefore, what began as a pleasure grew into weariness and home-sickness +by-and-by. Tom said the words which Hertford put into his mouth from +time to time, and tried hard to acquit himself satisfactorily, but he was +too new to such things, and too ill at ease to accomplish more than a +tolerable success. He looked sufficiently like a king, but he was ill +able to feel like one. He was cordially glad when the ceremony was +ended. + +The larger part of his day was 'wasted'--as he termed it, in his own +mind--in labours pertaining to his royal office. Even the two hours +devoted to certain princely pastimes and recreations were rather a burden +to him than otherwise, they were so fettered by restrictions and +ceremonious observances. However, he had a private hour with his +whipping-boy which he counted clear gain, since he got both entertainment +and needful information out of it. + +The third day of Tom Canty's kingship came and went much as the others +had done, but there was a lifting of his cloud in one way--he felt less +uncomfortable than at first; he was getting a little used to his +circumstances and surroundings; his chains still galled, but not all the +time; he found that the presence and homage of the great afflicted and +embarrassed him less and less sharply with every hour that drifted over +his head. + +But for one single dread, he could have seen the fourth day approach +without serious distress--the dining in public; it was to begin that day. +There were greater matters in the programme--for on that day he would +have to preside at a council which would take his views and commands +concerning the policy to be pursued toward various foreign nations +scattered far and near over the great globe; on that day, too, Hertford +would be formally chosen to the grand office of Lord Protector; other +things of note were appointed for that fourth day, also; but to Tom they +were all insignificant compared with the ordeal of dining all by himself +with a multitude of curious eyes fastened upon him and a multitude of +mouths whispering comments upon his performance,--and upon his mistakes, +if he should be so unlucky as to make any. + +Still, nothing could stop that fourth day, and so it came. It found poor +Tom low-spirited and absent-minded, and this mood continued; he could not +shake it off. The ordinary duties of the morning dragged upon his hands, +and wearied him. Once more he felt the sense of captivity heavy upon +him. + +Late in the forenoon he was in a large audience-chamber, conversing with +the Earl of Hertford and dully awaiting the striking of the hour +appointed for a visit of ceremony from a considerable number of great +officials and courtiers. + +After a little while, Tom, who had wandered to a window and become +interested in the life and movement of the great highway beyond the +palace gates--and not idly interested, but longing with all his heart to +take part in person in its stir and freedom--saw the van of a hooting and +shouting mob of disorderly men, women, and children of the lowest and +poorest degree approaching from up the road. + +"I would I knew what 'tis about!" he exclaimed, with all a boy's +curiosity in such happenings. + +"Thou art the King!" solemnly responded the Earl, with a reverence. +"Have I your Grace's leave to act?" + +"O blithely, yes! O gladly, yes!" exclaimed Tom excitedly, adding to +himself with a lively sense of satisfaction, "In truth, being a king is +not all dreariness--it hath its compensations and conveniences." + +The Earl called a page, and sent him to the captain of the guard with the +order-- + +"Let the mob be halted, and inquiry made concerning the occasion of its +movement. By the King's command!" + +A few seconds later a long rank of the royal guards, cased in flashing +steel, filed out at the gates and formed across the highway in front of +the multitude. A messenger returned, to report that the crowd were +following a man, a woman, and a young girl to execution for crimes +committed against the peace and dignity of the realm. + +Death--and a violent death--for these poor unfortunates! The thought +wrung Tom's heart-strings. The spirit of compassion took control of him, +to the exclusion of all other considerations; he never thought of the +offended laws, or of the grief or loss which these three criminals had +inflicted upon their victims; he could think of nothing but the scaffold +and the grisly fate hanging over the heads of the condemned. His concern +made him even forget, for the moment, that he was but the false shadow of +a king, not the substance; and before he knew it he had blurted out the +command-- + +"Bring them here!" + +Then he blushed scarlet, and a sort of apology sprung to his lips; but +observing that his order had wrought no sort of surprise in the Earl or +the waiting page, he suppressed the words he was about to utter. The +page, in the most matter-of-course way, made a profound obeisance and +retired backwards out of the room to deliver the command. Tom +experienced a glow of pride and a renewed sense of the compensating +advantages of the kingly office. He said to himself, "Truly it is like +what I was used to feel when I read the old priest's tales, and did +imagine mine own self a prince, giving law and command to all, saying 'Do +this, do that,' whilst none durst offer let or hindrance to my will." + +Now the doors swung open; one high-sounding title after another was +announced, the personages owning them followed, and the place was quickly +half-filled with noble folk and finery. But Tom was hardly conscious of +the presence of these people, so wrought up was he and so intensely +absorbed in that other and more interesting matter. He seated himself +absently in his chair of state, and turned his eyes upon the door with +manifestations of impatient expectancy; seeing which, the company forbore +to trouble him, and fell to chatting a mixture of public business and +court gossip one with another. + +In a little while the measured tread of military men was heard +approaching, and the culprits entered the presence in charge of an under- +sheriff and escorted by a detail of the king's guard. The civil officer +knelt before Tom, then stood aside; the three doomed persons knelt, also, +and remained so; the guard took position behind Tom's chair. Tom scanned +the prisoners curiously. Something about the dress or appearance of the +man had stirred a vague memory in him. "Methinks I have seen this man +ere now . . . but the when or the where fail me"--such was Tom's thought. +Just then the man glanced quickly up and quickly dropped his face again, +not being able to endure the awful port of sovereignty; but the one full +glimpse of the face which Tom got was sufficient. He said to himself: +"Now is the matter clear; this is the stranger that plucked Giles Witt +out of the Thames, and saved his life, that windy, bitter, first day of +the New Year--a brave good deed--pity he hath been doing baser ones and +got himself in this sad case . . . I have not forgot the day, neither the +hour; by reason that an hour after, upon the stroke of eleven, I did get +a hiding by the hand of Gammer Canty which was of so goodly and admired +severity that all that went before or followed after it were but +fondlings and caresses by comparison." + +Tom now ordered that the woman and the girl be removed from the presence +for a little time; then addressed himself to the under-sheriff, saying-- + +"Good sir, what is this man's offence?" + +The officer knelt, and answered-- + +"So please your Majesty, he hath taken the life of a subject by poison." + +Tom's compassion for the prisoner, and admiration of him as the daring +rescuer of a drowning boy, experienced a most damaging shock. + +"The thing was proven upon him?" he asked. + +"Most clearly, sire." + +Tom sighed, and said-- + +"Take him away--he hath earned his death. 'Tis a pity, for he was a +brave heart--na--na, I mean he hath the LOOK of it!" + +The prisoner clasped his hands together with sudden energy, and wrung +them despairingly, at the same time appealing imploringly to the 'King' +in broken and terrified phrases-- + +"O my lord the King, an' thou canst pity the lost, have pity upon me! I +am innocent--neither hath that wherewith I am charged been more than but +lamely proved--yet I speak not of that; the judgment is gone forth +against me and may not suffer alteration; yet in mine extremity I beg a +boon, for my doom is more than I can bear. A grace, a grace, my lord the +King! in thy royal compassion grant my prayer--give commandment that I be +hanged!" + +Tom was amazed. This was not the outcome he had looked for. + +"Odds my life, a strange BOON! Was it not the fate intended thee?" + +"O good my liege, not so! It is ordered that I be BOILED ALIVE!" + +The hideous surprise of these words almost made Tom spring from his +chair. As soon as he could recover his wits he cried out-- + +"Have thy wish, poor soul! an' thou had poisoned a hundred men thou +shouldst not suffer so miserable a death." + +The prisoner bowed his face to the ground and burst into passionate +expressions of gratitude--ending with-- + +"If ever thou shouldst know misfortune--which God forefend!--may thy +goodness to me this day be remembered and requited!" + +Tom turned to the Earl of Hertford, and said-- + +"My lord, is it believable that there was warrant for this man's +ferocious doom?" + +"It is the law, your Grace--for poisoners. In Germany coiners be boiled +to death in OIL--not cast in of a sudden, but by a rope let down into the +oil by degrees, and slowly; first the feet, then the legs, then--" + +"O prithee no more, my lord, I cannot bear it!" cried Tom, covering his +eyes with his hands to shut out the picture. "I beseech your good +lordship that order be taken to change this law--oh, let no more poor +creatures be visited with its tortures." + +The Earl's face showed profound gratification, for he was a man of +merciful and generous impulses--a thing not very common with his class in +that fierce age. He said-- + +"These your Grace's noble words have sealed its doom. History will +remember it to the honour of your royal house." + +The under-sheriff was about to remove his prisoner; Tom gave him a sign +to wait; then he said-- + +"Good sir, I would look into this matter further. The man has said his +deed was but lamely proved. Tell me what thou knowest." + +"If the King's grace please, it did appear upon the trial that this man +entered into a house in the hamlet of Islington where one lay sick--three +witnesses say it was at ten of the clock in the morning, and two say it +was some minutes later--the sick man being alone at the time, and +sleeping--and presently the man came forth again and went his way. The +sick man died within the hour, being torn with spasms and retchings." + +"Did any see the poison given? Was poison found?" + +"Marry, no, my liege." + +"Then how doth one know there was poison given at all?" + +"Please your Majesty, the doctors testified that none die with such +symptoms but by poison." + +Weighty evidence, this, in that simple age. Tom recognised its +formidable nature, and said-- + +"The doctor knoweth his trade--belike they were right. The matter hath +an ill-look for this poor man." + +"Yet was not this all, your Majesty; there is more and worse. Many +testified that a witch, since gone from the village, none know whither, +did foretell, and speak it privately in their ears, that the sick man +WOULD DIE BY POISON--and more, that a stranger would give it--a stranger +with brown hair and clothed in a worn and common garb; and surely this +prisoner doth answer woundily to the bill. Please your Majesty to give +the circumstance that solemn weight which is its due, seeing it was +FORETOLD." + +This was an argument of tremendous force in that superstitious day. Tom +felt that the thing was settled; if evidence was worth anything, this +poor fellow's guilt was proved. Still he offered the prisoner a chance, +saying-- + +"If thou canst say aught in thy behalf, speak." + +"Nought that will avail, my King. I am innocent, yet cannot I make it +appear. I have no friends, else might I show that I was not in Islington +that day; so also might I show that at that hour they name I was above a +league away, seeing I was at Wapping Old Stairs; yea more, my King, for I +could show, that whilst they say I was TAKING life, I was SAVING it. A +drowning boy--" + +"Peace! Sheriff, name the day the deed was done!" + +"At ten in the morning, or some minutes later, the first day of the New +Year, most illustrious--" + +"Let the prisoner go free--it is the King's will!" + +Another blush followed this unregal outburst, and he covered his +indecorum as well as he could by adding-- + +"It enrageth me that a man should be hanged upon such idle, hare-brained +evidence!" + +A low buzz of admiration swept through the assemblage. It was not +admiration of the decree that had been delivered by Tom, for the +propriety or expediency of pardoning a convicted poisoner was a thing +which few there would have felt justified in either admitting or +admiring--no, the admiration was for the intelligence and spirit which +Tom had displayed. Some of the low-voiced remarks were to this effect-- + +"This is no mad king--he hath his wits sound." + +"How sanely he put his questions--how like his former natural self was +this abrupt imperious disposal of the matter!" + +"God be thanked, his infirmity is spent! This is no weakling, but a +king. He hath borne himself like to his own father." + +The air being filled with applause, Tom's ear necessarily caught a little +of it. The effect which this had upon him was to put him greatly at his +ease, and also to charge his system with very gratifying sensations. + +However, his juvenile curiosity soon rose superior to these pleasant +thoughts and feelings; he was eager to know what sort of deadly mischief +the woman and the little girl could have been about; so, by his command, +the two terrified and sobbing creatures were brought before him. + +"What is it that these have done?" he inquired of the sheriff. + +"Please your Majesty, a black crime is charged upon them, and clearly +proven; wherefore the judges have decreed, according to the law, that +they be hanged. They sold themselves to the devil--such is their crime." + +Tom shuddered. He had been taught to abhor people who did this wicked +thing. Still, he was not going to deny himself the pleasure of feeding +his curiosity for all that; so he asked-- + +"Where was this done?--and when?" + +"On a midnight in December, in a ruined church, your Majesty." + +Tom shuddered again. + +"Who was there present?" + +"Only these two, your grace--and THAT OTHER." + +"Have these confessed?" + +"Nay, not so, sire--they do deny it." + +"Then prithee, how was it known?" + +"Certain witness did see them wending thither, good your Majesty; this +bred the suspicion, and dire effects have since confirmed and justified +it. In particular, it is in evidence that through the wicked power so +obtained, they did invoke and bring about a storm that wasted all the +region round about. Above forty witnesses have proved the storm; and +sooth one might have had a thousand, for all had reason to remember it, +sith all had suffered by it." + +"Certes this is a serious matter." Tom turned this dark piece of +scoundrelism over in his mind a while, then asked-- + +"Suffered the woman also by the storm?" + +Several old heads among the assemblage nodded their recognition of the +wisdom of this question. The sheriff, however, saw nothing consequential +in the inquiry; he answered, with simple directness-- + +"Indeed did she, your Majesty, and most righteously, as all aver. Her +habitation was swept away, and herself and child left shelterless." + +"Methinks the power to do herself so ill a turn was dearly bought. She +had been cheated, had she paid but a farthing for it; that she paid her +soul, and her child's, argueth that she is mad; if she is mad she knoweth +not what she doth, therefore sinneth not." + +The elderly heads nodded recognition of Tom's wisdom once more, and one +individual murmured, "An' the King be mad himself, according to report, +then is it a madness of a sort that would improve the sanity of some I +wot of, if by the gentle providence of God they could but catch it." + +"What age hath the child?" asked Tom. + +"Nine years, please your Majesty." + +"By the law of England may a child enter into covenant and sell itself, +my lord?" asked Tom, turning to a learned judge. + +"The law doth not permit a child to make or meddle in any weighty matter, +good my liege, holding that its callow wit unfitteth it to cope with the +riper wit and evil schemings of them that are its elders. The DEVIL may +buy a child, if he so choose, and the child agree thereto, but not an +Englishman--in this latter case the contract would be null and void." + +"It seemeth a rude unchristian thing, and ill contrived, that English law +denieth privileges to Englishmen to waste them on the devil!" cried Tom, +with honest heat. + +This novel view of the matter excited many smiles, and was stored away in +many heads to be repeated about the Court as evidence of Tom's +originality as well as progress toward mental health. + +The elder culprit had ceased from sobbing, and was hanging upon Tom's +words with an excited interest and a growing hope. Tom noticed this, and +it strongly inclined his sympathies toward her in her perilous and +unfriended situation. Presently he asked-- + +"How wrought they to bring the storm?" + +"BY PULLING OFF THEIR STOCKINGS, sire." + +This astonished Tom, and also fired his curiosity to fever heat. He said, +eagerly-- + +"It is wonderful! Hath it always this dread effect?" + +"Always, my liege--at least if the woman desire it, and utter the needful +words, either in her mind or with her tongue." + +Tom turned to the woman, and said with impetuous zeal-- + +"Exert thy power--I would see a storm!" + +There was a sudden paling of cheeks in the superstitious assemblage, and +a general, though unexpressed, desire to get out of the place--all of +which was lost upon Tom, who was dead to everything but the proposed +cataclysm. Seeing a puzzled and astonished look in the woman's face, he +added, excitedly-- + +"Never fear--thou shalt be blameless. More--thou shalt go free--none +shall touch thee. Exert thy power." + +"Oh, my lord the King, I have it not--I have been falsely accused." + +"Thy fears stay thee. Be of good heart, thou shalt suffer no harm. Make +a storm--it mattereth not how small a one--I require nought great or +harmful, but indeed prefer the opposite--do this and thy life is spared-- +thou shalt go out free, with thy child, bearing the King's pardon, and +safe from hurt or malice from any in the realm." + +The woman prostrated herself, and protested, with tears, that she had no +power to do the miracle, else she would gladly win her child's life +alone, and be content to lose her own, if by obedience to the King's +command so precious a grace might be acquired. + +Tom urged--the woman still adhered to her declarations. Finally he said-- + +"I think the woman hath said true. An' MY mother were in her place and +gifted with the devil's functions, she had not stayed a moment to call +her storms and lay the whole land in ruins, if the saving of my forfeit +life were the price she got! It is argument that other mothers are made +in like mould. Thou art free, goodwife--thou and thy child--for I do +think thee innocent. NOW thou'st nought to fear, being pardoned--pull +off thy stockings!--an' thou canst make me a storm, thou shalt be rich!" + +The redeemed creature was loud in her gratitude, and proceeded to obey, +whilst Tom looked on with eager expectancy, a little marred by +apprehension; the courtiers at the same time manifesting decided +discomfort and uneasiness. The woman stripped her own feet and her +little girl's also, and plainly did her best to reward the King's +generosity with an earthquake, but it was all a failure and a +disappointment. Tom sighed, and said-- + +"There, good soul, trouble thyself no further, thy power is departed out +of thee. Go thy way in peace; and if it return to thee at any time, +forget me not, but fetch me a storm." {13} + + + +Chapter XVI. The State Dinner. + +The dinner hour drew near--yet strangely enough, the thought brought but +slight discomfort to Tom, and hardly any terror. The morning's +experiences had wonderfully built up his confidence; the poor little ash- +cat was already more wonted to his strange garret, after four days' +habit, than a mature person could have become in a full month. A child's +facility in accommodating itself to circumstances was never more +strikingly illustrated. + +Let us privileged ones hurry to the great banqueting-room and have a +glance at matters there whilst Tom is being made ready for the imposing +occasion. It is a spacious apartment, with gilded pillars and pilasters, +and pictured walls and ceilings. At the door stand tall guards, as rigid +as statues, dressed in rich and picturesque costumes, and bearing +halberds. In a high gallery which runs all around the place is a band of +musicians and a packed company of citizens of both sexes, in brilliant +attire. In the centre of the room, upon a raised platform, is Tom's +table. Now let the ancient chronicler speak: + +"A gentleman enters the room bearing a rod, and along with him another +bearing a tablecloth, which, after they have both kneeled three times +with the utmost veneration, he spreads upon the table, and after kneeling +again they both retire; then come two others, one with the rod again, the +other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread; when they have kneeled as +the others had done, and placed what was brought upon the table, they too +retire with the same ceremonies performed by the first; at last come two +nobles, richly clothed, one bearing a tasting-knife, who, after +prostrating themselves three times in the most graceful manner, approach +and rub the table with bread and salt, with as much awe as if the King +had been present." {6} + +So end the solemn preliminaries. Now, far down the echoing corridors we +hear a bugle-blast, and the indistinct cry, "Place for the King! Way for +the King's most excellent majesty!" These sounds are momently repeated-- +they grow nearer and nearer--and presently, almost in our faces, the +martial note peals and the cry rings out, "Way for the King!" At this +instant the shining pageant appears, and files in at the door, with a +measured march. Let the chronicler speak again:-- + +"First come Gentlemen, Barons, Earls, Knights of the Garter, all richly +dressed and bareheaded; next comes the Chancellor, between two, one of +which carries the royal sceptre, the other the Sword of State in a red +scabbard, studded with golden fleurs-de-lis, the point upwards; next +comes the King himself--whom, upon his appearing, twelve trumpets and +many drums salute with a great burst of welcome, whilst all in the +galleries rise in their places, crying 'God save the King!' After him +come nobles attached to his person, and on his right and left march his +guard of honour, his fifty Gentlemen Pensioners, with gilt battle-axes." + +This was all fine and pleasant. Tom's pulse beat high, and a glad light +was in his eye. He bore himself right gracefully, and all the more so +because he was not thinking of how he was doing it, his mind being +charmed and occupied with the blithe sights and sounds about him--and +besides, nobody can be very ungraceful in nicely-fitting beautiful +clothes after he has grown a little used to them--especially if he is for +the moment unconscious of them. Tom remembered his instructions, and +acknowledged his greeting with a slight inclination of his plumed head, +and a courteous "I thank ye, my good people." + +He seated himself at table, without removing his cap; and did it without +the least embarrassment; for to eat with one's cap on was the one +solitary royal custom upon which the kings and the Cantys met upon common +ground, neither party having any advantage over the other in the matter +of old familiarity with it. The pageant broke up and grouped itself +picturesquely, and remained bareheaded. + +Now to the sound of gay music the Yeomen of the Guard entered,--"the +tallest and mightiest men in England, they being carefully selected in +this regard"--but we will let the chronicler tell about it:-- + +"The Yeomen of the Guard entered, bareheaded, clothed in scarlet, with +golden roses upon their backs; and these went and came, bringing in each +turn a course of dishes, served in plate. These dishes were received by +a gentleman in the same order they were brought, and placed upon the +table, while the taster gave to each guard a mouthful to eat of the +particular dish he had brought, for fear of any poison." + +Tom made a good dinner, notwithstanding he was conscious that hundreds of +eyes followed each morsel to his mouth and watched him eat it with an +interest which could not have been more intense if it had been a deadly +explosive and was expected to blow him up and scatter him all about the +place. He was careful not to hurry, and equally careful not to do +anything whatever for himself, but wait till the proper official knelt +down and did it for him. He got through without a mistake--flawless and +precious triumph. + +When the meal was over at last and he marched away in the midst of his +bright pageant, with the happy noises in his ears of blaring bugles, +rolling drums, and thundering acclamations, he felt that if he had seen +the worst of dining in public it was an ordeal which he would be glad to +endure several times a day if by that means he could but buy himself free +from some of the more formidable requirements of his royal office. + + + +Chapter XVII. Foo-foo the First. + +Miles Hendon hurried along toward the Southwark end of the bridge, +keeping a sharp look-out for the persons he sought, and hoping and +expecting to overtake them presently. He was disappointed in this, +however. By asking questions, he was enabled to track them part of the +way through Southwark; then all traces ceased, and he was perplexed as to +how to proceed. Still, he continued his efforts as best he could during +the rest of the day. Nightfall found him leg-weary, half-famished, and +his desire as far from accomplishment as ever; so he supped at the Tabard +Inn and went to bed, resolved to make an early start in the morning, and +give the town an exhaustive search. As he lay thinking and planning, he +presently began to reason thus: The boy would escape from the ruffian, +his reputed father, if possible; would he go back to London and seek his +former haunts? No, he would not do that, he would avoid recapture. +What, then, would he do? Never having had a friend in the world, or a +protector, until he met Miles Hendon, he would naturally try to find that +friend again, provided the effort did not require him to go toward London +and danger. He would strike for Hendon Hall, that is what he would do, +for he knew Hendon was homeward bound and there he might expect to find +him. Yes, the case was plain to Hendon--he must lose no more time in +Southwark, but move at once through Kent, toward Monk's Holm, searching +the wood and inquiring as he went. Let us return to the vanished little +King now. + +The ruffian whom the waiter at the inn on the bridge saw 'about to join' +the youth and the King did not exactly join them, but fell in close +behind them and followed their steps. He said nothing. His left arm was +in a sling, and he wore a large green patch over his left eye; he limped +slightly, and used an oaken staff as a support. The youth led the King a +crooked course through Southwark, and by-and-by struck into the high road +beyond. The King was irritated, now, and said he would stop here--it was +Hendon's place to come to him, not his to go to Hendon. He would not +endure such insolence; he would stop where he was. The youth said-- + +"Thou'lt tarry here, and thy friend lying wounded in the wood yonder? So +be it, then." + +The King's manner changed at once. He cried out-- + +"Wounded? And who hath dared to do it? But that is apart; lead on, lead +on! Faster, sirrah! Art shod with lead? Wounded, is he? Now though +the doer of it be a duke's son he shall rue it!" + +It was some distance to the wood, but the space was speedily traversed. +The youth looked about him, discovered a bough sticking in the ground, +with a small bit of rag tied to it, then led the way into the forest, +watching for similar boughs and finding them at intervals; they were +evidently guides to the point he was aiming at. By-and-by an open place +was reached, where were the charred remains of a farm-house, and near +them a barn which was falling to ruin and decay. There was no sign of +life anywhere, and utter silence prevailed. The youth entered the barn, +the King following eagerly upon his heels. No one there! The King shot a +surprised and suspicious glance at the youth, and asked-- + +"Where is he?" + +A mocking laugh was his answer. The King was in a rage in a moment; he +seized a billet of wood and was in the act of charging upon the youth +when another mocking laugh fell upon his ear. It was from the lame +ruffian who had been following at a distance. The King turned and said +angrily-- + +"Who art thou? What is thy business here?" + +"Leave thy foolery," said the man, "and quiet thyself. My disguise is +none so good that thou canst pretend thou knowest not thy father through +it." + +"Thou art not my father. I know thee not. I am the King. If thou hast +hid my servant, find him for me, or thou shalt sup sorrow for what thou +hast done." + +John Canty replied, in a stern and measured voice-- + +"It is plain thou art mad, and I am loath to punish thee; but if thou +provoke me, I must. Thy prating doth no harm here, where there are no +ears that need to mind thy follies; yet it is well to practise thy tongue +to wary speech, that it may do no hurt when our quarters change. I have +done a murder, and may not tarry at home--neither shalt thou, seeing I +need thy service. My name is changed, for wise reasons; it is Hobbs-- +John Hobbs; thine is Jack--charge thy memory accordingly. Now, then, +speak. Where is thy mother? Where are thy sisters? They came not to +the place appointed--knowest thou whither they went?" + +The King answered sullenly-- + +"Trouble me not with these riddles. My mother is dead; my sisters are in +the palace." + +The youth near by burst into a derisive laugh, and the King would have +assaulted him, but Canty--or Hobbs, as he now called himself--prevented +him, and said-- + +"Peace, Hugo, vex him not; his mind is astray, and thy ways fret him. +Sit thee down, Jack, and quiet thyself; thou shalt have a morsel to eat, +anon." + +Hobbs and Hugo fell to talking together, in low voices, and the King +removed himself as far as he could from their disagreeable company. He +withdrew into the twilight of the farther end of the barn, where he found +the earthen floor bedded a foot deep with straw. He lay down here, drew +straw over himself in lieu of blankets, and was soon absorbed in +thinking. He had many griefs, but the minor ones were swept almost into +forgetfulness by the supreme one, the loss of his father. To the rest of +the world the name of Henry VIII. brought a shiver, and suggested an ogre +whose nostrils breathed destruction and whose hand dealt scourgings and +death; but to this boy the name brought only sensations of pleasure; the +figure it invoked wore a countenance that was all gentleness and +affection. He called to mind a long succession of loving passages +between his father and himself, and dwelt fondly upon them, his unstinted +tears attesting how deep and real was the grief that possessed his heart. +As the afternoon wasted away, the lad, wearied with his troubles, sank +gradually into a tranquil and healing slumber. + +After a considerable time--he could not tell how long--his senses +struggled to a half-consciousness, and as he lay with closed eyes vaguely +wondering where he was and what had been happening, he noted a murmurous +sound, the sullen beating of rain upon the roof. A snug sense of comfort +stole over him, which was rudely broken, the next moment, by a chorus of +piping cackles and coarse laughter. It startled him disagreeably, and he +unmuffled his head to see whence this interruption proceeded. A grim and +unsightly picture met his eye. A bright fire was burning in the middle +of the floor, at the other end of the barn; and around it, and lit +weirdly up by the red glare, lolled and sprawled the motliest company of +tattered gutter-scum and ruffians, of both sexes, he had ever read or +dreamed of. There were huge stalwart men, brown with exposure, long- +haired, and clothed in fantastic rags; there were middle-sized youths, of +truculent countenance, and similarly clad; there were blind mendicants, +with patched or bandaged eyes; crippled ones, with wooden legs and +crutches; diseased ones, with running sores peeping from ineffectual +wrappings; there was a villain-looking pedlar with his pack; a knife- +grinder, a tinker, and a barber-surgeon, with the implements of their +trades; some of the females were hardly-grown girls, some were at prime, +some were old and wrinkled hags, and all were loud, brazen, foul-mouthed; +and all soiled and slatternly; there were three sore-faced babies; there +were a couple of starveling curs, with strings about their necks, whose +office was to lead the blind. + +The night was come, the gang had just finished feasting, an orgy was +beginning; the can of liquor was passing from mouth to mouth. A general +cry broke forth-- + +"A song! a song from the Bat and Dick and Dot-and-go-One!" + +One of the blind men got up, and made ready by casting aside the patches +that sheltered his excellent eyes, and the pathetic placard which recited +the cause of his calamity. Dot-and-go-One disencumbered himself of his +timber leg and took his place, upon sound and healthy limbs, beside his +fellow-rascal; then they roared out a rollicking ditty, and were +reinforced by the whole crew, at the end of each stanza, in a rousing +chorus. By the time the last stanza was reached, the half-drunken +enthusiasm had risen to such a pitch, that everybody joined in and sang +it clear through from the beginning, producing a volume of villainous +sound that made the rafters quake. These were the inspiring words:-- + +'Bien Darkman's then, Bouse Mort and Ken, The bien Coves bings awast, On +Chates to trine by Rome Coves dine For his long lib at last. Bing'd out +bien Morts and toure, and toure, Bing out of the Rome vile bine, And +toure the Cove that cloy'd your duds, Upon the Chates to trine.' (From +'The English Rogue.' London, 1665.) + +Conversation followed; not in the thieves' dialect of the song, for that +was only used in talk when unfriendly ears might be listening. In the +course of it, it appeared that 'John Hobbs' was not altogether a new +recruit, but had trained in the gang at some former time. His later +history was called for, and when he said he had 'accidentally' killed a +man, considerable satisfaction was expressed; when he added that the man +was a priest, he was roundly applauded, and had to take a drink with +everybody. Old acquaintances welcomed him joyously, and new ones were +proud to shake him by the hand. He was asked why he had 'tarried away so +many months.' He answered-- + +"London is better than the country, and safer, these late years, the laws +be so bitter and so diligently enforced. An' I had not had that +accident, I had stayed there. I had resolved to stay, and never more +venture country-wards--but the accident has ended that." + +He inquired how many persons the gang numbered now. The 'ruffler,' or +chief, answered-- + +"Five and twenty sturdy budges, bulks, files, clapperdogeons and +maunders, counting the dells and doxies and other morts. {7} Most are +here, the rest are wandering eastward, along the winter lay. We follow at +dawn." + +"I do not see the Wen among the honest folk about me. Where may he be?" + +"Poor lad, his diet is brimstone, now, and over hot for a delicate taste. +He was killed in a brawl, somewhere about midsummer." + +"I sorrow to hear that; the Wen was a capable man, and brave." + +"That was he, truly. Black Bess, his dell, is of us yet, but absent on +the eastward tramp; a fine lass, of nice ways and orderly conduct, none +ever seeing her drunk above four days in the seven." + +"She was ever strict--I remember it well--a goodly wench and worthy all +commendation. Her mother was more free and less particular; a +troublesome and ugly-tempered beldame, but furnished with a wit above the +common." + +"We lost her through it. Her gift of palmistry and other sorts of +fortune-telling begot for her at last a witch's name and fame. The law +roasted her to death at a slow fire. It did touch me to a sort of +tenderness to see the gallant way she met her lot--cursing and reviling +all the crowd that gaped and gazed around her, whilst the flames licked +upward toward her face and catched her thin locks and crackled about her +old gray head--cursing them! why an' thou should'st live a thousand years +thoud'st never hear so masterful a cursing. Alack, her art died with +her. There be base and weakling imitations left, but no true blasphemy." + +The Ruffler sighed; the listeners sighed in sympathy; a general +depression fell upon the company for a moment, for even hardened outcasts +like these are not wholly dead to sentiment, but are able to feel a +fleeting sense of loss and affliction at wide intervals and under +peculiarly favouring circumstances--as in cases like to this, for +instance, when genius and culture depart and leave no heir. However, a +deep drink all round soon restored the spirits of the mourners. + +"Have any others of our friends fared hardly?" asked Hobbs. + +"Some--yes. Particularly new comers--such as small husbandmen turned +shiftless and hungry upon the world because their farms were taken from +them to be changed to sheep ranges. They begged, and were whipped at the +cart's tail, naked from the girdle up, till the blood ran; then set in +the stocks to be pelted; they begged again, were whipped again, and +deprived of an ear; they begged a third time--poor devils, what else +could they do?--and were branded on the cheek with a red-hot iron, then +sold for slaves; they ran away, were hunted down, and hanged. 'Tis a +brief tale, and quickly told. Others of us have fared less hardly. Stand +forth, Yokel, Burns, and Hodge--show your adornments!" + +These stood up and stripped away some of their rags, exposing their +backs, criss-crossed with ropy old welts left by the lash; one turned up +his hair and showed the place where a left ear had once been; another +showed a brand upon his shoulder--the letter V--and a mutilated ear; the +third said-- + +"I am Yokel, once a farmer and prosperous, with loving wife and kids--now +am I somewhat different in estate and calling; and the wife and kids are +gone; mayhap they are in heaven, mayhap in--in the other place--but the +kindly God be thanked, they bide no more in ENGLAND! My good old +blameless mother strove to earn bread by nursing the sick; one of these +died, the doctors knew not how, so my mother was burnt for a witch, +whilst my babes looked on and wailed. English law!--up, all, with your +cups!--now all together and with a cheer!--drink to the merciful English +law that delivered HER from the English hell! Thank you, mates, one and +all. I begged, from house to house--I and the wife--bearing with us the +hungry kids--but it was crime to be hungry in England--so they stripped +us and lashed us through three towns. Drink ye all again to the merciful +English law!--for its lash drank deep of my Mary's blood and its blessed +deliverance came quick. She lies there, in the potter's field, safe from +all harms. And the kids--well, whilst the law lashed me from town to +town, they starved. Drink, lads--only a drop--a drop to the poor kids, +that never did any creature harm. I begged again--begged, for a crust, +and got the stocks and lost an ear--see, here bides the stump; I begged +again, and here is the stump of the other to keep me minded of it. And +still I begged again, and was sold for a slave--here on my cheek under +this stain, if I washed it off, ye might see the red S the branding-iron +left there! A SLAVE! Do you understand that word? An English SLAVE!-- +that is he that stands before ye. I have run from my master, and when I +am found--the heavy curse of heaven fall on the law of the land that hath +commanded it!--I shall hang!" {1} + +A ringing voice came through the murky air-- + +"Thou shalt NOT!--and this day the end of that law is come!" + +All turned, and saw the fantastic figure of the little King approaching +hurriedly; as it emerged into the light and was clearly revealed, a +general explosion of inquiries broke out-- + +"Who is it? WHAT is it? Who art thou, manikin?" + +The boy stood unconfused in the midst of all those surprised and +questioning eyes, and answered with princely dignity-- + +"I am Edward, King of England." + +A wild burst of laughter followed, partly of derision and partly of +delight in the excellence of the joke. The King was stung. He said +sharply-- + +"Ye mannerless vagrants, is this your recognition of the royal boon I +have promised?" + +He said more, with angry voice and excited gesture, but it was lost in a +whirlwind of laughter and mocking exclamations. 'John Hobbs' made +several attempts to make himself heard above the din, and at last +succeeded--saying-- + +"Mates, he is my son, a dreamer, a fool, and stark mad--mind him not--he +thinketh he IS the King." + +"I AM the King," said Edward, turning toward him, "as thou shalt know to +thy cost, in good time. Thou hast confessed a murder--thou shalt swing +for it." + +"THOU'LT betray me?--THOU? An' I get my hands upon thee--" + +"Tut-tut!" said the burley Ruffler, interposing in time to save the King, +and emphasising this service by knocking Hobbs down with his fist, "hast +respect for neither Kings NOR Rufflers? An' thou insult my presence so +again, I'll hang thee up myself." Then he said to his Majesty, "Thou +must make no threats against thy mates, lad; and thou must guard thy +tongue from saying evil of them elsewhere. BE King, if it please thy mad +humour, but be not harmful in it. Sink the title thou hast uttered--'tis +treason; we be bad men in some few trifling ways, but none among us is so +base as to be traitor to his King; we be loving and loyal hearts, in that +regard. Note if I speak truth. Now--all together: 'Long live Edward, +King of England!'" + +"LONG LIVE EDWARD, KING OF ENGLAND!" + +The response came with such a thundergust from the motley crew that the +crazy building vibrated to the sound. The little King's face lighted +with pleasure for an instant, and he slightly inclined his head, and said +with grave simplicity-- + +"I thank you, my good people." + +This unexpected result threw the company into convulsions of merriment. +When something like quiet was presently come again, the Ruffler said, +firmly, but with an accent of good nature-- + +"Drop it, boy, 'tis not wise, nor well. Humour thy fancy, if thou must, +but choose some other title." + +A tinker shrieked out a suggestion-- + +"Foo-foo the First, King of the Mooncalves!" + +The title 'took,' at once, every throat responded, and a roaring shout +went up, of-- + +"Long live Foo-foo the First, King of the Mooncalves!" followed by +hootings, cat-calls, and peals of laughter. + +"Hale him forth, and crown him!" + +"Robe him!" + +"Sceptre him!" + +"Throne him!" + +These and twenty other cries broke out at once! and almost before the +poor little victim could draw a breath he was crowned with a tin basin, +robed in a tattered blanket, throned upon a barrel, and sceptred with the +tinker's soldering-iron. Then all flung themselves upon their knees +about him and sent up a chorus of ironical wailings, and mocking +supplications, whilst they swabbed their eyes with their soiled and +ragged sleeves and aprons-- + +"Be gracious to us, O sweet King!" + +"Trample not upon thy beseeching worms, O noble Majesty!" + +"Pity thy slaves, and comfort them with a royal kick!" + +"Cheer us and warm us with thy gracious rays, O flaming sun of +sovereignty!" + +"Sanctify the ground with the touch of thy foot, that we may eat the dirt +and be ennobled!" + +"Deign to spit upon us, O Sire, that our children's children may tell of +thy princely condescension, and be proud and happy for ever!" + +But the humorous tinker made the 'hit' of the evening and carried off the +honours. Kneeling, he pretended to kiss the King's foot, and was +indignantly spurned; whereupon he went about begging for a rag to paste +over the place upon his face which had been touched by the foot, saying +it must be preserved from contact with the vulgar air, and that he should +make his fortune by going on the highway and exposing it to view at the +rate of a hundred shillings a sight. He made himself so killingly funny +that he was the envy and admiration of the whole mangy rabble. + +Tears of shame and indignation stood in the little monarch's eyes; and +the thought in his heart was, "Had I offered them a deep wrong they could +not be more cruel--yet have I proffered nought but to do them a kindness +--and it is thus they use me for it!" + + + +Chapter XVIII. The Prince with the tramps. + +The troop of vagabonds turned out at early dawn, and set forward on their +march. There was a lowering sky overhead, sloppy ground under foot, and +a winter chill in the air. All gaiety was gone from the company; some +were sullen and silent, some were irritable and petulant, none were +gentle-humoured, all were thirsty. + +The Ruffler put 'Jack' in Hugo's charge, with some brief instructions, +and commanded John Canty to keep away from him and let him alone; he also +warned Hugo not to be too rough with the lad. + +After a while the weather grew milder, and the clouds lifted somewhat. +The troop ceased to shiver, and their spirits began to improve. They +grew more and more cheerful, and finally began to chaff each other and +insult passengers along the highway. This showed that they were awaking +to an appreciation of life and its joys once more. The dread in which +their sort was held was apparent in the fact that everybody gave them the +road, and took their ribald insolences meekly, without venturing to talk +back. They snatched linen from the hedges, occasionally in full view of +the owners, who made no protest, but only seemed grateful that they did +not take the hedges, too. + +By-and-by they invaded a small farmhouse and made themselves at home +while the trembling farmer and his people swept the larder clean to +furnish a breakfast for them. They chucked the housewife and her +daughters under the chin whilst receiving the food from their hands, and +made coarse jests about them, accompanied with insulting epithets and +bursts of horse-laughter. They threw bones and vegetables at the farmer +and his sons, kept them dodging all the time, and applauded uproariously +when a good hit was made. They ended by buttering the head of one of the +daughters who resented some of their familiarities. When they took their +leave they threatened to come back and burn the house over the heads of +the family if any report of their doings got to the ears of the +authorities. + +About noon, after a long and weary tramp, the gang came to a halt behind +a hedge on the outskirts of a considerable village. An hour was allowed +for rest, then the crew scattered themselves abroad to enter the village +at different points to ply their various trades--'Jack' was sent with +Hugo. They wandered hither and thither for some time, Hugo watching for +opportunities to do a stroke of business, but finding none--so he finally +said-- + +"I see nought to steal; it is a paltry place. Wherefore we will beg." + +"WE, forsooth! Follow thy trade--it befits thee. But _I_ will not beg." + +"Thou'lt not beg!" exclaimed Hugo, eyeing the King with surprise. +"Prithee, since when hast thou reformed?" + +"What dost thou mean?" + +"Mean? Hast thou not begged the streets of London all thy life?" + +"I? Thou idiot!" + +"Spare thy compliments--thy stock will last the longer. Thy father says +thou hast begged all thy days. Mayhap he lied. Peradventure you will +even make so bold as to SAY he lied," scoffed Hugo. + +"Him YOU call my father? Yes, he lied." + +"Come, play not thy merry game of madman so far, mate; use it for thy +amusement, not thy hurt. An' I tell him this, he will scorch thee finely +for it." + +"Save thyself the trouble. I will tell him." + +"I like thy spirit, I do in truth; but I do not admire thy judgment. +Bone-rackings and bastings be plenty enow in this life, without going out +of one's way to invite them. But a truce to these matters; _I_ believe +your father. I doubt not he can lie; I doubt not he DOTH lie, upon +occasion, for the best of us do that; but there is no occasion here. A +wise man does not waste so good a commodity as lying for nought. But +come; sith it is thy humour to give over begging, wherewithal shall we +busy ourselves? With robbing kitchens?" + +The King said, impatiently-- + +"Have done with this folly--you weary me!" + +Hugo replied, with temper-- + +"Now harkee, mate; you will not beg, you will not rob; so be it. But I +will tell you what you WILL do. You will play decoy whilst _I_ beg. +Refuse, an' you think you may venture!" + +The King was about to reply contemptuously, when Hugo said, interrupting-- + +"Peace! Here comes one with a kindly face. Now will I fall down in a +fit. When the stranger runs to me, set you up a wail, and fall upon your +knees, seeming to weep; then cry out as all the devils of misery were in +your belly, and say, 'Oh, sir, it is my poor afflicted brother, and we be +friendless; o' God's name cast through your merciful eyes one pitiful +look upon a sick, forsaken, and most miserable wretch; bestow one little +penny out of thy riches upon one smitten of God and ready to perish!'-- +and mind you, keep you ON wailing, and abate not till we bilk him of his +penny, else shall you rue it." + +Then immediately Hugo began to moan, and groan, and roll his eyes, and +reel and totter about; and when the stranger was close at hand, down he +sprawled before him, with a shriek, and began to writhe and wallow in the +dirt, in seeming agony. + +"O, dear, O dear!" cried the benevolent stranger, "O poor soul, poor +soul, how he doth suffer! There--let me help thee up." + +"O noble sir, forbear, and God love you for a princely gentleman--but it +giveth me cruel pain to touch me when I am taken so. My brother there +will tell your worship how I am racked with anguish when these fits be +upon me. A penny, dear sir, a penny, to buy a little food; then leave me +to my sorrows." + +"A penny! thou shalt have three, thou hapless creature"--and he fumbled +in his pocket with nervous haste and got them out. "There, poor lad, take +them and most welcome. Now come hither, my boy, and help me carry thy +stricken brother to yon house, where--" + +"I am not his brother," said the King, interrupting. + +"What! not his brother?" + +"Oh, hear him!" groaned Hugo, then privately ground his teeth. "He denies +his own brother--and he with one foot in the grave!" + +"Boy, thou art indeed hard of heart, if this is thy brother. For shame! +--and he scarce able to move hand or foot. If he is not thy brother, who +is he, then?" + +"A beggar and a thief! He has got your money and has picked your pocket +likewise. An' thou would'st do a healing miracle, lay thy staff over his +shoulders and trust Providence for the rest." + +But Hugo did not tarry for the miracle. In a moment he was up and off +like the wind, the gentleman following after and raising the hue and cry +lustily as he went. The King, breathing deep gratitude to Heaven for his +own release, fled in the opposite direction, and did not slacken his pace +until he was out of harm's reach. He took the first road that offered, +and soon put the village behind him. He hurried along, as briskly as he +could, during several hours, keeping a nervous watch over his shoulder +for pursuit; but his fears left him at last, and a grateful sense of +security took their place. He recognised, now, that he was hungry, and +also very tired. So he halted at a farmhouse; but when he was about to +speak, he was cut short and driven rudely away. His clothes were against +him. + +He wandered on, wounded and indignant, and was resolved to put himself in +the way of like treatment no more. But hunger is pride's master; so, as +the evening drew near, he made an attempt at another farmhouse; but here +he fared worse than before; for he was called hard names and was promised +arrest as a vagrant except he moved on promptly. + +The night came on, chilly and overcast; and still the footsore monarch +laboured slowly on. He was obliged to keep moving, for every time he sat +down to rest he was soon penetrated to the bone with the cold. All his +sensations and experiences, as he moved through the solemn gloom and the +empty vastness of the night, were new and strange to him. At intervals +he heard voices approach, pass by, and fade into silence; and as he saw +nothing more of the bodies they belonged to than a sort of formless +drifting blur, there was something spectral and uncanny about it all that +made him shudder. Occasionally he caught the twinkle of a light--always +far away, apparently--almost in another world; if he heard the tinkle of +a sheep's bell, it was vague, distant, indistinct; the muffled lowing of +the herds floated to him on the night wind in vanishing cadences, a +mournful sound; now and then came the complaining howl of a dog over +viewless expanses of field and forest; all sounds were remote; they made +the little King feel that all life and activity were far removed from +him, and that he stood solitary, companionless, in the centre of a +measureless solitude. + +He stumbled along, through the gruesome fascinations of this new +experience, startled occasionally by the soft rustling of the dry leaves +overhead, so like human whispers they seemed to sound; and by-and-by he +came suddenly upon the freckled light of a tin lantern near at hand. He +stepped back into the shadows and waited. The lantern stood by the open +door of a barn. The King waited some time--there was no sound, and +nobody stirring. He got so cold, standing still, and the hospitable barn +looked so enticing, that at last he resolved to risk everything and +enter. He started swiftly and stealthily, and just as he was crossing the +threshold he heard voices behind him. He darted behind a cask, within +the barn, and stooped down. Two farm-labourers came in, bringing the +lantern with them, and fell to work, talking meanwhile. Whilst they +moved about with the light, the King made good use of his eyes and took +the bearings of what seemed to be a good-sized stall at the further end +of the place, purposing to grope his way to it when he should be left to +himself. He also noted the position of a pile of horse blankets, midway +of the route, with the intent to levy upon them for the service of the +crown of England for one night. + +By-and-by the men finished and went away, fastening the door behind them +and taking the lantern with them. The shivering King made for the +blankets, with as good speed as the darkness would allow; gathered them +up, and then groped his way safely to the stall. Of two of the blankets +he made a bed, then covered himself with the remaining two. He was a +glad monarch, now, though the blankets were old and thin, and not quite +warm enough; and besides gave out a pungent horsey odour that was almost +suffocatingly powerful. + +Although the King was hungry and chilly, he was also so tired and so +drowsy that these latter influences soon began to get the advantage of +the former, and he presently dozed off into a state of semi- +consciousness. Then, just as he was on the point of losing himself +wholly, he distinctly felt something touch him! He was broad awake in a +moment, and gasping for breath. The cold horror of that mysterious touch +in the dark almost made his heart stand still. He lay motionless, and +listened, scarcely breathing. But nothing stirred, and there was no +sound. He continued to listen, and wait, during what seemed a long time, +but still nothing stirred, and there was no sound. So he began to drop +into a drowse once more, at last; and all at once he felt that mysterious +touch again! It was a grisly thing, this light touch from this noiseless +and invisible presence; it made the boy sick with ghostly fears. What +should he do? That was the question; but he did not know how to answer +it. Should he leave these reasonably comfortable quarters and fly from +this inscrutable horror? But fly whither? He could not get out of the +barn; and the idea of scurrying blindly hither and thither in the dark, +within the captivity of the four walls, with this phantom gliding after +him, and visiting him with that soft hideous touch upon cheek or shoulder +at every turn, was intolerable. But to stay where he was, and endure +this living death all night--was that better? No. What, then, was there +left to do? Ah, there was but one course; he knew it well--he must put +out his hand and find that thing! + +It was easy to think this; but it was hard to brace himself up to try it. +Three times he stretched his hand a little way out into the dark, +gingerly; and snatched it suddenly back, with a gasp--not because it had +encountered anything, but because he had felt so sure it was just GOING +to. But the fourth time, he groped a little further, and his hand +lightly swept against something soft and warm. This petrified him, +nearly, with fright; his mind was in such a state that he could imagine +the thing to be nothing else than a corpse, newly dead and still warm. +He thought he would rather die than touch it again. But he thought this +false thought because he did not know the immortal strength of human +curiosity. In no long time his hand was tremblingly groping again-- +against his judgment, and without his consent--but groping persistently +on, just the same. It encountered a bunch of long hair; he shuddered, +but followed up the hair and found what seemed to be a warm rope; +followed up the rope and found an innocent calf!--for the rope was not a +rope at all, but the calf's tail. + +The King was cordially ashamed of himself for having gotten all that +fright and misery out of so paltry a matter as a slumbering calf; but he +need not have felt so about it, for it was not the calf that frightened +him, but a dreadful non-existent something which the calf stood for; and +any other boy, in those old superstitious times, would have acted and +suffered just as he had done. + +The King was not only delighted to find that the creature was only a +calf, but delighted to have the calf's company; for he had been feeling +so lonesome and friendless that the company and comradeship of even this +humble animal were welcome. And he had been so buffeted, so rudely +entreated by his own kind, that it was a real comfort to him to feel that +he was at last in the society of a fellow-creature that had at least a +soft heart and a gentle spirit, whatever loftier attributes might be +lacking. So he resolved to waive rank and make friends with the calf. + +While stroking its sleek warm back--for it lay near him and within easy +reach--it occurred to him that this calf might be utilised in more ways +than one. Whereupon he re-arranged his bed, spreading it down close to +the calf; then he cuddled himself up to the calf's back, drew the covers +up over himself and his friend, and in a minute or two was as warm and +comfortable as he had ever been in the downy couches of the regal palace +of Westminster. + +Pleasant thoughts came at once; life took on a cheerfuller seeming. He +was free of the bonds of servitude and crime, free of the companionship +of base and brutal outlaws; he was warm; he was sheltered; in a word, he +was happy. The night wind was rising; it swept by in fitful gusts that +made the old barn quake and rattle, then its forces died down at +intervals, and went moaning and wailing around corners and projections-- +but it was all music to the King, now that he was snug and comfortable: +let it blow and rage, let it batter and bang, let it moan and wail, he +minded it not, he only enjoyed it. He merely snuggled the closer to his +friend, in a luxury of warm contentment, and drifted blissfully out of +consciousness into a deep and dreamless sleep that was full of serenity +and peace. The distant dogs howled, the melancholy kine complained, and +the winds went on raging, whilst furious sheets of rain drove along the +roof; but the Majesty of England slept on, undisturbed, and the calf did +the same, it being a simple creature, and not easily troubled by storms +or embarrassed by sleeping with a king. + + + +Chapter XIX. The Prince with the peasants. + +When the King awoke in the early morning, he found that a wet but +thoughtful rat had crept into the place during the night and made a cosy +bed for itself in his bosom. Being disturbed now, it scampered away. +The boy smiled, and said, "Poor fool, why so fearful? I am as forlorn as +thou. 'Twould be a sham in me to hurt the helpless, who am myself so +helpless. Moreover, I owe you thanks for a good omen; for when a king +has fallen so low that the very rats do make a bed of him, it surely +meaneth that his fortunes be upon the turn, since it is plain he can no +lower go." + +He got up and stepped out of the stall, and just then he heard the sound +of children's voices. The barn door opened and a couple of little girls +came in. As soon as they saw him their talking and laughing ceased, and +they stopped and stood still, gazing at him with strong curiosity; they +presently began to whisper together, then they approached nearer, and +stopped again to gaze and whisper. By-and-by they gathered courage and +began to discuss him aloud. One said-- + +"He hath a comely face." + +The other added-- + +"And pretty hair." + +"But is ill clothed enow." + +"And how starved he looketh." + +They came still nearer, sidling shyly around and about him, examining him +minutely from all points, as if he were some strange new kind of animal, +but warily and watchfully the while, as if they half feared he might be a +sort of animal that would bite, upon occasion. Finally they halted +before him, holding each other's hands for protection, and took a good +satisfying stare with their innocent eyes; then one of them plucked up +all her courage and inquired with honest directness-- + +"Who art thou, boy?" + +"I am the King," was the grave answer. + +The children gave a little start, and their eyes spread themselves wide +open and remained so during a speechless half minute. Then curiosity +broke the silence-- + +"The KING? What King?" + +"The King of England." + +The children looked at each other--then at him--then at each other again +--wonderingly, perplexedly; then one said-- + +"Didst hear him, Margery?--he said he is the King. Can that be true?" + +"How can it be else but true, Prissy? Would he say a lie? For look you, +Prissy, an' it were not true, it WOULD be a lie. It surely would be. +Now think on't. For all things that be not true, be lies--thou canst +make nought else out of it." + +It was a good tight argument, without a leak in it anywhere; and it left +Prissy's half-doubts not a leg to stand on. She considered a moment, +then put the King upon his honour with the simple remark-- + +"If thou art truly the King, then I believe thee." + +"I am truly the King." + +This settled the matter. His Majesty's royalty was accepted without +further question or discussion, and the two little girls began at once to +inquire into how he came to be where he was, and how he came to be so +unroyally clad, and whither he was bound, and all about his affairs. It +was a mighty relief to him to pour out his troubles where they would not +be scoffed at or doubted; so he told his tale with feeling, forgetting +even his hunger for the time; and it was received with the deepest and +tenderest sympathy by the gentle little maids. But when he got down to +his latest experiences and they learned how long he had been without +food, they cut him short and hurried him away to the farmhouse to find a +breakfast for him. + +The King was cheerful and happy now, and said to himself, "When I am come +to mine own again, I will always honour little children, remembering how +that these trusted me and believed in me in my time of trouble; whilst +they that were older, and thought themselves wiser, mocked at me and held +me for a liar." + +The children's mother received the King kindly, and was full of pity; for +his forlorn condition and apparently crazed intellect touched her womanly +heart. She was a widow, and rather poor; consequently she had seen +trouble enough to enable her to feel for the unfortunate. She imagined +that the demented boy had wandered away from his friends or keepers; so +she tried to find out whence he had come, in order that she might take +measures to return him; but all her references to neighbouring towns and +villages, and all her inquiries in the same line went for nothing--the +boy's face, and his answers, too, showed that the things she was talking +of were not familiar to him. He spoke earnestly and simply about court +matters, and broke down, more than once, when speaking of the late King +'his father'; but whenever the conversation changed to baser topics, he +lost interest and became silent. + +The woman was mightily puzzled; but she did not give up. As she +proceeded with her cooking, she set herself to contriving devices to +surprise the boy into betraying his real secret. She talked about +cattle--he showed no concern; then about sheep--the same result: so her +guess that he had been a shepherd boy was an error; she talked about +mills; and about weavers, tinkers, smiths, trades and tradesmen of all +sorts; and about Bedlam, and jails, and charitable retreats: but no +matter, she was baffled at all points. Not altogether, either; for she +argued that she had narrowed the thing down to domestic service. Yes, +she was sure she was on the right track, now; he must have been a house +servant. So she led up to that. But the result was discouraging. The +subject of sweeping appeared to weary him; fire-building failed to stir +him; scrubbing and scouring awoke no enthusiasm. The goodwife touched, +with a perishing hope, and rather as a matter of form, upon the subject +of cooking. To her surprise, and her vast delight, the King's face +lighted at once! Ah, she had hunted him down at last, she thought; and +she was right proud, too, of the devious shrewdness and tact which had +accomplished it. + +Her tired tongue got a chance to rest, now; for the King's, inspired by +gnawing hunger and the fragrant smells that came from the sputtering pots +and pans, turned itself loose and delivered itself up to such an eloquent +dissertation upon certain toothsome dishes, that within three minutes the +woman said to herself, "Of a truth I was right--he hath holpen in a +kitchen!" Then he broadened his bill of fare, and discussed it with such +appreciation and animation, that the goodwife said to herself, "Good +lack! how can he know so many dishes, and so fine ones withal? For these +belong only upon the tables of the rich and great. Ah, now I see! ragged +outcast as he is, he must have served in the palace before his reason +went astray; yes, he must have helped in the very kitchen of the King +himself! I will test him." + +Full of eagerness to prove her sagacity, she told the King to mind the +cooking a moment--hinting that he might manufacture and add a dish or +two, if he chose; then she went out of the room and gave her children a +sign to follow after. The King muttered-- + +"Another English king had a commission like to this, in a bygone time--it +is nothing against my dignity to undertake an office which the great +Alfred stooped to assume. But I will try to better serve my trust than +he; for he let the cakes burn." + +The intent was good, but the performance was not answerable to it, for +this King, like the other one, soon fell into deep thinkings concerning +his vast affairs, and the same calamity resulted--the cookery got burned. +The woman returned in time to save the breakfast from entire destruction; +and she promptly brought the King out of his dreams with a brisk and +cordial tongue-lashing. Then, seeing how troubled he was over his +violated trust, she softened at once, and was all goodness and gentleness +toward him. + +The boy made a hearty and satisfying meal, and was greatly refreshed and +gladdened by it. It was a meal which was distinguished by this curious +feature, that rank was waived on both sides; yet neither recipient of the +favour was aware that it had been extended. The goodwife had intended to +feed this young tramp with broken victuals in a corner, like any other +tramp or like a dog; but she was so remorseful for the scolding she had +given him, that she did what she could to atone for it by allowing him to +sit at the family table and eat with his betters, on ostensible terms of +equality with them; and the King, on his side, was so remorseful for +having broken his trust, after the family had been so kind to him, that +he forced himself to atone for it by humbling himself to the family +level, instead of requiring the woman and her children to stand and wait +upon him, while he occupied their table in the solitary state due to his +birth and dignity. It does us all good to unbend sometimes. This good +woman was made happy all the day long by the applauses which she got out +of herself for her magnanimous condescension to a tramp; and the King was +just as self-complacent over his gracious humility toward a humble +peasant woman. + +When breakfast was over, the housewife told the King to wash up the +dishes. This command was a staggerer, for a moment, and the King came +near rebelling; but then he said to himself, "Alfred the Great watched +the cakes; doubtless he would have washed the dishes too--therefore will +I essay it." + +He made a sufficiently poor job of it; and to his surprise too, for the +cleaning of wooden spoons and trenchers had seemed an easy thing to do. +It was a tedious and troublesome piece of work, but he finished it at +last. He was becoming impatient to get away on his journey now; however, +he was not to lose this thrifty dame's society so easily. She furnished +him some little odds and ends of employment, which he got through with +after a fair fashion and with some credit. Then she set him and the +little girls to paring some winter apples; but he was so awkward at this +service that she retired him from it and gave him a butcher knife to +grind. Afterwards she kept him carding wool until he began to think he +had laid the good King Alfred about far enough in the shade for the +present in the matter of showy menial heroisms that would read +picturesquely in story-books and histories, and so he was half-minded to +resign. And when, just after the noonday dinner, the goodwife gave him a +basket of kittens to drown, he did resign. At least he was just going to +resign--for he felt that he must draw the line somewhere, and it seemed +to him that to draw it at kitten-drowning was about the right thing--when +there was an interruption. The interruption was John Canty--with a +peddler's pack on his back--and Hugo. + +The King discovered these rascals approaching the front gate before they +had had a chance to see him; so he said nothing about drawing the line, +but took up his basket of kittens and stepped quietly out the back way, +without a word. He left the creatures in an out-house, and hurried on, +into a narrow lane at the rear. + + + +Chapter XX. The Prince and the hermit. + +The high hedge hid him from the house, now; and so, under the impulse of +a deadly fright, he let out all his forces and sped toward a wood in the +distance. He never looked back until he had almost gained the shelter of +the forest; then he turned and descried two figures in the distance. +That was sufficient; he did not wait to scan them critically, but hurried +on, and never abated his pace till he was far within the twilight depths +of the wood. Then he stopped; being persuaded that he was now tolerably +safe. He listened intently, but the stillness was profound and solemn-- +awful, even, and depressing to the spirits. At wide intervals his +straining ear did detect sounds, but they were so remote, and hollow, and +mysterious, that they seemed not to be real sounds, but only the moaning +and complaining ghosts of departed ones. So the sounds were yet more +dreary than the silence which they interrupted. + +It was his purpose, in the beginning, to stay where he was the rest of +the day; but a chill soon invaded his perspiring body, and he was at last +obliged to resume movement in order to get warm. He struck straight +through the forest, hoping to pierce to a road presently, but he was +disappointed in this. He travelled on and on; but the farther he went, +the denser the wood became, apparently. The gloom began to thicken, by- +and-by, and the King realised that the night was coming on. It made him +shudder to think of spending it in such an uncanny place; so he tried to +hurry faster, but he only made the less speed, for he could not now see +well enough to choose his steps judiciously; consequently he kept +tripping over roots and tangling himself in vines and briers. + +And how glad he was when at last he caught the glimmer of a light! He +approached it warily, stopping often to look about him and listen. It +came from an unglazed window-opening in a shabby little hut. He heard a +voice, now, and felt a disposition to run and hide; but he changed his +mind at once, for this voice was praying, evidently. He glided to the +one window of the hut, raised himself on tiptoe, and stole a glance +within. The room was small; its floor was the natural earth, beaten hard +by use; in a corner was a bed of rushes and a ragged blanket or two; near +it was a pail, a cup, a basin, and two or three pots and pans; there was +a short bench and a three-legged stool; on the hearth the remains of a +faggot fire were smouldering; before a shrine, which was lighted by a +single candle, knelt an aged man, and on an old wooden box at his side +lay an open book and a human skull. The man was of large, bony frame; +his hair and whiskers were very long and snowy white; he was clothed in a +robe of sheepskins which reached from his neck to his heels. + +"A holy hermit!" said the King to himself; "now am I indeed fortunate." + +The hermit rose from his knees; the King knocked. A deep voice +responded-- + +"Enter!--but leave sin behind, for the ground whereon thou shalt stand is +holy!" + +The King entered, and paused. The hermit turned a pair of gleaming, +unrestful eyes upon him, and said-- + +"Who art thou?" + +"I am the King," came the answer, with placid simplicity. + +"Welcome, King!" cried the hermit, with enthusiasm. Then, bustling about +with feverish activity, and constantly saying, "Welcome, welcome," he +arranged his bench, seated the King on it, by the hearth, threw some +faggots on the fire, and finally fell to pacing the floor with a nervous +stride. + +"Welcome! Many have sought sanctuary here, but they were not worthy, and +were turned away. But a King who casts his crown away, and despises the +vain splendours of his office, and clothes his body in rags, to devote +his life to holiness and the mortification of the flesh--he is worthy, he +is welcome!--here shall he abide all his days till death come." The King +hastened to interrupt and explain, but the hermit paid no attention to +him--did not even hear him, apparently, but went right on with his talk, +with a raised voice and a growing energy. "And thou shalt be at peace +here. None shall find out thy refuge to disquiet thee with supplications +to return to that empty and foolish life which God hath moved thee to +abandon. Thou shalt pray here; thou shalt study the Book; thou shalt +meditate upon the follies and delusions of this world, and upon the +sublimities of the world to come; thou shalt feed upon crusts and herbs, +and scourge thy body with whips, daily, to the purifying of thy soul. +Thou shalt wear a hair shirt next thy skin; thou shalt drink water only; +and thou shalt be at peace; yes, wholly at peace; for whoso comes to seek +thee shall go his way again, baffled; he shall not find thee, he shall +not molest thee." + +The old man, still pacing back and forth, ceased to speak aloud, and +began to mutter. The King seized this opportunity to state his case; and +he did it with an eloquence inspired by uneasiness and apprehension. But +the hermit went on muttering, and gave no heed. And still muttering, he +approached the King and said impressively-- + +"'Sh! I will tell you a secret!" He bent down to impart it, but checked +himself, and assumed a listening attitude. After a moment or two he went +on tiptoe to the window-opening, put his head out, and peered around in +the gloaming, then came tiptoeing back again, put his face close down to +the King's, and whispered-- + +"I am an archangel!" + +The King started violently, and said to himself, "Would God I were with +the outlaws again; for lo, now am I the prisoner of a madman!" His +apprehensions were heightened, and they showed plainly in his face. In a +low excited voice the hermit continued-- + +"I see you feel my atmosphere! There's awe in your face! None may be in +this atmosphere and not be thus affected; for it is the very atmosphere +of heaven. I go thither and return, in the twinkling of an eye. I was +made an archangel on this very spot, it is five years ago, by angels sent +from heaven to confer that awful dignity. Their presence filled this +place with an intolerable brightness. And they knelt to me, King! yes, +they knelt to me! for I was greater than they. I have walked in the +courts of heaven, and held speech with the patriarchs. Touch my hand--be +not afraid--touch it. There--now thou hast touched a hand which has been +clasped by Abraham and Isaac and Jacob! For I have walked in the golden +courts; I have seen the Deity face to face!" He paused, to give this +speech effect; then his face suddenly changed, and he started to his feet +again saying, with angry energy, "Yes, I am an archangel; A MERE +ARCHANGEL!--I that might have been pope! It is verily true. I was told +it from heaven in a dream, twenty years ago; ah, yes, I was to be pope!-- +and I SHOULD have been pope, for Heaven had said it--but the King +dissolved my religious house, and I, poor obscure unfriended monk, was +cast homeless upon the world, robbed of my mighty destiny!" Here he began +to mumble again, and beat his forehead in futile rage, with his fist; now +and then articulating a venomous curse, and now and then a pathetic +"Wherefore I am nought but an archangel--I that should have been pope!" + +So he went on, for an hour, whilst the poor little King sat and suffered. +Then all at once the old man's frenzy departed, and he became all +gentleness. His voice softened, he came down out of his clouds, and fell +to prattling along so simply and so humanly, that he soon won the King's +heart completely. The old devotee moved the boy nearer to the fire and +made him comfortable; doctored his small bruises and abrasions with a +deft and tender hand; and then set about preparing and cooking a supper-- +chatting pleasantly all the time, and occasionally stroking the lad's +cheek or patting his head, in such a gently caressing way that in a +little while all the fear and repulsion inspired by the archangel were +changed to reverence and affection for the man. + +This happy state of things continued while the two ate the supper; then, +after a prayer before the shrine, the hermit put the boy to bed, in a +small adjoining room, tucking him in as snugly and lovingly as a mother +might; and so, with a parting caress, left him and sat down by the fire, +and began to poke the brands about in an absent and aimless way. +Presently he paused; then tapped his forehead several times with his +fingers, as if trying to recall some thought which had escaped from his +mind. Apparently he was unsuccessful. Now he started quickly up, and +entered his guest's room, and said-- + +"Thou art King?" + +"Yes," was the response, drowsily uttered. + +"What King?" + +"Of England." + +"Of England? Then Henry is gone!" + +"Alack, it is so. I am his son." + +A black frown settled down upon the hermit's face, and he clenched his +bony hands with a vindictive energy. He stood a few moments, breathing +fast and swallowing repeatedly, then said in a husky voice-- + +"Dost know it was he that turned us out into the world houseless and +homeless?" + +There was no response. The old man bent down and scanned the boy's +reposeful face and listened to his placid breathing. "He sleeps--sleeps +soundly;" and the frown vanished away and gave place to an expression of +evil satisfaction. A smile flitted across the dreaming boy's features. +The hermit muttered, "So--his heart is happy;" and he turned away. He +went stealthily about the place, seeking here and there for something; +now and then halting to listen, now and then jerking his head around and +casting a quick glance toward the bed; and always muttering, always +mumbling to himself. At last he found what he seemed to want--a rusty +old butcher knife and a whetstone. Then he crept to his place by the +fire, sat himself down, and began to whet the knife softly on the stone, +still muttering, mumbling, ejaculating. The winds sighed around the +lonely place, the mysterious voices of the night floated by out of the +distances. The shining eyes of venturesome mice and rats peered out at +the old man from cracks and coverts, but he went on with his work, rapt, +absorbed, and noted none of these things. + +At long intervals he drew his thumb along the edge of his knife, and +nodded his head with satisfaction. "It grows sharper," he said; "yes, it +grows sharper." + +He took no note of the flight of time, but worked tranquilly on, +entertaining himself with his thoughts, which broke out occasionally in +articulate speech-- + +"His father wrought us evil, he destroyed us--and is gone down into the +eternal fires! Yes, down into the eternal fires! He escaped us--but it +was God's will, yes it was God's will, we must not repine. But he hath +not escaped the fires! No, he hath not escaped the fires, the consuming, +unpitying, remorseless fires--and THEY are everlasting!" + +And so he wrought, and still wrought--mumbling, chuckling a low rasping +chuckle at times--and at times breaking again into words-- + +"It was his father that did it all. I am but an archangel; but for him I +should be pope!" + +The King stirred. The hermit sprang noiselessly to the bedside, and went +down upon his knees, bending over the prostrate form with his knife +uplifted. The boy stirred again; his eyes came open for an instant, but +there was no speculation in them, they saw nothing; the next moment his +tranquil breathing showed that his sleep was sound once more. + +The hermit watched and listened, for a time, keeping his position and +scarcely breathing; then he slowly lowered his arms, and presently crept +away, saying,-- + +"It is long past midnight; it is not best that he should cry out, lest by +accident someone be passing." + +He glided about his hovel, gathering a rag here, a thong there, and +another one yonder; then he returned, and by careful and gentle handling +he managed to tie the King's ankles together without waking him. Next he +essayed to tie the wrists; he made several attempts to cross them, but +the boy always drew one hand or the other away, just as the cord was +ready to be applied; but at last, when the archangel was almost ready to +despair, the boy crossed his hands himself, and the next moment they were +bound. Now a bandage was passed under the sleeper's chin and brought up +over his head and tied fast--and so softly, so gradually, and so deftly +were the knots drawn together and compacted, that the boy slept +peacefully through it all without stirring. + + + +Chapter XXI. Hendon to the rescue. + +The old man glided away, stooping, stealthy, cat-like, and brought the +low bench. He seated himself upon it, half his body in the dim and +flickering light, and the other half in shadow; and so, with his craving +eyes bent upon the slumbering boy, he kept his patient vigil there, +heedless of the drift of time, and softly whetted his knife, and mumbled +and chuckled; and in aspect and attitude he resembled nothing so much as +a grizzly, monstrous spider, gloating over some hapless insect that lay +bound and helpless in his web. + +After a long while, the old man, who was still gazing,--yet not seeing, +his mind having settled into a dreamy abstraction,--observed, on a +sudden, that the boy's eyes were open! wide open and staring!--staring up +in frozen horror at the knife. The smile of a gratified devil crept over +the old man's face, and he said, without changing his attitude or his +occupation-- + +"Son of Henry the Eighth, hast thou prayed?" + +The boy struggled helplessly in his bonds, and at the same time forced a +smothered sound through his closed jaws, which the hermit chose to +interpret as an affirmative answer to his question. + +"Then pray again. Pray the prayer for the dying!" + +A shudder shook the boy's frame, and his face blenched. Then he +struggled again to free himself--turning and twisting himself this way +and that; tugging frantically, fiercely, desperately--but uselessly--to +burst his fetters; and all the while the old ogre smiled down upon him, +and nodded his head, and placidly whetted his knife; mumbling, from time +to time, "The moments are precious, they are few and precious--pray the +prayer for the dying!" + +The boy uttered a despairing groan, and ceased from his struggles, +panting. The tears came, then, and trickled, one after the other, down +his face; but this piteous sight wrought no softening effect upon the +savage old man. + +The dawn was coming now; the hermit observed it, and spoke up sharply, +with a touch of nervous apprehension in his voice-- + +"I may not indulge this ecstasy longer! The night is already gone. It +seems but a moment--only a moment; would it had endured a year! Seed of +the Church's spoiler, close thy perishing eyes, an' thou fearest to look +upon--" + +The rest was lost in inarticulate mutterings. The old man sank upon his +knees, his knife in his hand, and bent himself over the moaning boy. + +Hark! There was a sound of voices near the cabin--the knife dropped from +the hermit's hand; he cast a sheepskin over the boy and started up, +trembling. The sounds increased, and presently the voices became rough +and angry; then came blows, and cries for help; then a clatter of swift +footsteps, retreating. Immediately came a succession of thundering +knocks upon the cabin door, followed by-- + +"Hullo-o-o! Open! And despatch, in the name of all the devils!" + +Oh, this was the blessedest sound that had ever made music in the King's +ears; for it was Miles Hendon's voice! + +The hermit, grinding his teeth in impotent rage, moved swiftly out of the +bedchamber, closing the door behind him; and straightway the King heard a +talk, to this effect, proceeding from the 'chapel':-- + +"Homage and greeting, reverend sir! Where is the boy--MY boy?" + +"What boy, friend?" + +"What boy! Lie me no lies, sir priest, play me no deceptions!--I am not +in the humour for it. Near to this place I caught the scoundrels who I +judged did steal him from me, and I made them confess; they said he was +at large again, and they had tracked him to your door. They showed me +his very footprints. Now palter no more; for look you, holy sir, an' +thou produce him not--Where is the boy?" + +"O good sir, peradventure you mean the ragged regal vagrant that tarried +here the night. If such as you take an interest in such as he, know, +then, that I have sent him of an errand. He will be back anon." + +"How soon? How soon? Come, waste not the time--cannot I overtake him? +How soon will he be back?" + +"Thou need'st not stir; he will return quickly." + +"So be it, then. I will try to wait. But stop!--YOU sent him of an +errand?--you! Verily this is a lie--he would not go. He would pull thy +old beard, an' thou didst offer him such an insolence. Thou hast lied, +friend; thou hast surely lied! He would not go for thee, nor for any +man." + +"For any MAN--no; haply not. But I am not a man." + +"WHAT! Now o' God's name what art thou, then?" + +"It is a secret--mark thou reveal it not. I am an archangel!" + +There was a tremendous ejaculation from Miles Hendon--not altogether +unprofane--followed by-- + +"This doth well and truly account for his complaisance! Right well I +knew he would budge nor hand nor foot in the menial service of any +mortal; but, lord, even a king must obey when an archangel gives the word +o' command! Let me--'sh! What noise was that?" + +All this while the little King had been yonder, alternately quaking with +terror and trembling with hope; and all the while, too, he had thrown all +the strength he could into his anguished moanings, constantly expecting +them to reach Hendon's ear, but always realising, with bitterness, that +they failed, or at least made no impression. So this last remark of his +servant came as comes a reviving breath from fresh fields to the dying; +and he exerted himself once more, and with all his energy, just as the +hermit was saying-- + +"Noise? I heard only the wind." + +"Mayhap it was. Yes, doubtless that was it. I have been hearing it +faintly all the--there it is again! It is not the wind! What an odd +sound! Come, we will hunt it out!" + +Now the King's joy was nearly insupportable. His tired lungs did their +utmost--and hopefully, too--but the sealed jaws and the muffling +sheepskin sadly crippled the effort. Then the poor fellow's heart sank, +to hear the hermit say-- + +"Ah, it came from without--I think from the copse yonder. Come, I will +lead the way." + +The King heard the two pass out, talking; heard their footsteps die +quickly away--then he was alone with a boding, brooding, awful silence. + +It seemed an age till he heard the steps and voices approaching again-- +and this time he heard an added sound,--the trampling of hoofs, +apparently. Then he heard Hendon say-- + +"I will not wait longer. I CANNOT wait longer. He has lost his way in +this thick wood. Which direction took he? Quick--point it out to me." + +"He--but wait; I will go with thee." + +"Good--good! Why, truly thou art better than thy looks. Marry I do not +think there's not another archangel with so right a heart as thine. Wilt +ride? Wilt take the wee donkey that's for my boy, or wilt thou fork thy +holy legs over this ill-conditioned slave of a mule that I have provided +for myself?--and had been cheated in too, had he cost but the indifferent +sum of a month's usury on a brass farthing let to a tinker out of work." + +"No--ride thy mule, and lead thine ass; I am surer on mine own feet, and +will walk." + +"Then prithee mind the little beast for me while I take my life in my +hands and make what success I may toward mounting the big one." + +Then followed a confusion of kicks, cuffs, tramplings and plungings, +accompanied by a thunderous intermingling of volleyed curses, and finally +a bitter apostrophe to the mule, which must have broken its spirit, for +hostilities seemed to cease from that moment. + +With unutterable misery the fettered little King heard the voices and +footsteps fade away and die out. All hope forsook him, now, for the +moment, and a dull despair settled down upon his heart. "My only friend +is deceived and got rid of," he said; "the hermit will return and--" He +finished with a gasp; and at once fell to struggling so frantically with +his bonds again, that he shook off the smothering sheepskin. + +And now he heard the door open! The sound chilled him to the marrow-- +already he seemed to feel the knife at his throat. Horror made him close +his eyes; horror made him open them again--and before him stood John +Canty and Hugo! + +He would have said "Thank God!" if his jaws had been free. + +A moment or two later his limbs were at liberty, and his captors, each +gripping him by an arm, were hurrying him with all speed through the +forest. + + + +Chapter XXII. A victim of treachery. + +Once more 'King Foo-foo the First' was roving with the tramps and +outlaws, a butt for their coarse jests and dull-witted railleries, and +sometimes the victim of small spitefulness at the hands of Canty and Hugo +when the Ruffler's back was turned. None but Canty and Hugo really +disliked him. Some of the others liked him, and all admired his pluck +and spirit. During two or three days, Hugo, in whose ward and charge the +King was, did what he covertly could to make the boy uncomfortable; and +at night, during the customary orgies, he amused the company by putting +small indignities upon him--always as if by accident. Twice he stepped +upon the King's toes--accidentally--and the King, as became his royalty, +was contemptuously unconscious of it and indifferent to it; but the third +time Hugo entertained himself in that way, the King felled him to the +ground with a cudgel, to the prodigious delight of the tribe. Hugo, +consumed with anger and shame, sprang up, seized a cudgel, and came at +his small adversary in a fury. Instantly a ring was formed around the +gladiators, and the betting and cheering began. But poor Hugo stood no +chance whatever. His frantic and lubberly 'prentice-work found but a +poor market for itself when pitted against an arm which had been trained +by the first masters of Europe in single-stick, quarter-staff, and every +art and trick of swordsmanship. The little King stood, alert but at +graceful ease, and caught and turned aside the thick rain of blows with a +facility and precision which set the motley on-lookers wild with +admiration; and every now and then, when his practised eye detected an +opening, and a lightning-swift rap upon Hugo's head followed as a result, +the storm of cheers and laughter that swept the place was something +wonderful to hear. At the end of fifteen minutes, Hugo, all battered, +bruised, and the target for a pitiless bombardment of ridicule, slunk +from the field; and the unscathed hero of the fight was seized and borne +aloft upon the shoulders of the joyous rabble to the place of honour +beside the Ruffler, where with vast ceremony he was crowned King of the +Game-Cocks; his meaner title being at the same time solemnly cancelled +and annulled, and a decree of banishment from the gang pronounced against +any who should thenceforth utter it. + +All attempts to make the King serviceable to the troop had failed. He had +stubbornly refused to act; moreover, he was always trying to escape. He +had been thrust into an unwatched kitchen, the first day of his return; +he not only came forth empty-handed, but tried to rouse the housemates. +He was sent out with a tinker to help him at his work; he would not work; +moreover, he threatened the tinker with his own soldering-iron; and +finally both Hugo and the tinker found their hands full with the mere +matter of keeping his from getting away. He delivered the thunders of +his royalty upon the heads of all who hampered his liberties or tried to +force him to service. He was sent out, in Hugo's charge, in company with +a slatternly woman and a diseased baby, to beg; but the result was not +encouraging--he declined to plead for the mendicants, or be a party to +their cause in any way. + +Thus several days went by; and the miseries of this tramping life, and +the weariness and sordidness and meanness and vulgarity of it, became +gradually and steadily so intolerable to the captive that he began at +last to feel that his release from the hermit's knife must prove only a +temporary respite from death, at best. + +But at night, in his dreams, these things were forgotten, and he was on +his throne, and master again. This, of course, intensified the +sufferings of the awakening--so the mortifications of each succeeding +morning of the few that passed between his return to bondage and the +combat with Hugo, grew bitterer and bitterer, and harder and harder to +bear. + +The morning after that combat, Hugo got up with a heart filled with +vengeful purposes against the King. He had two plans, in particular. +One was to inflict upon the lad what would be, to his proud spirit and +'imagined' royalty, a peculiar humiliation; and if he failed to +accomplish this, his other plan was to put a crime of some kind upon the +King, and then betray him into the implacable clutches of the law. + +In pursuance of the first plan, he purposed to put a 'clime' upon the +King's leg; rightly judging that that would mortify him to the last and +perfect degree; and as soon as the clime should operate, he meant to get +Canty's help, and FORCE the King to expose his leg in the highway and beg +for alms. 'Clime' was the cant term for a sore, artificially created. +To make a clime, the operator made a paste or poultice of unslaked lime, +soap, and the rust of old iron, and spread it upon a piece of leather, +which was then bound tightly upon the leg. This would presently fret off +the skin, and make the flesh raw and angry-looking; blood was then rubbed +upon the limb, which, being fully dried, took on a dark and repulsive +colour. Then a bandage of soiled rags was put on in a cleverly careless +way which would allow the hideous ulcer to be seen, and move the +compassion of the passer-by. {8} + +Hugo got the help of the tinker whom the King had cowed with the +soldering-iron; they took the boy out on a tinkering tramp, and as soon +as they were out of sight of the camp they threw him down and the tinker +held him while Hugo bound the poultice tight and fast upon his leg. + +The King raged and stormed, and promised to hang the two the moment the +sceptre was in his hand again; but they kept a firm grip upon him and +enjoyed his impotent struggling and jeered at his threats. This +continued until the poultice began to bite; and in no long time its work +would have been perfected, if there had been no interruption. But there +was; for about this time the 'slave' who had made the speech denouncing +England's laws, appeared on the scene, and put an end to the enterprise, +and stripped off the poultice and bandage. + +The King wanted to borrow his deliverer's cudgel and warm the jackets of +the two rascals on the spot; but the man said no, it would bring trouble +--leave the matter till night; the whole tribe being together, then, the +outside world would not venture to interfere or interrupt. He marched +the party back to camp and reported the affair to the Ruffler, who +listened, pondered, and then decided that the King should not be again +detailed to beg, since it was plain he was worthy of something higher and +better--wherefore, on the spot he promoted him from the mendicant rank +and appointed him to steal! + +Hugo was overjoyed. He had already tried to make the King steal, and +failed; but there would be no more trouble of that sort, now, for of +course the King would not dream of defying a distinct command delivered +directly from head-quarters. So he planned a raid for that very +afternoon, purposing to get the King in the law's grip in the course of +it; and to do it, too, with such ingenious strategy, that it should seem +to be accidental and unintentional; for the King of the Game-Cocks was +popular now, and the gang might not deal over-gently with an unpopular +member who played so serious a treachery upon him as the delivering him +over to the common enemy, the law. + +Very well. All in good time Hugo strolled off to a neighbouring village +with his prey; and the two drifted slowly up and down one street after +another, the one watching sharply for a sure chance to achieve his evil +purpose, and the other watching as sharply for a chance to dart away and +get free of his infamous captivity for ever. + +Both threw away some tolerably fair-looking opportunities; for both, in +their secret hearts, were resolved to make absolutely sure work this +time, and neither meant to allow his fevered desires to seduce him into +any venture that had much uncertainty about it. + +Hugo's chance came first. For at last a woman approached who carried a +fat package of some sort in a basket. Hugo's eyes sparkled with sinful +pleasure as he said to himself, "Breath o' my life, an' I can but put +THAT upon him, 'tis good-den and God keep thee, King of the Game-Cocks!" +He waited and watched--outwardly patient, but inwardly consuming with +excitement--till the woman had passed by, and the time was ripe; then +said, in a low voice-- + +"Tarry here till I come again," and darted stealthily after the prey. + +The King's heart was filled with joy--he could make his escape, now, if +Hugo's quest only carried him far enough away. + +But he was to have no such luck. Hugo crept behind the woman, snatched +the package, and came running back, wrapping it in an old piece of +blanket which he carried on his arm. The hue and cry was raised in a +moment, by the woman, who knew her loss by the lightening of her burden, +although she had not seen the pilfering done. Hugo thrust the bundle +into the King's hands without halting, saying-- + +"Now speed ye after me with the rest, and cry 'Stop thief!' but mind ye +lead them astray!" + +The next moment Hugo turned a corner and darted down a crooked alley--and +in another moment or two he lounged into view again, looking innocent and +indifferent, and took up a position behind a post to watch results. + +The insulted King threw the bundle on the ground; and the blanket fell +away from it just as the woman arrived, with an augmenting crowd at her +heels; she seized the King's wrist with one hand, snatched up her bundle +with the other, and began to pour out a tirade of abuse upon the boy +while he struggled, without success, to free himself from her grip. + +Hugo had seen enough--his enemy was captured and the law would get him, +now--so he slipped away, jubilant and chuckling, and wended campwards, +framing a judicious version of the matter to give to the Ruffler's crew +as he strode along. + +The King continued to struggle in the woman's strong grasp, and now and +then cried out in vexation-- + +"Unhand me, thou foolish creature; it was not I that bereaved thee of thy +paltry goods." + +The crowd closed around, threatening the King and calling him names; a +brawny blacksmith in leather apron, and sleeves rolled to his elbows, +made a reach for him, saying he would trounce him well, for a lesson; but +just then a long sword flashed in the air and fell with convincing force +upon the man's arm, flat side down, the fantastic owner of it remarking +pleasantly, at the same time-- + +"Marry, good souls, let us proceed gently, not with ill blood and +uncharitable words. This is matter for the law's consideration, not +private and unofficial handling. Loose thy hold from the boy, goodwife." + +The blacksmith averaged the stalwart soldier with a glance, then went +muttering away, rubbing his arm; the woman released the boy's wrist +reluctantly; the crowd eyed the stranger unlovingly, but prudently closed +their mouths. The King sprang to his deliverer's side, with flushed +cheeks and sparkling eyes, exclaiming-- + +"Thou hast lagged sorely, but thou comest in good season, now, Sir Miles; +carve me this rabble to rags!" + + + +Chapter XXIII. The Prince a prisoner. + +Hendon forced back a smile, and bent down and whispered in the King's +ear-- + +"Softly, softly, my prince, wag thy tongue warily--nay, suffer it not to +wag at all. Trust in me--all shall go well in the end." Then he added to +himself: "SIR Miles! Bless me, I had totally forgot I was a knight! +Lord, how marvellous a thing it is, the grip his memory doth take upon +his quaint and crazy fancies! . . . An empty and foolish title is mine, +and yet it is something to have deserved it; for I think it is more +honour to be held worthy to be a spectre-knight in his Kingdom of Dreams +and Shadows, than to be held base enough to be an earl in some of the +REAL kingdoms of this world." + +The crowd fell apart to admit a constable, who approached and was about +to lay his hand upon the King's shoulder, when Hendon said-- + +"Gently, good friend, withhold your hand--he shall go peaceably; I am +responsible for that. Lead on, we will follow." + +The officer led, with the woman and her bundle; Miles and the King +followed after, with the crowd at their heels. The King was inclined to +rebel; but Hendon said to him in a low voice-- + +"Reflect, Sire--your laws are the wholesome breath of your own royalty; +shall their source resist them, yet require the branches to respect them? +Apparently one of these laws has been broken; when the King is on his +throne again, can it ever grieve him to remember that when he was +seemingly a private person he loyally sank the king in the citizen and +submitted to its authority?" + +"Thou art right; say no more; thou shalt see that whatsoever the King of +England requires a subject to suffer, under the law, he will himself +suffer while he holdeth the station of a subject." + +When the woman was called upon to testify before the justice of the +peace, she swore that the small prisoner at the bar was the person who +had committed the theft; there was none able to show the contrary, so the +King stood convicted. The bundle was now unrolled, and when the contents +proved to be a plump little dressed pig, the judge looked troubled, +whilst Hendon turned pale, and his body was thrilled with an electric +shiver of dismay; but the King remained unmoved, protected by his +ignorance. The judge meditated, during an ominous pause, then turned to +the woman, with the question-- + +"What dost thou hold this property to be worth?" + +The woman courtesied and replied-- + +"Three shillings and eightpence, your worship--I could not abate a penny +and set forth the value honestly." + +The justice glanced around uncomfortably upon the crowd, then nodded to +the constable, and said-- + +"Clear the court and close the doors." + +It was done. None remained but the two officials, the accused, the +accuser, and Miles Hendon. This latter was rigid and colourless, and on +his forehead big drops of cold sweat gathered, broke and blended +together, and trickled down his face. The judge turned to the woman +again, and said, in a compassionate voice-- + +"'Tis a poor ignorant lad, and mayhap was driven hard by hunger, for +these be grievous times for the unfortunate; mark you, he hath not an +evil face--but when hunger driveth--Good woman! dost know that when one +steals a thing above the value of thirteenpence ha'penny the law saith he +shall HANG for it?" + +The little King started, wide-eyed with consternation, but controlled +himself and held his peace; but not so the woman. She sprang to her +feet, shaking with fright, and cried out-- + +"Oh, good lack, what have I done! God-a-mercy, I would not hang the poor +thing for the whole world! Ah, save me from this, your worship--what +shall I do, what CAN I do?" + +The justice maintained his judicial composure, and simply said-- + +"Doubtless it is allowable to revise the value, since it is not yet writ +upon the record." + +"Then in God's name call the pig eightpence, and heaven bless the day +that freed my conscience of this awesome thing!" + +Miles Hendon forgot all decorum in his delight; and surprised the King +and wounded his dignity, by throwing his arms around him and hugging him. +The woman made her grateful adieux and started away with her pig; and +when the constable opened the door for her, he followed her out into the +narrow hall. The justice proceeded to write in his record book. Hendon, +always alert, thought he would like to know why the officer followed the +woman out; so he slipped softly into the dusky hall and listened. He +heard a conversation to this effect-- + +"It is a fat pig, and promises good eating; I will buy it of thee; here +is the eightpence." + +"Eightpence, indeed! Thou'lt do no such thing. It cost me three +shillings and eightpence, good honest coin of the last reign, that old +Harry that's just dead ne'er touched or tampered with. A fig for thy +eightpence!" + +"Stands the wind in that quarter? Thou wast under oath, and so swore +falsely when thou saidst the value was but eightpence. Come straightway +back with me before his worship, and answer for the crime!--and then the +lad will hang." + +"There, there, dear heart, say no more, I am content. Give me the +eightpence, and hold thy peace about the matter." + +The woman went off crying: Hendon slipped back into the court room, and +the constable presently followed, after hiding his prize in some +convenient place. The justice wrote a while longer, then read the King a +wise and kindly lecture, and sentenced him to a short imprisonment in the +common jail, to be followed by a public flogging. The astounded King +opened his mouth, and was probably going to order the good judge to be +beheaded on the spot; but he caught a warning sign from Hendon, and +succeeded in closing his mouth again before he lost anything out of it. +Hendon took him by the hand, now, made reverence to the justice, and the +two departed in the wake of the constable toward the jail. The moment +the street was reached, the inflamed monarch halted, snatched away his +hand, and exclaimed-- + +"Idiot, dost imagine I will enter a common jail ALIVE?" + +Hendon bent down and said, somewhat sharply-- + +"WILL you trust in me? Peace! and forbear to worsen our chances with +dangerous speech. What God wills, will happen; thou canst not hurry it, +thou canst not alter it; therefore wait, and be patient--'twill be time +enow to rail or rejoice when what is to happen has happened." {1} + + + +Chapter XXIV. The escape. + +The short winter day was nearly ended. The streets were deserted, save +for a few random stragglers, and these hurried straight along, with the +intent look of people who were only anxious to accomplish their errands +as quickly as possible, and then snugly house themselves from the rising +wind and the gathering twilight. They looked neither to the right nor to +the left; they paid no attention to our party, they did not even seem to +see them. Edward the Sixth wondered if the spectacle of a king on his way +to jail had ever encountered such marvellous indifference before. By-and- +by the constable arrived at a deserted market-square, and proceeded to +cross it. When he had reached the middle of it, Hendon laid his hand +upon his arm, and said in a low voice-- + +"Bide a moment, good sir, there is none in hearing, and I would say a +word to thee." + +"My duty forbids it, sir; prithee hinder me not, the night comes on." + +"Stay, nevertheless, for the matter concerns thee nearly. Turn thy back +a moment and seem not to see: LET THIS POOR LAD ESCAPE." + +"This to me, sir! I arrest thee in--" + +"Nay, be not too hasty. See thou be careful and commit no foolish +error"--then he shut his voice down to a whisper, and said in the man's +ear--"the pig thou hast purchased for eightpence may cost thee thy neck, +man!" + +The poor constable, taken by surprise, was speechless, at first, then +found his tongue and fell to blustering and threatening; but Hendon was +tranquil, and waited with patience till his breath was spent; then said-- + +"I have a liking to thee, friend, and would not willingly see thee come +to harm. Observe, I heard it all--every word. I will prove it to thee." +Then he repeated the conversation which the officer and the woman had had +together in the hall, word for word, and ended with-- + +"There--have I set it forth correctly? Should not I be able to set it +forth correctly before the judge, if occasion required?" + +The man was dumb with fear and distress, for a moment; then he rallied, +and said with forced lightness-- + +"'Tis making a mighty matter, indeed, out of a jest; I but plagued the +woman for mine amusement." + +"Kept you the woman's pig for amusement?" + +The man answered sharply-- + +"Nought else, good sir--I tell thee 'twas but a jest." + +"I do begin to believe thee," said Hendon, with a perplexing mixture of +mockery and half-conviction in his tone; "but tarry thou here a moment +whilst I run and ask his worship--for nathless, he being a man +experienced in law, in jests, in--" + +He was moving away, still talking; the constable hesitated, fidgeted, +spat out an oath or two, then cried out-- + +"Hold, hold, good sir--prithee wait a little--the judge! Why, man, he +hath no more sympathy with a jest than hath a dead corpse!--come, and we +will speak further. Ods body! I seem to be in evil case--and all for an +innocent and thoughtless pleasantry. I am a man of family; and my wife +and little ones--List to reason, good your worship: what wouldst thou +of me?" + +"Only that thou be blind and dumb and paralytic whilst one may count a +hundred thousand--counting slowly," said Hendon, with the expression of a +man who asks but a reasonable favour, and that a very little one. + +"It is my destruction!" said the constable despairingly. "Ah, be +reasonable, good sir; only look at this matter, on all its sides, and see +how mere a jest it is--how manifestly and how plainly it is so. And even +if one granted it were not a jest, it is a fault so small that e'en the +grimmest penalty it could call forth would be but a rebuke and warning +from the judge's lips." + +Hendon replied with a solemnity which chilled the air about him-- + +"This jest of thine hath a name, in law,--wot you what it is?" + +"I knew it not! Peradventure I have been unwise. I never dreamed it had +a name--ah, sweet heaven, I thought it was original." + +"Yes, it hath a name. In the law this crime is called Non compos mentis +lex talionis sic transit gloria mundi." + +"Ah, my God!" + +"And the penalty is death!" + +"God be merciful to me a sinner!" + +"By advantage taken of one in fault, in dire peril, and at thy mercy, +thou hast seized goods worth above thirteenpence ha'penny, paying but a +trifle for the same; and this, in the eye of the law, is constructive +barratry, misprision of treason, malfeasance in office, ad hominem +expurgatis in statu quo--and the penalty is death by the halter, without +ransom, commutation, or benefit of clergy." + +"Bear me up, bear me up, sweet sir, my legs do fail me! Be thou +merciful--spare me this doom, and I will turn my back and see nought that +shall happen." + +"Good! now thou'rt wise and reasonable. And thou'lt restore the pig?" + +"I will, I will indeed--nor ever touch another, though heaven send it and +an archangel fetch it. Go--I am blind for thy sake--I see nothing. I +will say thou didst break in and wrest the prisoner from my hands by +force. It is but a crazy, ancient door--I will batter it down myself +betwixt midnight and the morning." + +"Do it, good soul, no harm will come of it; the judge hath a loving +charity for this poor lad, and will shed no tears and break no jailer's +bones for his escape." + + + +Chapter XXV. Hendon Hall. + +As soon as Hendon and the King were out of sight of the constable, his +Majesty was instructed to hurry to a certain place outside the town, and +wait there, whilst Hendon should go to the inn and settle his account. +Half an hour later the two friends were blithely jogging eastward on +Hendon's sorry steeds. The King was warm and comfortable, now, for he +had cast his rags and clothed himself in the second-hand suit which +Hendon had bought on London Bridge. + +Hendon wished to guard against over-fatiguing the boy; he judged that +hard journeys, irregular meals, and illiberal measures of sleep would be +bad for his crazed mind; whilst rest, regularity, and moderate exercise +would be pretty sure to hasten its cure; he longed to see the stricken +intellect made well again and its diseased visions driven out of the +tormented little head; therefore he resolved to move by easy stages +toward the home whence he had so long been banished, instead of obeying +the impulse of his impatience and hurrying along night and day. + +When he and the King had journeyed about ten miles, they reached a +considerable village, and halted there for the night, at a good inn. The +former relations were resumed; Hendon stood behind the King's chair, +while he dined, and waited upon him; undressed him when he was ready for +bed; then took the floor for his own quarters, and slept athwart the +door, rolled up in a blanket. + +The next day, and the day after, they jogged lazily along talking over +the adventures they had met since their separation, and mightily enjoying +each other's narratives. Hendon detailed all his wide wanderings in +search of the King, and described how the archangel had led him a fool's +journey all over the forest, and taken him back to the hut, finally, when +he found he could not get rid of him. Then--he said--the old man went +into the bedchamber and came staggering back looking broken-hearted, and +saying he had expected to find that the boy had returned and laid down in +there to rest, but it was not so. Hendon had waited at the hut all day; +hope of the King's return died out, then, and he departed upon the quest +again. + +"And old Sanctum Sanctorum WAS truly sorry your highness came not back," +said Hendon; "I saw it in his face." + +"Marry I will never doubt THAT!" said the King--and then told his own +story; after which, Hendon was sorry he had not destroyed the archangel. + +During the last day of the trip, Hendon's spirits were soaring. His +tongue ran constantly. He talked about his old father, and his brother +Arthur, and told of many things which illustrated their high and generous +characters; he went into loving frenzies over his Edith, and was so glad- +hearted that he was even able to say some gentle and brotherly things +about Hugh. He dwelt a deal on the coming meeting at Hendon Hall; what a +surprise it would be to everybody, and what an outburst of thanksgiving +and delight there would be. + +It was a fair region, dotted with cottages and orchards, and the road led +through broad pasture lands whose receding expanses, marked with gentle +elevations and depressions, suggested the swelling and subsiding +undulations of the sea. In the afternoon the returning prodigal made +constant deflections from his course to see if by ascending some hillock +he might not pierce the distance and catch a glimpse of his home. At +last he was successful, and cried out excitedly-- + +"There is the village, my Prince, and there is the Hall close by! You may +see the towers from here; and that wood there--that is my father's park. +Ah, NOW thou'lt know what state and grandeur be! A house with seventy +rooms--think of that!--and seven and twenty servants! A brave lodging +for such as we, is it not so? Come, let us speed--my impatience will not +brook further delay." + +All possible hurry was made; still, it was after three o'clock before the +village was reached. The travellers scampered through it, Hendon's +tongue going all the time. "Here is the church--covered with the same +ivy--none gone, none added." "Yonder is the inn, the old Red Lion,--and +yonder is the market-place." "Here is the Maypole, and here the pump-- +nothing is altered; nothing but the people, at any rate; ten years make a +change in people; some of these I seem to know, but none know me." So +his chat ran on. The end of the village was soon reached; then the +travellers struck into a crooked, narrow road, walled in with tall +hedges, and hurried briskly along it for half a mile, then passed into a +vast flower garden through an imposing gateway, whose huge stone pillars +bore sculptured armorial devices. A noble mansion was before them. + +"Welcome to Hendon Hall, my King!" exclaimed Miles. "Ah, 'tis a great +day! My father and my brother, and the Lady Edith will be so mad with +joy that they will have eyes and tongue for none but me in the first +transports of the meeting, and so thou'lt seem but coldly welcomed--but +mind it not; 'twill soon seem otherwise; for when I say thou art my ward, +and tell them how costly is my love for thee, thou'lt see them take thee +to their breasts for Miles Hendon's sake, and make their house and hearts +thy home for ever after!" + +The next moment Hendon sprang to the ground before the great door, helped +the King down, then took him by the hand and rushed within. A few steps +brought him to a spacious apartment; he entered, seated the King with +more hurry than ceremony, then ran toward a young man who sat at a +writing-table in front of a generous fire of logs. + +"Embrace me, Hugh," he cried, "and say thou'rt glad I am come again! and +call our father, for home is not home till I shall touch his hand, and +see his face, and hear his voice once more!" + +But Hugh only drew back, after betraying a momentary surprise, and bent a +grave stare upon the intruder--a stare which indicated somewhat of +offended dignity, at first, then changed, in response to some inward +thought or purpose, to an expression of marvelling curiosity, mixed with +a real or assumed compassion. Presently he said, in a mild voice-- + +"Thy wits seem touched, poor stranger; doubtless thou hast suffered +privations and rude buffetings at the world's hands; thy looks and dress +betoken it. Whom dost thou take me to be?" + +"Take thee? Prithee for whom else than whom thou art? I take thee to be +Hugh Hendon," said Miles, sharply. + +The other continued, in the same soft tone-- + +"And whom dost thou imagine thyself to be?" + +"Imagination hath nought to do with it! Dost thou pretend thou knowest +me not for thy brother Miles Hendon?" + +An expression of pleased surprise flitted across Hugh's face, and he +exclaimed-- + +"What! thou art not jesting? can the dead come to life? God be praised +if it be so! Our poor lost boy restored to our arms after all these +cruel years! Ah, it seems too good to be true, it IS too good to be +true--I charge thee, have pity, do not trifle with me! Quick--come to +the light--let me scan thee well!" + +He seized Miles by the arm, dragged him to the window, and began to +devour him from head to foot with his eyes, turning him this way and +that, and stepping briskly around him and about him to prove him from all +points of view; whilst the returned prodigal, all aglow with gladness, +smiled, laughed, and kept nodding his head and saying-- + +"Go on, brother, go on, and fear not; thou'lt find nor limb nor feature +that cannot bide the test. Scour and scan me to thy content, my good old +Hugh--I am indeed thy old Miles, thy same old Miles, thy lost brother, +is't not so? Ah, 'tis a great day--I SAID 'twas a great day! Give me +thy hand, give me thy cheek--lord, I am like to die of very joy!" + +He was about to throw himself upon his brother; but Hugh put up his hand +in dissent, then dropped his chin mournfully upon his breast, saying with +emotion-- + +"Ah, God of his mercy give me strength to bear this grievous +disappointment!" + +Miles, amazed, could not speak for a moment; then he found his tongue, +and cried out-- + +"WHAT disappointment? Am I not thy brother?" + +Hugh shook his head sadly, and said-- + +"I pray heaven it may prove so, and that other eyes may find the +resemblances that are hid from mine. Alack, I fear me the letter spoke +but too truly." + +"What letter?" + +"One that came from over sea, some six or seven years ago. It said my +brother died in battle." + +"It was a lie! Call thy father--he will know me." + +"One may not call the dead." + +"Dead?" Miles's voice was subdued, and his lips trembled. "My father +dead!--oh, this is heavy news. Half my new joy is withered now. Prithee +let me see my brother Arthur--he will know me; he will know me and +console me." + +"He, also, is dead." + +"God be merciful to me, a stricken man! Gone,--both gone--the worthy +taken and the worthless spared, in me! Ah! I crave your mercy!--do not +say the Lady Edith--" + +"Is dead? No, she lives." + +"Then, God be praised, my joy is whole again! Speed thee, brother--let +her come to me! An' SHE say I am not myself--but she will not; no, no, +SHE will know me, I were a fool to doubt it. Bring her--bring the old +servants; they, too, will know me." + +"All are gone but five--Peter, Halsey, David, Bernard, and Margaret." + +So saying, Hugh left the room. Miles stood musing a while, then began to +walk the floor, muttering-- + +"The five arch-villains have survived the two-and-twenty leal and honest +--'tis an odd thing." + +He continued walking back and forth, muttering to himself; he had +forgotten the King entirely. By-and-by his Majesty said gravely, and +with a touch of genuine compassion, though the words themselves were +capable of being interpreted ironically-- + +"Mind not thy mischance, good man; there be others in the world whose +identity is denied, and whose claims are derided. Thou hast company." + +"Ah, my King," cried Hendon, colouring slightly, "do not thou condemn me +--wait, and thou shalt see. I am no impostor--she will say it; you shall +hear it from the sweetest lips in England. I an impostor? Why, I know +this old hall, these pictures of my ancestors, and all these things that +are about us, as a child knoweth its own nursery. Here was I born and +bred, my lord; I speak the truth; I would not deceive thee; and should +none else believe, I pray thee do not THOU doubt me--I could not bear +it." + +"I do not doubt thee," said the King, with a childlike simplicity and +faith. + +"I thank thee out of my heart!" exclaimed Hendon with a fervency which +showed that he was touched. The King added, with the same gentle +simplicity-- + +"Dost thou doubt ME?" + +A guilty confusion seized upon Hendon, and he was grateful that the door +opened to admit Hugh, at that moment, and saved him the necessity of +replying. + +A beautiful lady, richly clothed, followed Hugh, and after her came +several liveried servants. The lady walked slowly, with her head bowed +and her eyes fixed upon the floor. The face was unspeakably sad. Miles +Hendon sprang forward, crying out-- + +"Oh, my Edith, my darling--" + +But Hugh waved him back, gravely, and said to the lady-- + +"Look upon him. Do you know him?" + +At the sound of Miles's voice the woman had started slightly, and her +cheeks had flushed; she was trembling now. She stood still, during an +impressive pause of several moments; then slowly lifted up her head and +looked into Hendon's eyes with a stony and frightened gaze; the blood +sank out of her face, drop by drop, till nothing remained but the grey +pallor of death; then she said, in a voice as dead as the face, "I know +him not!" and turned, with a moan and a stifled sob, and tottered out of +the room. + +Miles Hendon sank into a chair and covered his face with his hands. +After a pause, his brother said to the servants-- + +"You have observed him. Do you know him?" + +They shook their heads; then the master said-- + +"The servants know you not, sir. I fear there is some mistake. You have +seen that my wife knew you not." + +"Thy WIFE!" In an instant Hugh was pinned to the wall, with an iron grip +about his throat. "Oh, thou fox-hearted slave, I see it all! Thou'st +writ the lying letter thyself, and my stolen bride and goods are its +fruit. There--now get thee gone, lest I shame mine honourable +soldiership with the slaying of so pitiful a mannikin!" + +Hugh, red-faced, and almost suffocated, reeled to the nearest chair, and +commanded the servants to seize and bind the murderous stranger. They +hesitated, and one of them said-- + +"He is armed, Sir Hugh, and we are weaponless." + +"Armed! What of it, and ye so many? Upon him, I say!" + +But Miles warned them to be careful what they did, and added-- + +"Ye know me of old--I have not changed; come on, an' it like you." + +This reminder did not hearten the servants much; they still held back. + +"Then go, ye paltry cowards, and arm yourselves and guard the doors, +whilst I send one to fetch the watch!" said Hugh. He turned at the +threshold, and said to Miles, "You'll find it to your advantage to offend +not with useless endeavours at escape." + +"Escape? Spare thyself discomfort, an' that is all that troubles thee. +For Miles Hendon is master of Hendon Hall and all its belongings. He +will remain--doubt it not." + + + +Chapter XXVI. Disowned. + +The King sat musing a few moments, then looked up and said-- + +"'Tis strange--most strange. I cannot account for it." + +"No, it is not strange, my liege. I know him, and this conduct is but +natural. He was a rascal from his birth." + +"Oh, I spake not of HIM, Sir Miles." + +"Not of him? Then of what? What is it that is strange?" + +"That the King is not missed." + +"How? Which? I doubt I do not understand." + +"Indeed? Doth it not strike you as being passing strange that the land +is not filled with couriers and proclamations describing my person and +making search for me? Is it no matter for commotion and distress that +the Head of the State is gone; that I am vanished away and lost?" + +"Most true, my King, I had forgot." Then Hendon sighed, and muttered to +himself, "Poor ruined mind--still busy with its pathetic dream." + +"But I have a plan that shall right us both--I will write a paper, in +three tongues--Latin, Greek and English--and thou shalt haste away with +it to London in the morning. Give it to none but my uncle, the Lord +Hertford; when he shall see it, he will know and say I wrote it. Then he +will send for me." + +"Might it not be best, my Prince, that we wait here until I prove myself +and make my rights secure to my domains? I should be so much the better +able then to--" + +The King interrupted him imperiously-- + +"Peace! What are thy paltry domains, thy trivial interests, contrasted +with matters which concern the weal of a nation and the integrity of a +throne?" Then, he added, in a gentle voice, as if he were sorry for his +severity, "Obey, and have no fear; I will right thee, I will make thee +whole--yes, more than whole. I shall remember, and requite." + +So saying, he took the pen, and set himself to work. Hendon contemplated +him lovingly a while, then said to himself-- + +"An' it were dark, I should think it WAS a king that spoke; there's no +denying it, when the humour's upon on him he doth thunder and lighten +like your true King; now where got he that trick? See him scribble and +scratch away contentedly at his meaningless pot-hooks, fancying them to +be Latin and Greek--and except my wit shall serve me with a lucky device +for diverting him from his purpose, I shall be forced to pretend to post +away to-morrow on this wild errand he hath invented for me." + +The next moment Sir Miles's thoughts had gone back to the recent episode. +So absorbed was he in his musings, that when the King presently handed +him the paper which he had been writing, he received it and pocketed it +without being conscious of the act. "How marvellous strange she acted," +he muttered. "I think she knew me--and I think she did NOT know me. +These opinions do conflict, I perceive it plainly; I cannot reconcile +them, neither can I, by argument, dismiss either of the two, or even +persuade one to outweigh the other. The matter standeth simply thus: +she MUST have known my face, my figure, my voice, for how could it be +otherwise? Yet she SAID she knew me not, and that is proof perfect, for +she cannot lie. But stop--I think I begin to see. Peradventure he hath +influenced her, commanded her, compelled her to lie. That is the +solution. The riddle is unriddled. She seemed dead with fear--yes, she +was under his compulsion. I will seek her; I will find her; now that he +is away, she will speak her true mind. She will remember the old times +when we were little playfellows together, and this will soften her heart, +and she will no more betray me, but will confess me. There is no +treacherous blood in her--no, she was always honest and true. She has +loved me, in those old days--this is my security; for whom one has loved, +one cannot betray." + +He stepped eagerly toward the door; at that moment it opened, and the +Lady Edith entered. She was very pale, but she walked with a firm step, +and her carriage was full of grace and gentle dignity. Her face was as +sad as before. + +Miles sprang forward, with a happy confidence, to meet her, but she +checked him with a hardly perceptible gesture, and he stopped where he +was. She seated herself, and asked him to do likewise. Thus simply did +she take the sense of old comradeship out of him, and transform him into +a stranger and a guest. The surprise of it, the bewildering +unexpectedness of it, made him begin to question, for a moment, if he WAS +the person he was pretending to be, after all. The Lady Edith said-- + +"Sir, I have come to warn you. The mad cannot be persuaded out of their +delusions, perchance; but doubtless they may be persuaded to avoid +perils. I think this dream of yours hath the seeming of honest truth to +you, and therefore is not criminal--but do not tarry here with it; for +here it is dangerous." She looked steadily into Miles's face a moment, +then added, impressively, "It is the more dangerous for that you ARE much +like what our lost lad must have grown to be if he had lived." + +"Heavens, madam, but I AM he!" + +"I truly think you think it, sir. I question not your honesty in that; I +but warn you, that is all. My husband is master in this region; his +power hath hardly any limit; the people prosper or starve, as he wills. +If you resembled not the man whom you profess to be, my husband might bid +you pleasure yourself with your dream in peace; but trust me, I know him +well; I know what he will do; he will say to all that you are but a mad +impostor, and straightway all will echo him." She bent upon Miles that +same steady look once more, and added: "If you WERE Miles Hendon, and he +knew it and all the region knew it--consider what I am saying, weigh it +well--you would stand in the same peril, your punishment would be no less +sure; he would deny you and denounce you, and none would be bold enough +to give you countenance." + +"Most truly I believe it," said Miles, bitterly. "The power that can +command one life-long friend to betray and disown another, and be obeyed, +may well look to be obeyed in quarters where bread and life are on the +stake and no cobweb ties of loyalty and honour are concerned." + +A faint tinge appeared for a moment in the lady's cheek, and she dropped +her eyes to the floor; but her voice betrayed no emotion when she +proceeded-- + +"I have warned you--I must still warn you--to go hence. This man will +destroy you, else. He is a tyrant who knows no pity. I, who am his +fettered slave, know this. Poor Miles, and Arthur, and my dear guardian, +Sir Richard, are free of him, and at rest: better that you were with +them than that you bide here in the clutches of this miscreant. Your +pretensions are a menace to his title and possessions; you have assaulted +him in his own house: you are ruined if you stay. Go--do not hesitate. +If you lack money, take this purse, I beg of you, and bribe the servants +to let you pass. Oh, be warned, poor soul, and escape while you may." + +Miles declined the purse with a gesture, and rose up and stood before +her. + +"Grant me one thing," he said. "Let your eyes rest upon mine, so that I +may see if they be steady. There--now answer me. Am I Miles Hendon?" + +"No. I know you not." + +"Swear it!" + +The answer was low, but distinct-- + +"I swear." + +"Oh, this passes belief!" + +"Fly! Why will you waste the precious time? Fly, and save yourself." + +At that moment the officers burst into the room, and a violent struggle +began; but Hendon was soon overpowered and dragged away. The King was +taken also, and both were bound and led to prison. + + + +Chapter XXVII. In prison. + +The cells were all crowded; so the two friends were chained in a large +room where persons charged with trifling offences were commonly kept. +They had company, for there were some twenty manacled and fettered +prisoners here, of both sexes and of varying ages,--an obscene and noisy +gang. The King chafed bitterly over the stupendous indignity thus put +upon his royalty, but Hendon was moody and taciturn. He was pretty +thoroughly bewildered; he had come home, a jubilant prodigal, expecting +to find everybody wild with joy over his return; and instead had got the +cold shoulder and a jail. The promise and the fulfilment differed so +widely that the effect was stunning; he could not decide whether it was +most tragic or most grotesque. He felt much as a man might who had +danced blithely out to enjoy a rainbow, and got struck by lightning. + +But gradually his confused and tormenting thoughts settled down into some +sort of order, and then his mind centred itself upon Edith. He turned +her conduct over, and examined it in all lights, but he could not make +anything satisfactory out of it. Did she know him--or didn't she know +him? It was a perplexing puzzle, and occupied him a long time; but he +ended, finally, with the conviction that she did know him, and had +repudiated him for interested reasons. He wanted to load her name with +curses now; but this name had so long been sacred to him that he found he +could not bring his tongue to profane it. + +Wrapped in prison blankets of a soiled and tattered condition, Hendon and +the King passed a troubled night. For a bribe the jailer had furnished +liquor to some of the prisoners; singing of ribald songs, fighting, +shouting, and carousing was the natural consequence. At last, a while +after midnight, a man attacked a woman and nearly killed her by beating +her over the head with his manacles before the jailer could come to the +rescue. The jailer restored peace by giving the man a sound clubbing +about the head and shoulders--then the carousing ceased; and after that, +all had an opportunity to sleep who did not mind the annoyance of the +moanings and groanings of the two wounded people. + +During the ensuing week, the days and nights were of a monotonous +sameness as to events; men whose faces Hendon remembered more or less +distinctly, came, by day, to gaze at the 'impostor' and repudiate and +insult him; and by night the carousing and brawling went on with +symmetrical regularity. However, there was a change of incident at last. +The jailer brought in an old man, and said to him-- + +"The villain is in this room--cast thy old eyes about and see if thou +canst say which is he." + +Hendon glanced up, and experienced a pleasant sensation for the first +time since he had been in the jail. He said to himself, "This is Blake +Andrews, a servant all his life in my father's family--a good honest +soul, with a right heart in his breast. That is, formerly. But none are +true now; all are liars. This man will know me--and will deny me, too, +like the rest." + +The old man gazed around the room, glanced at each face in turn, and +finally said-- + +"I see none here but paltry knaves, scum o' the streets. Which is he?" + +The jailer laughed. + +"Here," he said; "scan this big animal, and grant me an opinion." + +The old man approached, and looked Hendon over, long and earnestly, then +shook his head and said-- + +"Marry, THIS is no Hendon--nor ever was!" + +"Right! Thy old eyes are sound yet. An' I were Sir Hugh, I would take +the shabby carle and--" + +The jailer finished by lifting himself a-tip-toe with an imaginary +halter, at the same time making a gurgling noise in his throat suggestive +of suffocation. The old man said, vindictively-- + +"Let him bless God an' he fare no worse. An' _I_ had the handling o' the +villain he should roast, or I am no true man!" + +The jailer laughed a pleasant hyena laugh, and said-- + +"Give him a piece of thy mind, old man--they all do it. Thou'lt find it +good diversion." + +Then he sauntered toward his ante-room and disappeared. The old man +dropped upon his knees and whispered-- + +"God be thanked, thou'rt come again, my master! I believed thou wert +dead these seven years, and lo, here thou art alive! I knew thee the +moment I saw thee; and main hard work it was to keep a stony countenance +and seem to see none here but tuppenny knaves and rubbish o' the streets. +I am old and poor, Sir Miles; but say the word and I will go forth and +proclaim the truth though I be strangled for it." + +"No," said Hendon; "thou shalt not. It would ruin thee, and yet help but +little in my cause. But I thank thee, for thou hast given me back +somewhat of my lost faith in my kind." + +The old servant became very valuable to Hendon and the King; for he +dropped in several times a day to 'abuse' the former, and always smuggled +in a few delicacies to help out the prison bill of fare; he also +furnished the current news. Hendon reserved the dainties for the King; +without them his Majesty might not have survived, for he was not able to +eat the coarse and wretched food provided by the jailer. Andrews was +obliged to confine himself to brief visits, in order to avoid suspicion; +but he managed to impart a fair degree of information each time-- +information delivered in a low voice, for Hendon's benefit, and +interlarded with insulting epithets delivered in a louder voice for the +benefit of other hearers. + +So, little by little, the story of the family came out. Arthur had been +dead six years. This loss, with the absence of news from Hendon, +impaired the father's health; he believed he was going to die, and he +wished to see Hugh and Edith settled in life before he passed away; but +Edith begged hard for delay, hoping for Miles's return; then the letter +came which brought the news of Miles's death; the shock prostrated Sir +Richard; he believed his end was very near, and he and Hugh insisted upon +the marriage; Edith begged for and obtained a month's respite, then +another, and finally a third; the marriage then took place by the death- +bed of Sir Richard. It had not proved a happy one. It was whispered +about the country that shortly after the nuptials the bride found among +her husband's papers several rough and incomplete drafts of the fatal +letter, and had accused him of precipitating the marriage--and Sir +Richard's death, too--by a wicked forgery. Tales of cruelty to the Lady +Edith and the servants were to be heard on all hands; and since the +father's death Sir Hugh had thrown off all soft disguises and become a +pitiless master toward all who in any way depended upon him and his +domains for bread. + +There was a bit of Andrew's gossip which the King listened to with a +lively interest-- + +"There is rumour that the King is mad. But in charity forbear to say _I_ +mentioned it, for 'tis death to speak of it, they say." + +His Majesty glared at the old man and said-- + +"The King is NOT mad, good man--and thou'lt find it to thy advantage to +busy thyself with matters that nearer concern thee than this seditious +prattle." + +"What doth the lad mean?" said Andrews, surprised at this brisk assault +from such an unexpected quarter. Hendon gave him a sign, and he did not +pursue his question, but went on with his budget-- + +"The late King is to be buried at Windsor in a day or two--the 16th of +the month--and the new King will be crowned at Westminster the 20th." + +"Methinks they must needs find him first," muttered his Majesty; then +added, confidently, "but they will look to that--and so also shall I." + +"In the name of--" + +But the old man got no further--a warning sign from Hendon checked his +remark. He resumed the thread of his gossip-- + +"Sir Hugh goeth to the coronation--and with grand hopes. He confidently +looketh to come back a peer, for he is high in favour with the Lord +Protector." + +"What Lord Protector?" asked his Majesty. + +"His Grace the Duke of Somerset." + +"What Duke of Somerset?" + +"Marry, there is but one--Seymour, Earl of Hertford." + +The King asked sharply-- + +"Since when is HE a duke, and Lord Protector?" + +"Since the last day of January." + +"And prithee who made him so?" + +"Himself and the Great Council--with help of the King." + +His Majesty started violently. "The KING!" he cried. "WHAT king, good +sir?" + +"What king, indeed! (God-a-mercy, what aileth the boy?) Sith we have but +one, 'tis not difficult to answer--his most sacred Majesty King Edward +the Sixth--whom God preserve! Yea, and a dear and gracious little urchin +is he, too; and whether he be mad or no--and they say he mendeth daily-- +his praises are on all men's lips; and all bless him, likewise, and offer +prayers that he may be spared to reign long in England; for he began +humanely with saving the old Duke of Norfolk's life, and now is he bent +on destroying the cruellest of the laws that harry and oppress the +people." + +This news struck his Majesty dumb with amazement, and plunged him into so +deep and dismal a reverie that he heard no more of the old man's gossip. +He wondered if the 'little urchin' was the beggar-boy whom he left +dressed in his own garments in the palace. It did not seem possible that +this could be, for surely his manners and speech would betray him if he +pretended to be the Prince of Wales--then he would be driven out, and +search made for the true prince. Could it be that the Court had set up +some sprig of the nobility in his place? No, for his uncle would not +allow that--he was all-powerful and could and would crush such a +movement, of course. The boy's musings profited him nothing; the more he +tried to unriddle the mystery the more perplexed he became, the more his +head ached, and the worse he slept. His impatience to get to London grew +hourly, and his captivity became almost unendurable. + +Hendon's arts all failed with the King--he could not be comforted; but a +couple of women who were chained near him succeeded better. Under their +gentle ministrations he found peace and learned a degree of patience. He +was very grateful, and came to love them dearly and to delight in the +sweet and soothing influence of their presence. He asked them why they +were in prison, and when they said they were Baptists, he smiled, and +inquired-- + +"Is that a crime to be shut up for in a prison? Now I grieve, for I +shall lose ye--they will not keep ye long for such a little thing." + +They did not answer; and something in their faces made him uneasy. He +said, eagerly-- + +"You do not speak; be good to me, and tell me--there will be no other +punishment? Prithee tell me there is no fear of that." + +They tried to change the topic, but his fears were aroused, and he +pursued it-- + +"Will they scourge thee? No, no, they would not be so cruel! Say they +would not. Come, they WILL not, will they?" + +The women betrayed confusion and distress, but there was no avoiding an +answer, so one of them said, in a voice choked with emotion-- + +"Oh, thou'lt break our hearts, thou gentle spirit!--God will help us to +bear our--" + +"It is a confession!" the King broke in. "Then they WILL scourge thee, +the stony-hearted wretches! But oh, thou must not weep, I cannot bear +it. Keep up thy courage--I shall come to my own in time to save thee +from this bitter thing, and I will do it!" + +When the King awoke in the morning, the women were gone. + +"They are saved!" he said, joyfully; then added, despondently, "but woe +is me!--for they were my comforters." + +Each of them had left a shred of ribbon pinned to his clothing, in token +of remembrance. He said he would keep these things always; and that soon +he would seek out these dear good friends of his and take them under his +protection. + +Just then the jailer came in with some subordinates, and commanded that +the prisoners be conducted to the jail-yard. The King was overjoyed--it +would be a blessed thing to see the blue sky and breathe the fresh air +once more. He fretted and chafed at the slowness of the officers, but +his turn came at last, and he was released from his staple and ordered to +follow the other prisoners with Hendon. + +The court or quadrangle was stone-paved, and open to the sky. The +prisoners entered it through a massive archway of masonry, and were +placed in file, standing, with their backs against the wall. A rope was +stretched in front of them, and they were also guarded by their officers. +It was a chill and lowering morning, and a light snow which had fallen +during the night whitened the great empty space and added to the general +dismalness of its aspect. Now and then a wintry wind shivered through the +place and sent the snow eddying hither and thither. + +In the centre of the court stood two women, chained to posts. A glance +showed the King that these were his good friends. He shuddered, and said +to himself, "Alack, they are not gone free, as I had thought. To think +that such as these should know the lash!--in England! Ay, there's the +shame of it--not in Heathennesse, Christian England! They will be +scourged; and I, whom they have comforted and kindly entreated, must look +on and see the great wrong done; it is strange, so strange, that I, the +very source of power in this broad realm, am helpless to protect them. +But let these miscreants look well to themselves, for there is a day +coming when I will require of them a heavy reckoning for this work. For +every blow they strike now, they shall feel a hundred then." + +A great gate swung open, and a crowd of citizens poured in. They flocked +around the two women, and hid them from the King's view. A clergyman +entered and passed through the crowd, and he also was hidden. The King +now heard talking, back and forth, as if questions were being asked and +answered, but he could not make out what was said. Next there was a deal +of bustle and preparation, and much passing and repassing of officials +through that part of the crowd that stood on the further side of the +women; and whilst this proceeded a deep hush gradually fell upon the +people. + +Now, by command, the masses parted and fell aside, and the King saw a +spectacle that froze the marrow in his bones. Faggots had been piled +about the two women, and a kneeling man was lighting them! + +The women bowed their heads, and covered their faces with their hands; +the yellow flames began to climb upward among the snapping and crackling +faggots, and wreaths of blue smoke to stream away on the wind; the +clergyman lifted his hands and began a prayer--just then two young girls +came flying through the great gate, uttering piercing screams, and threw +themselves upon the women at the stake. Instantly they were torn away by +the officers, and one of them was kept in a tight grip, but the other +broke loose, saying she would die with her mother; and before she could +be stopped she had flung her arms about her mother's neck again. She was +torn away once more, and with her gown on fire. Two or three men held +her, and the burning portion of her gown was snatched off and thrown +flaming aside, she struggling all the while to free herself, and saying +she would be alone in the world, now; and begging to be allowed to die +with her mother. Both the girls screamed continually, and fought for +freedom; but suddenly this tumult was drowned under a volley of heart- +piercing shrieks of mortal agony--the King glanced from the frantic girls +to the stake, then turned away and leaned his ashen face against the +wall, and looked no more. He said, "That which I have seen, in that one +little moment, will never go out from my memory, but will abide there; +and I shall see it all the days, and dream of it all the nights, till I +die. Would God I had been blind!" + +Hendon was watching the King. He said to himself, with satisfaction, +"His disorder mendeth; he hath changed, and groweth gentler. If he had +followed his wont, he would have stormed at these varlets, and said he +was King, and commanded that the women be turned loose unscathed. Soon +his delusion will pass away and be forgotten, and his poor mind will be +whole again. God speed the day!" + +That same day several prisoners were brought in to remain over night, who +were being conveyed, under guard, to various places in the kingdom, to +undergo punishment for crimes committed. The King conversed with these-- +he had made it a point, from the beginning, to instruct himself for the +kingly office by questioning prisoners whenever the opportunity offered-- +and the tale of their woes wrung his heart. One of them was a poor half- +witted woman who had stolen a yard or two of cloth from a weaver--she was +to be hanged for it. Another was a man who had been accused of stealing +a horse; he said the proof had failed, and he had imagined that he was +safe from the halter; but no--he was hardly free before he was arraigned +for killing a deer in the King's park; this was proved against him, and +now he was on his way to the gallows. There was a tradesman's apprentice +whose case particularly distressed the King; this youth said he found a +hawk, one evening, that had escaped from its owner, and he took it home +with him, imagining himself entitled to it; but the court convicted him +of stealing it, and sentenced him to death. + +The King was furious over these inhumanities, and wanted Hendon to break +jail and fly with him to Westminster, so that he could mount his throne +and hold out his sceptre in mercy over these unfortunate people and save +their lives. "Poor child," sighed Hendon, "these woeful tales have +brought his malady upon him again; alack, but for this evil hap, he would +have been well in a little time." + +Among these prisoners was an old lawyer--a man with a strong face and a +dauntless mien. Three years past, he had written a pamphlet against the +Lord Chancellor, accusing him of injustice, and had been punished for it +by the loss of his ears in the pillory, and degradation from the bar, and +in addition had been fined 3,000 pounds and sentenced to imprisonment for +life. Lately he had repeated his offence; and in consequence was now +under sentence to lose WHAT REMAINED OF HIS EARS, pay a fine of 5,000 +pounds, be branded on both cheeks, and remain in prison for life. + +"These be honourable scars," he said, and turned back his grey hair and +showed the mutilated stubs of what had once been his ears. + +The King's eye burned with passion. He said-- + +"None believe in me--neither wilt thou. But no matter--within the +compass of a month thou shalt be free; and more, the laws that have +dishonoured thee, and shamed the English name, shall be swept from the +statute books. The world is made wrong; kings should go to school to +their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy." {1} + + + +Chapter XXVIII. The sacrifice. + +Meantime Miles was growing sufficiently tired of confinement and +inaction. But now his trial came on, to his great gratification, and he +thought he could welcome any sentence provided a further imprisonment +should not be a part of it. But he was mistaken about that. He was in a +fine fury when he found himself described as a 'sturdy vagabond' and +sentenced to sit two hours in the stocks for bearing that character and +for assaulting the master of Hendon Hall. His pretensions as to +brothership with his prosecutor, and rightful heirship to the Hendon +honours and estates, were left contemptuously unnoticed, as being not +even worth examination. + +He raged and threatened on his way to punishment, but it did no good; he +was snatched roughly along by the officers, and got an occasional cuff, +besides, for his irreverent conduct. + +The King could not pierce through the rabble that swarmed behind; so he +was obliged to follow in the rear, remote from his good friend and +servant. The King had been nearly condemned to the stocks himself for +being in such bad company, but had been let off with a lecture and a +warning, in consideration of his youth. When the crowd at last halted, +he flitted feverishly from point to point around its outer rim, hunting a +place to get through; and at last, after a deal of difficulty and delay, +succeeded. There sat his poor henchman in the degrading stocks, the +sport and butt of a dirty mob--he, the body servant of the King of +England! Edward had heard the sentence pronounced, but he had not +realised the half that it meant. His anger began to rise as the sense of +this new indignity which had been put upon him sank home; it jumped to +summer heat, the next moment, when he saw an egg sail through the air and +crush itself against Hendon's cheek, and heard the crowd roar its +enjoyment of the episode. He sprang across the open circle and +confronted the officer in charge, crying-- + +"For shame! This is my servant--set him free! I am the--" + +"Oh, peace!" exclaimed Hendon, in a panic, "thou'lt destroy thyself. +Mind him not, officer, he is mad." + +"Give thyself no trouble as to the matter of minding him, good man, I +have small mind to mind him; but as to teaching him somewhat, to that I +am well inclined." He turned to a subordinate and said, "Give the little +fool a taste or two of the lash, to mend his manners." + +"Half a dozen will better serve his turn," suggested Sir Hugh, who had +ridden up, a moment before, to take a passing glance at the proceedings. + +The King was seized. He did not even struggle, so paralysed was he with +the mere thought of the monstrous outrage that was proposed to be +inflicted upon his sacred person. History was already defiled with the +record of the scourging of an English king with whips--it was an +intolerable reflection that he must furnish a duplicate of that shameful +page. He was in the toils, there was no help for him; he must either +take this punishment or beg for its remission. Hard conditions; he would +take the stripes--a king might do that, but a king could not beg. + +But meantime, Miles Hendon was resolving the difficulty. "Let the child +go," said he; "ye heartless dogs, do ye not see how young and frail he +is? Let him go--I will take his lashes." + +"Marry, a good thought--and thanks for it," said Sir Hugh, his face +lighting with a sardonic satisfaction. "Let the little beggar go, and +give this fellow a dozen in his place--an honest dozen, well laid on." +The King was in the act of entering a fierce protest, but Sir Hugh +silenced him with the potent remark, "Yes, speak up, do, and free thy +mind--only, mark ye, that for each word you utter he shall get six +strokes the more." + +Hendon was removed from the stocks, and his back laid bare; and whilst +the lash was applied the poor little King turned away his face and +allowed unroyal tears to channel his cheeks unchecked. "Ah, brave good +heart," he said to himself, "this loyal deed shall never perish out of my +memory. I will not forget it--and neither shall THEY!" he added, with +passion. Whilst he mused, his appreciation of Hendon's magnanimous +conduct grew to greater and still greater dimensions in his mind, and so +also did his gratefulness for it. Presently he said to himself, "Who +saves his prince from wounds and possible death--and this he did for me-- +performs high service; but it is little--it is nothing--oh, less than +nothing!--when 'tis weighed against the act of him who saves his prince +from SHAME!" + +Hendon made no outcry under the scourge, but bore the heavy blows with +soldierly fortitude. This, together with his redeeming the boy by taking +his stripes for him, compelled the respect of even that forlorn and +degraded mob that was gathered there; and its gibes and hootings died +away, and no sound remained but the sound of the falling blows. The +stillness that pervaded the place, when Hendon found himself once more in +the stocks, was in strong contrast with the insulting clamour which had +prevailed there so little a while before. The King came softly to +Hendon's side, and whispered in his ear-- + +"Kings cannot ennoble thee, thou good, great soul, for One who is higher +than kings hath done that for thee; but a king can confirm thy nobility +to men." He picked up the scourge from the ground, touched Hendon's +bleeding shoulders lightly with it, and whispered, "Edward of England +dubs thee Earl!" + +Hendon was touched. The water welled to his eyes, yet at the same time +the grisly humour of the situation and circumstances so undermined his +gravity that it was all he could do to keep some sign of his inward mirth +from showing outside. To be suddenly hoisted, naked and gory, from the +common stocks to the Alpine altitude and splendour of an Earldom, seemed +to him the last possibility in the line of the grotesque. He said to +himself, "Now am I finely tinselled, indeed! The spectre-knight of the +Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows is become a spectre-earl--a dizzy flight +for a callow wing! An' this go on, I shall presently be hung like a very +maypole with fantastic gauds and make-believe honours. But I shall value +them, all valueless as they are, for the love that doth bestow them. +Better these poor mock dignities of mine, that come unasked, from a clean +hand and a right spirit, than real ones bought by servility from grudging +and interested power." + +The dreaded Sir Hugh wheeled his horse about, and as he spurred away, the +living wall divided silently to let him pass, and as silently closed +together again. And so remained; nobody went so far as to venture a +remark in favour of the prisoner, or in compliment to him; but no matter +--the absence of abuse was a sufficient homage in itself. A late comer +who was not posted as to the present circumstances, and who delivered a +sneer at the 'impostor,' and was in the act of following it with a dead +cat, was promptly knocked down and kicked out, without any words, and +then the deep quiet resumed sway once more. + + + +Chapter XXIX. To London. + +When Hendon's term of service in the stocks was finished, he was released +and ordered to quit the region and come back no more. His sword was +restored to him, and also his mule and his donkey. He mounted and rode +off, followed by the King, the crowd opening with quiet respectfulness to +let them pass, and then dispersing when they were gone. + +Hendon was soon absorbed in thought. There were questions of high import +to be answered. What should he do? Whither should he go? Powerful help +must be found somewhere, or he must relinquish his inheritance and remain +under the imputation of being an impostor besides. Where could he hope +to find this powerful help? Where, indeed! It was a knotty question. +By-and-by a thought occurred to him which pointed to a possibility--the +slenderest of slender possibilities, certainly, but still worth +considering, for lack of any other that promised anything at all. He +remembered what old Andrews had said about the young King's goodness and +his generous championship of the wronged and unfortunate. Why not go and +try to get speech of him and beg for justice? Ah, yes, but could so +fantastic a pauper get admission to the august presence of a monarch? +Never mind--let that matter take care of itself; it was a bridge that +would not need to be crossed till he should come to it. He was an old +campaigner, and used to inventing shifts and expedients: no doubt he +would be able to find a way. Yes, he would strike for the capital. +Maybe his father's old friend Sir Humphrey Marlow would help him--'good +old Sir Humphrey, Head Lieutenant of the late King's kitchen, or stables, +or something'--Miles could not remember just what or which. Now that he +had something to turn his energies to, a distinctly defined object to +accomplish, the fog of humiliation and depression which had settled down +upon his spirits lifted and blew away, and he raised his head and looked +about him. He was surprised to see how far he had come; the village was +away behind him. The King was jogging along in his wake, with his head +bowed; for he, too, was deep in plans and thinkings. A sorrowful +misgiving clouded Hendon's new-born cheerfulness: would the boy be +willing to go again to a city where, during all his brief life, he had +never known anything but ill-usage and pinching want? But the question +must be asked; it could not be avoided; so Hendon reined up, and called +out-- + +"I had forgotten to inquire whither we are bound. Thy commands, my +liege!" + +"To London!" + +Hendon moved on again, mightily contented with the answer--but astounded +at it too. + +The whole journey was made without an adventure of importance. But it +ended with one. About ten o'clock on the night of the 19th of February +they stepped upon London Bridge, in the midst of a writhing, struggling +jam of howling and hurrahing people, whose beer-jolly faces stood out +strongly in the glare from manifold torches--and at that instant the +decaying head of some former duke or other grandee tumbled down between +them, striking Hendon on the elbow and then bounding off among the +hurrying confusion of feet. So evanescent and unstable are men's works in +this world!--the late good King is but three weeks dead and three days in +his grave, and already the adornments which he took such pains to select +from prominent people for his noble bridge are falling. A citizen +stumbled over that head, and drove his own head into the back of somebody +in front of him, who turned and knocked down the first person that came +handy, and was promptly laid out himself by that person's friend. It was +the right ripe time for a free fight, for the festivities of the morrow-- +Coronation Day--were already beginning; everybody was full of strong +drink and patriotism; within five minutes the free fight was occupying a +good deal of ground; within ten or twelve it covered an acre of so, and +was become a riot. By this time Hendon and the King were hopelessly +separated from each other and lost in the rush and turmoil of the roaring +masses of humanity. And so we leave them. + + + +Chapter XXX. Tom's progress. + +Whilst the true King wandered about the land poorly clad, poorly fed, +cuffed and derided by tramps one while, herding with thieves and +murderers in a jail another, and called idiot and impostor by all +impartially, the mock King Tom Canty enjoyed quite a different +experience. + +When we saw him last, royalty was just beginning to have a bright side +for him. This bright side went on brightening more and more every day: +in a very little while it was become almost all sunshine and +delightfulness. He lost his fears; his misgivings faded out and died; +his embarrassments departed, and gave place to an easy and confident +bearing. He worked the whipping-boy mine to ever-increasing profit. + +He ordered my Lady Elizabeth and my Lady Jane Grey into his presence when +he wanted to play or talk, and dismissed them when he was done with them, +with the air of one familiarly accustomed to such performances. It no +longer confused him to have these lofty personages kiss his hand at +parting. + +He came to enjoy being conducted to bed in state at night, and dressed +with intricate and solemn ceremony in the morning. It came to be a proud +pleasure to march to dinner attended by a glittering procession of +officers of state and gentlemen-at-arms; insomuch, indeed, that he +doubled his guard of gentlemen-at-arms, and made them a hundred. He +liked to hear the bugles sounding down the long corridors, and the +distant voices responding, "Way for the King!" + +He even learned to enjoy sitting in throned state in council, and seeming +to be something more than the Lord Protector's mouthpiece. He liked to +receive great ambassadors and their gorgeous trains, and listen to the +affectionate messages they brought from illustrious monarchs who called +him brother. O happy Tom Canty, late of Offal Court! + +He enjoyed his splendid clothes, and ordered more: he found his four +hundred servants too few for his proper grandeur, and trebled them. The +adulation of salaaming courtiers came to be sweet music to his ears. He +remained kind and gentle, and a sturdy and determined champion of all +that were oppressed, and he made tireless war upon unjust laws: yet upon +occasion, being offended, he could turn upon an earl, or even a duke, and +give him a look that would make him tremble. Once, when his royal +'sister,' the grimly holy Lady Mary, set herself to reason with him +against the wisdom of his course in pardoning so many people who would +otherwise be jailed, or hanged, or burned, and reminded him that their +august late father's prisons had sometimes contained as high as sixty +thousand convicts at one time, and that during his admirable reign he had +delivered seventy-two thousand thieves and robbers over to death by the +executioner, {9} the boy was filled with generous indignation, and +commanded her to go to her closet, and beseech God to take away the stone +that was in her breast, and give her a human heart. + +Did Tom Canty never feel troubled about the poor little rightful prince +who had treated him so kindly, and flown out with such hot zeal to avenge +him upon the insolent sentinel at the palace-gate? Yes; his first royal +days and nights were pretty well sprinkled with painful thoughts about +the lost prince, and with sincere longings for his return, and happy +restoration to his native rights and splendours. But as time wore on, +and the prince did not come, Tom's mind became more and more occupied +with his new and enchanting experiences, and by little and little the +vanished monarch faded almost out of his thoughts; and finally, when he +did intrude upon them at intervals, he was become an unwelcome spectre, +for he made Tom feel guilty and ashamed. + +Tom's poor mother and sisters travelled the same road out of his mind. +At first he pined for them, sorrowed for them, longed to see them, but +later, the thought of their coming some day in their rags and dirt, and +betraying him with their kisses, and pulling him down from his lofty +place, and dragging him back to penury and degradation and the slums, +made him shudder. At last they ceased to trouble his thoughts almost +wholly. And he was content, even glad: for, whenever their mournful and +accusing faces did rise before him now, they made him feel more +despicable than the worms that crawl. + +At midnight of the 19th of February, Tom Canty was sinking to sleep in +his rich bed in the palace, guarded by his loyal vassals, and surrounded +by the pomps of royalty, a happy boy; for tomorrow was the day appointed +for his solemn crowning as King of England. At that same hour, Edward, +the true king, hungry and thirsty, soiled and draggled, worn with travel, +and clothed in rags and shreds--his share of the results of the riot--was +wedged in among a crowd of people who were watching with deep interest +certain hurrying gangs of workmen who streamed in and out of Westminster +Abbey, busy as ants: they were making the last preparation for the royal +coronation. + + + +Chapter XXXI. The Recognition procession. + +When Tom Canty awoke the next morning, the air was heavy with a +thunderous murmur: all the distances were charged with it. It was music +to him; for it meant that the English world was out in its strength to +give loyal welcome to the great day. + +Presently Tom found himself once more the chief figure in a wonderful +floating pageant on the Thames; for by ancient custom the 'recognition +procession' through London must start from the Tower, and he was bound +thither. + +When he arrived there, the sides of the venerable fortress seemed +suddenly rent in a thousand places, and from every rent leaped a red +tongue of flame and a white gush of smoke; a deafening explosion +followed, which drowned the shoutings of the multitude, and made the +ground tremble; the flame-jets, the smoke, and the explosions, were +repeated over and over again with marvellous celerity, so that in a few +moments the old Tower disappeared in the vast fog of its own smoke, all +but the very top of the tall pile called the White Tower; this, with its +banners, stood out above the dense bank of vapour as a mountain-peak +projects above a cloud-rack. + +Tom Canty, splendidly arrayed, mounted a prancing war-steed, whose rich +trappings almost reached to the ground; his 'uncle,' the Lord Protector +Somerset, similarly mounted, took place in his rear; the King's Guard +formed in single ranks on either side, clad in burnished armour; after +the Protector followed a seemingly interminable procession of resplendent +nobles attended by their vassals; after these came the lord mayor and the +aldermanic body, in crimson velvet robes, and with their gold chains +across their breasts; and after these the officers and members of all the +guilds of London, in rich raiment, and bearing the showy banners of the +several corporations. Also in the procession, as a special guard of +honour through the city, was the Ancient and Honourable Artillery +Company--an organisation already three hundred years old at that time, +and the only military body in England possessing the privilege (which it +still possesses in our day) of holding itself independent of the commands +of Parliament. It was a brilliant spectacle, and was hailed with +acclamations all along the line, as it took its stately way through the +packed multitudes of citizens. The chronicler says, 'The King, as he +entered the city, was received by the people with prayers, welcomings, +cries, and tender words, and all signs which argue an earnest love of +subjects toward their sovereign; and the King, by holding up his glad +countenance to such as stood afar off, and most tender language to those +that stood nigh his Grace, showed himself no less thankful to receive the +people's goodwill than they to offer it. To all that wished him well, he +gave thanks. To such as bade "God save his Grace," he said in return, +"God save you all!" and added that "he thanked them with all his heart." +Wonderfully transported were the people with the loving answers and +gestures of their King.' + +In Fenchurch Street a 'fair child, in costly apparel,' stood on a stage +to welcome his Majesty to the city. The last verse of his greeting was +in these words-- + +'Welcome, O King! as much as hearts can think; Welcome, again, as much as +tongue can tell,--Welcome to joyous tongues, and hearts that will not +shrink: God thee preserve, we pray, and wish thee ever well.' + +The people burst forth in a glad shout, repeating with one voice what the +child had said. Tom Canty gazed abroad over the surging sea of eager +faces, and his heart swelled with exultation; and he felt that the one +thing worth living for in this world was to be a king, and a nation's +idol. Presently he caught sight, at a distance, of a couple of his +ragged Offal Court comrades--one of them the lord high admiral in his +late mimic court, the other the first lord of the bedchamber in the same +pretentious fiction; and his pride swelled higher than ever. Oh, if they +could only recognise him now! What unspeakable glory it would be, if +they could recognise him, and realise that the derided mock king of the +slums and back alleys was become a real King, with illustrious dukes and +princes for his humble menials, and the English world at his feet! But +he had to deny himself, and choke down his desire, for such a recognition +might cost more than it would come to: so he turned away his head, and +left the two soiled lads to go on with their shoutings and glad +adulations, unsuspicious of whom it was they were lavishing them upon. + +Every now and then rose the cry, "A largess! a largess!" and Tom +responded by scattering a handful of bright new coins abroad for the +multitude to scramble for. + +The chronicler says, 'At the upper end of Gracechurch Street, before the +sign of the Eagle, the city had erected a gorgeous arch, beneath which +was a stage, which stretched from one side of the street to the other. +This was an historical pageant, representing the King's immediate +progenitors. There sat Elizabeth of York in the midst of an immense +white rose, whose petals formed elaborate furbelows around her; by her +side was Henry VII., issuing out of a vast red rose, disposed in the same +manner: the hands of the royal pair were locked together, and the +wedding-ring ostentatiously displayed. From the red and white roses +proceeded a stem, which reached up to a second stage, occupied by Henry +VIII., issuing from a red and white rose, with the effigy of the new +King's mother, Jane Seymour, represented by his side. One branch sprang +from this pair, which mounted to a third stage, where sat the effigy of +Edward VI. himself, enthroned in royal majesty; and the whole pageant was +framed with wreaths of roses, red and white.' + +This quaint and gaudy spectacle so wrought upon the rejoicing people, +that their acclamations utterly smothered the small voice of the child +whose business it was to explain the thing in eulogistic rhymes. But Tom +Canty was not sorry; for this loyal uproar was sweeter music to him than +any poetry, no matter what its quality might be. Whithersoever Tom +turned his happy young face, the people recognised the exactness of his +effigy's likeness to himself, the flesh and blood counterpart; and new +whirlwinds of applause burst forth. + +The great pageant moved on, and still on, under one triumphal arch after +another, and past a bewildering succession of spectacular and symbolical +tableaux, each of which typified and exalted some virtue, or talent, or +merit, of the little King's. 'Throughout the whole of Cheapside, from +every penthouse and window, hung banners and streamers; and the richest +carpets, stuffs, and cloth-of-gold tapestried the streets--specimens of +the great wealth of the stores within; and the splendour of this +thoroughfare was equalled in the other streets, and in some even +surpassed.' + +"And all these wonders and these marvels are to welcome me--me!" murmured +Tom Canty. + +The mock King's cheeks were flushed with excitement, his eyes were +flashing, his senses swam in a delirium of pleasure. At this point, just +as he was raising his hand to fling another rich largess, he caught sight +of a pale, astounded face, which was strained forward out of the second +rank of the crowd, its intense eyes riveted upon him. A sickening +consternation struck through him; he recognised his mother! and up flew +his hand, palm outward, before his eyes--that old involuntary gesture, +born of a forgotten episode, and perpetuated by habit. In an instant +more she had torn her way out of the press, and past the guards, and was +at his side. She embraced his leg, she covered it with kisses, she +cried, "O my child, my darling!" lifting toward him a face that was +transfigured with joy and love. The same instant an officer of the +King's Guard snatched her away with a curse, and sent her reeling back +whence she came with a vigorous impulse from his strong arm. The words +"I do not know you, woman!" were falling from Tom Canty's lips when this +piteous thing occurred; but it smote him to the heart to see her treated +so; and as she turned for a last glimpse of him, whilst the crowd was +swallowing her from his sight, she seemed so wounded, so broken-hearted, +that a shame fell upon him which consumed his pride to ashes, and +withered his stolen royalty. His grandeurs were stricken valueless: +they seemed to fall away from him like rotten rags. + +The procession moved on, and still on, through ever augmenting splendours +and ever augmenting tempests of welcome; but to Tom Canty they were as if +they had not been. He neither saw nor heard. Royalty had lost its grace +and sweetness; its pomps were become a reproach. Remorse was eating his +heart out. He said, "Would God I were free of my captivity!" + +He had unconsciously dropped back into the phraseology of the first days +of his compulsory greatness. + +The shining pageant still went winding like a radiant and interminable +serpent down the crooked lanes of the quaint old city, and through the +huzzaing hosts; but still the King rode with bowed head and vacant eyes, +seeing only his mother's face and that wounded look in it. + +"Largess, largess!" The cry fell upon an unheeding ear. + +"Long live Edward of England!" It seemed as if the earth shook with the +explosion; but there was no response from the King. He heard it only as +one hears the thunder of the surf when it is blown to the ear out of a +great distance, for it was smothered under another sound which was still +nearer, in his own breast, in his accusing conscience--a voice which kept +repeating those shameful words, "I do not know you, woman!" + +The words smote upon the King's soul as the strokes of a funeral bell +smite upon the soul of a surviving friend when they remind him of secret +treacheries suffered at his hands by him that is gone. + +New glories were unfolded at every turning; new wonders, new marvels, +sprang into view; the pent clamours of waiting batteries were released; +new raptures poured from the throats of the waiting multitudes: but the +King gave no sign, and the accusing voice that went moaning through his +comfortless breast was all the sound he heard. + +By-and-by the gladness in the faces of the populace changed a little, and +became touched with a something like solicitude or anxiety: an abatement +in the volume of the applause was observable too. The Lord Protector was +quick to notice these things: he was as quick to detect the cause. He +spurred to the King's side, bent low in his saddle, uncovered, and said-- + +"My liege, it is an ill time for dreaming. The people observe thy +downcast head, thy clouded mien, and they take it for an omen. Be +advised: unveil the sun of royalty, and let it shine upon these boding +vapours, and disperse them. Lift up thy face, and smile upon the +people." + +So saying, the Duke scattered a handful of coins to right and left, then +retired to his place. The mock King did mechanically as he had been +bidden. His smile had no heart in it, but few eyes were near enough or +sharp enough to detect that. The noddings of his plumed head as he +saluted his subjects were full of grace and graciousness; the largess +which he delivered from his hand was royally liberal: so the people's +anxiety vanished, and the acclamations burst forth again in as mighty a +volume as before. + +Still once more, a little before the progress was ended, the Duke was +obliged to ride forward, and make remonstrance. He whispered-- + +"O dread sovereign! shake off these fatal humours; the eyes of the world +are upon thee." Then he added with sharp annoyance, "Perdition catch +that crazy pauper! 'twas she that hath disturbed your Highness." + +The gorgeous figure turned a lustreless eye upon the Duke, and said in a +dead voice-- + +"She was my mother!" + +"My God!" groaned the Protector as he reined his horse backward to his +post, "the omen was pregnant with prophecy. He is gone mad again!" + + + +Chapter XXXII. Coronation Day. + +Let us go backward a few hours, and place ourselves in Westminster Abbey, +at four o'clock in the morning of this memorable Coronation Day. We are +not without company; for although it is still night, we find the torch- +lighted galleries already filling up with people who are well content to +sit still and wait seven or eight hours till the time shall come for them +to see what they may not hope to see twice in their lives--the coronation +of a King. Yes, London and Westminster have been astir ever since the +warning guns boomed at three o'clock, and already crowds of untitled rich +folk who have bought the privilege of trying to find sitting-room in the +galleries are flocking in at the entrances reserved for their sort. + +The hours drag along tediously enough. All stir has ceased for some +time, for every gallery has long ago been packed. We may sit, now, and +look and think at our leisure. We have glimpses, here and there and +yonder, through the dim cathedral twilight, of portions of many galleries +and balconies, wedged full with other people, the other portions of these +galleries and balconies being cut off from sight by intervening pillars +and architectural projections. We have in view the whole of the great +north transept--empty, and waiting for England's privileged ones. We see +also the ample area or platform, carpeted with rich stuffs, whereon the +throne stands. The throne occupies the centre of the platform, and is +raised above it upon an elevation of four steps. Within the seat of the +throne is enclosed a rough flat rock--the stone of Scone--which many +generations of Scottish kings sat on to be crowned, and so it in time +became holy enough to answer a like purpose for English monarchs. Both +the throne and its footstool are covered with cloth of gold. + +Stillness reigns, the torches blink dully, the time drags heavily. But at +last the lagging daylight asserts itself, the torches are extinguished, +and a mellow radiance suffuses the great spaces. All features of the +noble building are distinct now, but soft and dreamy, for the sun is +lightly veiled with clouds. + +At seven o'clock the first break in the drowsy monotony occurs; for on +the stroke of this hour the first peeress enters the transept, clothed +like Solomon for splendour, and is conducted to her appointed place by an +official clad in satins and velvets, whilst a duplicate of him gathers up +the lady's long train, follows after, and, when the lady is seated, +arranges the train across her lap for her. He then places her footstool +according to her desire, after which he puts her coronet where it will be +convenient to her hand when the time for the simultaneous coroneting of +the nobles shall arrive. + +By this time the peeresses are flowing in in a glittering stream, and the +satin-clad officials are flitting and glinting everywhere, seating them +and making them comfortable. The scene is animated enough now. There is +stir and life, and shifting colour everywhere. After a time, quiet +reigns again; for the peeresses are all come and are all in their places, +a solid acre or such a matter, of human flowers, resplendent in +variegated colours, and frosted like a Milky Way with diamonds. There +are all ages here: brown, wrinkled, white-haired dowagers who are able to +go back, and still back, down the stream of time, and recall the crowning +of Richard III. and the troublous days of that old forgotten age; and +there are handsome middle-aged dames; and lovely and gracious young +matrons; and gentle and beautiful young girls, with beaming eyes and +fresh complexions, who may possibly put on their jewelled coronets +awkwardly when the great time comes; for the matter will be new to them, +and their excitement will be a sore hindrance. Still, this may not +happen, for the hair of all these ladies has been arranged with a special +view to the swift and successful lodging of the crown in its place when +the signal comes. + +We have seen that this massed array of peeresses is sown thick with +diamonds, and we also see that it is a marvellous spectacle--but now we +are about to be astonished in earnest. About nine, the clouds suddenly +break away and a shaft of sunshine cleaves the mellow atmosphere, and +drifts slowly along the ranks of ladies; and every rank it touches flames +into a dazzling splendour of many-coloured fires, and we tingle to our +finger-tips with the electric thrill that is shot through us by the +surprise and the beauty of the spectacle! Presently a special envoy from +some distant corner of the Orient, marching with the general body of +foreign ambassadors, crosses this bar of sunshine, and we catch our +breath, the glory that streams and flashes and palpitates about him is so +overpowering; for he is crusted from head to heel with gems, and his +slightest movement showers a dancing radiance all around him. + +Let us change the tense for convenience. The time drifted along--one +hour--two hours--two hours and a half; then the deep booming of artillery +told that the King and his grand procession had arrived at last; so the +waiting multitude rejoiced. All knew that a further delay must follow, +for the King must be prepared and robed for the solemn ceremony; but this +delay would be pleasantly occupied by the assembling of the peers of the +realm in their stately robes. These were conducted ceremoniously to +their seats, and their coronets placed conveniently at hand; and +meanwhile the multitude in the galleries were alive with interest, for +most of them were beholding for the first time, dukes, earls, and barons, +whose names had been historical for five hundred years. When all were +finally seated, the spectacle from the galleries and all coigns of +vantage was complete; a gorgeous one to look upon and to remember. + +Now the robed and mitred great heads of the church, and their attendants, +filed in upon the platform and took their appointed places; these were +followed by the Lord Protector and other great officials, and these again +by a steel-clad detachment of the Guard. + +There was a waiting pause; then, at a signal, a triumphant peal of music +burst forth, and Tom Canty, clothed in a long robe of cloth of gold, +appeared at a door, and stepped upon the platform. The entire multitude +rose, and the ceremony of the Recognition ensued. + +Then a noble anthem swept the Abbey with its rich waves of sound; and +thus heralded and welcomed, Tom Canty was conducted to the throne. The +ancient ceremonies went on, with impressive solemnity, whilst the +audience gazed; and as they drew nearer and nearer to completion, Tom +Canty grew pale, and still paler, and a deep and steadily deepening woe +and despondency settled down upon his spirits and upon his remorseful +heart. + +At last the final act was at hand. The Archbishop of Canterbury lifted +up the crown of England from its cushion and held it out over the +trembling mock-King's head. In the same instant a rainbow-radiance +flashed along the spacious transept; for with one impulse every +individual in the great concourse of nobles lifted a coronet and poised +it over his or her head--and paused in that attitude. + +A deep hush pervaded the Abbey. At this impressive moment, a startling +apparition intruded upon the scene--an apparition observed by none in the +absorbed multitude, until it suddenly appeared, moving up the great +central aisle. It was a boy, bareheaded, ill shod, and clothed in coarse +plebeian garments that were falling to rags. He raised his hand with a +solemnity which ill comported with his soiled and sorry aspect, and +delivered this note of warning-- + +"I forbid you to set the crown of England upon that forfeited head. I am +the King!" + +In an instant several indignant hands were laid upon the boy; but in the +same instant Tom Canty, in his regal vestments, made a swift step +forward, and cried out in a ringing voice-- + +"Loose him and forbear! He IS the King!" + +A sort of panic of astonishment swept the assemblage, and they partly +rose in their places and stared in a bewildered way at one another and at +the chief figures in this scene, like persons who wondered whether they +were awake and in their senses, or asleep and dreaming. The Lord +Protector was as amazed as the rest, but quickly recovered himself, and +exclaimed in a voice of authority-- + +"Mind not his Majesty, his malady is upon him again--seize the vagabond!" + +He would have been obeyed, but the mock-King stamped his foot and cried +out-- + +"On your peril! Touch him not, he is the King!" + +The hands were withheld; a paralysis fell upon the house; no one moved, +no one spoke; indeed, no one knew how to act or what to say, in so +strange and surprising an emergency. While all minds were struggling to +right themselves, the boy still moved steadily forward, with high port +and confident mien; he had never halted from the beginning; and while the +tangled minds still floundered helplessly, he stepped upon the platform, +and the mock-King ran with a glad face to meet him; and fell on his knees +before him and said-- + +"Oh, my lord the King, let poor Tom Canty be first to swear fealty to +thee, and say, 'Put on thy crown and enter into thine own again!'" + +The Lord Protector's eye fell sternly upon the new-comer's face; but +straightway the sternness vanished away, and gave place to an expression +of wondering surprise. This thing happened also to the other great +officers. They glanced at each other, and retreated a step by a common +and unconscious impulse. The thought in each mind was the same: "What a +strange resemblance!" + +The Lord Protector reflected a moment or two in perplexity, then he said, +with grave respectfulness-- + +"By your favour, sir, I desire to ask certain questions which--" + +"I will answer them, my lord." + +The Duke asked him many questions about the Court, the late King, the +prince, the princesses--the boy answered them correctly and without +hesitating. He described the rooms of state in the palace, the late +King's apartments, and those of the Prince of Wales. + +It was strange; it was wonderful; yes, it was unaccountable--so all said +that heard it. The tide was beginning to turn, and Tom Canty's hopes to +run high, when the Lord Protector shook his head and said-- + +"It is true it is most wonderful--but it is no more than our lord the +King likewise can do." This remark, and this reference to himself as +still the King, saddened Tom Canty, and he felt his hopes crumbling from +under him. "These are not PROOFS," added the Protector. + +The tide was turning very fast now, very fast indeed--but in the wrong +direction; it was leaving poor Tom Canty stranded on the throne, and +sweeping the other out to sea. The Lord Protector communed with himself +--shook his head--the thought forced itself upon him, "It is perilous to +the State and to us all, to entertain so fateful a riddle as this; it +could divide the nation and undermine the throne." He turned and said-- + +"Sir Thomas, arrest this--No, hold!" His face lighted, and he confronted +the ragged candidate with this question-- + +"Where lieth the Great Seal? Answer me this truly, and the riddle is +unriddled; for only he that was Prince of Wales CAN so answer! On so +trivial a thing hang a throne and a dynasty!" + +It was a lucky thought, a happy thought. That it was so considered by +the great officials was manifested by the silent applause that shot from +eye to eye around their circle in the form of bright approving glances. +Yes, none but the true prince could dissolve the stubborn mystery of the +vanished Great Seal--this forlorn little impostor had been taught his +lesson well, but here his teachings must fail, for his teacher himself +could not answer THAT question--ah, very good, very good indeed; now we +shall be rid of this troublesome and perilous business in short order! +And so they nodded invisibly and smiled inwardly with satisfaction, and +looked to see this foolish lad stricken with a palsy of guilty confusion. +How surprised they were, then, to see nothing of the sort happen--how +they marvelled to hear him answer up promptly, in a confident and +untroubled voice, and say-- + +"There is nought in this riddle that is difficult." Then, without so +much as a by-your-leave to anybody, he turned and gave this command, with +the easy manner of one accustomed to doing such things: "My Lord St. +John, go you to my private cabinet in the palace--for none knoweth the +place better than you--and, close down to the floor, in the left corner +remotest from the door that opens from the ante-chamber, you shall find +in the wall a brazen nail-head; press upon it and a little jewel-closet +will fly open which not even you do know of--no, nor any sould else in +all the world but me and the trusty artisan that did contrive it for me. +The first thing that falleth under your eye will be the Great Seal--fetch +it hither." + +All the company wondered at this speech, and wondered still more to see +the little mendicant pick out this peer without hesitancy or apparent +fear of mistake, and call him by name with such a placidly convincing air +of having known him all his life. The peer was almost surprised into +obeying. He even made a movement as if to go, but quickly recovered his +tranquil attitude and confessed his blunder with a blush. Tom Canty +turned upon him and said, sharply-- + +"Why dost thou hesitate? Hast not heard the King's command? Go!" + +The Lord St. John made a deep obeisance--and it was observed that it was +a significantly cautious and non-committal one, it not being delivered at +either of the kings, but at the neutral ground about half-way between the +two--and took his leave. + +Now began a movement of the gorgeous particles of that official group +which was slow, scarcely perceptible, and yet steady and persistent--a +movement such as is observed in a kaleidoscope that is turned slowly, +whereby the components of one splendid cluster fall away and join +themselves to another--a movement which, little by little, in the present +case, dissolved the glittering crowd that stood about Tom Canty and +clustered it together again in the neighbourhood of the new-comer. Tom +Canty stood almost alone. Now ensued a brief season of deep suspense and +waiting--during which even the few faint hearts still remaining near Tom +Canty gradually scraped together courage enough to glide, one by one, +over to the majority. So at last Tom Canty, in his royal robes and +jewels, stood wholly alone and isolated from the world, a conspicuous +figure, occupying an eloquent vacancy. + +Now the Lord St. John was seen returning. As he advanced up the mid- +aisle the interest was so intense that the low murmur of conversation in +the great assemblage died out and was succeeded by a profound hush, a +breathless stillness, through which his footfalls pulsed with a dull and +distant sound. Every eye was fastened upon him as he moved along. He +reached the platform, paused a moment, then moved toward Tom Canty with a +deep obeisance, and said-- + +"Sire, the Seal is not there!" + +A mob does not melt away from the presence of a plague-patient with more +haste than the band of pallid and terrified courtiers melted away from +the presence of the shabby little claimant of the Crown. In a moment he +stood all alone, without friend or supporter, a target upon which was +concentrated a bitter fire of scornful and angry looks. The Lord +Protector called out fiercely-- + +"Cast the beggar into the street, and scourge him through the town--the +paltry knave is worth no more consideration!" + +Officers of the guard sprang forward to obey, but Tom Canty waved them +off and said-- + +"Back! Whoso touches him perils his life!" + +The Lord Protector was perplexed in the last degree. He said to the Lord +St. John-- + +"Searched you well?--but it boots not to ask that. It doth seem passing +strange. Little things, trifles, slip out of one's ken, and one does not +think it matter for surprise; but how so bulky a thing as the Seal of +England can vanish away and no man be able to get track of it again--a +massy golden disk--" + +Tom Canty, with beaming eyes, sprang forward and shouted-- + +"Hold, that is enough! Was it round?--and thick?--and had it letters and +devices graved upon it?--yes? Oh, NOW I know what this Great Seal is +that there's been such worry and pother about. An' ye had described it to +me, ye could have had it three weeks ago. Right well I know where it +lies; but it was not I that put it there--first." + +"Who, then, my liege?" asked the Lord Protector. + +"He that stands there--the rightful King of England. And he shall tell +you himself where it lies--then you will believe he knew it of his own +knowledge. Bethink thee, my King--spur thy memory--it was the last, the +very LAST thing thou didst that day before thou didst rush forth from the +palace, clothed in my rags, to punish the soldier that insulted me." + +A silence ensued, undisturbed by a movement or a whisper, and all eyes +were fixed upon the new-comer, who stood, with bent head and corrugated +brow, groping in his memory among a thronging multitude of valueless +recollections for one single little elusive fact, which, found, would +seat him upon a throne--unfound, would leave him as he was, for good and +all--a pauper and an outcast. Moment after moment passed--the moments +built themselves into minutes--still the boy struggled silently on, and +gave no sign. But at last he heaved a sigh, shook his head slowly, and +said, with a trembling lip and in a despondent voice-- + +"I call the scene back--all of it--but the Seal hath no place in it." He +paused, then looked up, and said with gentle dignity, "My lords and +gentlemen, if ye will rob your rightful sovereign of his own for lack of +this evidence which he is not able to furnish, I may not stay ye, being +powerless. But--" + +"Oh, folly, oh, madness, my King!" cried Tom Canty, in a panic, "wait!-- +think! Do not give up!--the cause is not lost! Nor SHALL be, neither! +List to what I say--follow every word--I am going to bring that morning +back again, every hap just as it happened. We talked--I told you of my +sisters, Nan and Bet--ah, yes, you remember that; and about mine old +grandam--and the rough games of the lads of Offal Court--yes, you +remember these things also; very well, follow me still, you shall recall +everything. You gave me food and drink, and did with princely courtesy +send away the servants, so that my low breeding might not shame me before +them--ah, yes, this also you remember." + +As Tom checked off his details, and the other boy nodded his head in +recognition of them, the great audience and the officials stared in +puzzled wonderment; the tale sounded like true history, yet how could +this impossible conjunction between a prince and a beggar-boy have come +about? Never was a company of people so perplexed, so interested, and so +stupefied, before. + +"For a jest, my prince, we did exchange garments. Then we stood before a +mirror; and so alike were we that both said it seemed as if there had +been no change made--yes, you remember that. Then you noticed that the +soldier had hurt my hand--look! here it is, I cannot yet even write with +it, the fingers are so stiff. At this your Highness sprang up, vowing +vengeance upon that soldier, and ran towards the door--you passed a +table--that thing you call the Seal lay on that table--you snatched it up +and looked eagerly about, as if for a place to hide it--your eye caught +sight of--" + +"There, 'tis sufficient!--and the good God be thanked!" exclaimed the +ragged claimant, in a mighty excitement. "Go, my good St. John--in an +arm-piece of the Milanese armour that hangs on the wall, thou'lt find the +Seal!" + +"Right, my King! right!" cried Tom Canty; "NOW the sceptre of England is +thine own; and it were better for him that would dispute it that he had +been born dumb! Go, my Lord St. John, give thy feet wings!" + +The whole assemblage was on its feet now, and well-nigh out of its mind +with uneasiness, apprehension, and consuming excitement. On the floor +and on the platform a deafening buzz of frantic conversation burst forth, +and for some time nobody knew anything or heard anything or was +interested in anything but what his neighbour was shouting into his ear, +or he was shouting into his neighbour's ear. Time--nobody knew how much +of it--swept by unheeded and unnoted. At last a sudden hush fell upon +the house, and in the same moment St. John appeared upon the platform, +and held the Great Seal aloft in his hand. Then such a shout went up-- + +"Long live the true King!" + +For five minutes the air quaked with shouts and the crash of musical +instruments, and was white with a storm of waving handkerchiefs; and +through it all a ragged lad, the most conspicuous figure in England, +stood, flushed and happy and proud, in the centre of the spacious +platform, with the great vassals of the kingdom kneeling around him. + +Then all rose, and Tom Canty cried out-- + +"Now, O my King, take these regal garments back, and give poor Tom, thy +servant, his shreds and remnants again." + +The Lord Protector spoke up-- + +"Let the small varlet be stripped and flung into the Tower." + +But the new King, the true King, said-- + +"I will not have it so. But for him I had not got my crown again--none +shall lay a hand upon him to harm him. And as for thee, my good uncle, +my Lord Protector, this conduct of thine is not grateful toward this poor +lad, for I hear he hath made thee a duke"--the Protector blushed--"yet he +was not a king; wherefore what is thy fine title worth now? To-morrow +you shall sue to me, THROUGH HIM, for its confirmation, else no duke, but +a simple earl, shalt thou remain." + +Under this rebuke, his Grace the Duke of Somerset retired a little from +the front for the moment. The King turned to Tom, and said kindly--"My +poor boy, how was it that you could remember where I hid the Seal when I +could not remember it myself?" + +"Ah, my King, that was easy, since I used it divers days." + +"Used it--yet could not explain where it was?" + +"I did not know it was THAT they wanted. They did not describe it, your +Majesty." + +"Then how used you it?" + +The red blood began to steal up into Tom's cheeks, and he dropped his +eyes and was silent. + +"Speak up, good lad, and fear nothing," said the King. "How used you the +Great Seal of England?" + +Tom stammered a moment, in a pathetic confusion, then got it out-- + +"To crack nuts with!" + +Poor child, the avalanche of laughter that greeted this nearly swept him +off his feet. But if a doubt remained in any mind that Tom Canty was not +the King of England and familiar with the august appurtenances of +royalty, this reply disposed of it utterly. + +Meantime the sumptuous robe of state had been removed from Tom's +shoulders to the King's, whose rags were effectually hidden from sight +under it. Then the coronation ceremonies were resumed; the true King was +anointed and the crown set upon his head, whilst cannon thundered the +news to the city, and all London seemed to rock with applause. + + + +Chapter XXXIII. Edward as King. + +Miles Hendon was picturesque enough before he got into the riot on London +Bridge--he was more so when he got out of it. He had but little money +when he got in, none at all when he got out. The pickpockets had +stripped him of his last farthing. + +But no matter, so he found his boy. Being a soldier, he did not go at +his task in a random way, but set to work, first of all, to arrange his +campaign. + +What would the boy naturally do? Where would he naturally go? Well-- +argued Miles--he would naturally go to his former haunts, for that is the +instinct of unsound minds, when homeless and forsaken, as well as of +sound ones. Whereabouts were his former haunts? His rags, taken +together with the low villain who seemed to know him and who even claimed +to be his father, indicated that his home was in one or another of the +poorest and meanest districts of London. Would the search for him be +difficult, or long? No, it was likely to be easy and brief. He would +not hunt for the boy, he would hunt for a crowd; in the centre of a big +crowd or a little one, sooner or later, he should find his poor little +friend, sure; and the mangy mob would be entertaining itself with +pestering and aggravating the boy, who would be proclaiming himself King, +as usual. Then Miles Hendon would cripple some of those people, and +carry off his little ward, and comfort and cheer him with loving words, +and the two would never be separated any more. + +So Miles started on his quest. Hour after hour he tramped through back +alleys and squalid streets, seeking groups and crowds, and finding no end +of them, but never any sign of the boy. This greatly surprised him, but +did not discourage him. To his notion, there was nothing the matter with +his plan of campaign; the only miscalculation about it was that the +campaign was becoming a lengthy one, whereas he had expected it to be +short. + +When daylight arrived, at last, he had made many a mile, and canvassed +many a crowd, but the only result was that he was tolerably tired, rather +hungry and very sleepy. He wanted some breakfast, but there was no way +to get it. To beg for it did not occur to him; as to pawning his sword, +he would as soon have thought of parting with his honour; he could spare +some of his clothes--yes, but one could as easily find a customer for a +disease as for such clothes. + +At noon he was still tramping--among the rabble which followed after the +royal procession, now; for he argued that this regal display would +attract his little lunatic powerfully. He followed the pageant through +all its devious windings about London, and all the way to Westminster and +the Abbey. He drifted here and there amongst the multitudes that were +massed in the vicinity for a weary long time, baffled and perplexed, and +finally wandered off, thinking, and trying to contrive some way to better +his plan of campaign. By-and-by, when he came to himself out of his +musings, he discovered that the town was far behind him and that the day +was growing old. He was near the river, and in the country; it was a +region of fine rural seats--not the sort of district to welcome clothes +like his. + +It was not at all cold; so he stretched himself on the ground in the lee +of a hedge to rest and think. Drowsiness presently began to settle upon +his senses; the faint and far-off boom of cannon was wafted to his ear, +and he said to himself, "The new King is crowned," and straightway fell +asleep. He had not slept or rested, before, for more than thirty hours. +He did not wake again until near the middle of the next morning. + +He got up, lame, stiff, and half famished, washed himself in the river, +stayed his stomach with a pint or two of water, and trudged off toward +Westminster, grumbling at himself for having wasted so much time. Hunger +helped him to a new plan, now; he would try to get speech with old Sir +Humphrey Marlow and borrow a few marks, and--but that was enough of a +plan for the present; it would be time enough to enlarge it when this +first stage should be accomplished. + +Toward eleven o'clock he approached the palace; and although a host of +showy people were about him, moving in the same direction, he was not +inconspicuous--his costume took care of that. He watched these people's +faces narrowly, hoping to find a charitable one whose possessor might be +willing to carry his name to the old lieutenant--as to trying to get into +the palace himself, that was simply out of the question. + +Presently our whipping-boy passed him, then wheeled about and scanned his +figure well, saying to himself, "An' that is not the very vagabond his +Majesty is in such a worry about, then am I an ass--though belike I was +that before. He answereth the description to a rag--that God should make +two such would be to cheapen miracles by wasteful repetition. I would I +could contrive an excuse to speak with him." + +Miles Hendon saved him the trouble; for he turned about, then, as a man +generally will when somebody mesmerises him by gazing hard at him from +behind; and observing a strong interest in the boy's eyes, he stepped +toward him and said-- + +"You have just come out from the palace; do you belong there?" + +"Yes, your worship." + +"Know you Sir Humphrey Marlow?" + +The boy started, and said to himself, "Lord! mine old departed father!" +Then he answered aloud, "Right well, your worship." + +"Good--is he within?" + +"Yes," said the boy; and added, to himself, "within his grave." + +"Might I crave your favour to carry my name to him, and say I beg to say +a word in his ear?" + +"I will despatch the business right willingly, fair sir." + +"Then say Miles Hendon, son of Sir Richard, is here without--I shall be +greatly bounden to you, my good lad." + +The boy looked disappointed. "The King did not name him so," he said to +himself; "but it mattereth not, this is his twin brother, and can give +his Majesty news of t'other Sir-Odds-and-Ends, I warrant." So he said to +Miles, "Step in there a moment, good sir, and wait till I bring you +word." + +Hendon retired to the place indicated--it was a recess sunk in the palace +wall, with a stone bench in it--a shelter for sentinels in bad weather. +He had hardly seated himself when some halberdiers, in charge of an +officer, passed by. The officer saw him, halted his men, and commanded +Hendon to come forth. He obeyed, and was promptly arrested as a +suspicious character prowling within the precincts of the palace. Things +began to look ugly. Poor Miles was going to explain, but the officer +roughly silenced him, and ordered his men to disarm him and search him. + +"God of his mercy grant that they find somewhat," said poor Miles; "I +have searched enow, and failed, yet is my need greater than theirs." + +Nothing was found but a document. The officer tore it open, and Hendon +smiled when he recognised the 'pot-hooks' made by his lost little friend +that black day at Hendon Hall. The officer's face grew dark as he read +the English paragraph, and Miles blenched to the opposite colour as he +listened. + +"Another new claimant of the Crown!" cried the officer. "Verily they +breed like rabbits, to-day. Seize the rascal, men, and see ye keep him +fast whilst I convey this precious paper within and send it to the King." + +He hurried away, leaving the prisoner in the grip of the halberdiers. + +"Now is my evil luck ended at last," muttered Hendon, "for I shall dangle +at a rope's end for a certainty, by reason of that bit of writing. And +what will become of my poor lad!--ah, only the good God knoweth." + +By-and-by he saw the officer coming again, in a great hurry; so he +plucked his courage together, purposing to meet his trouble as became a +man. The officer ordered the men to loose the prisoner and return his +sword to him; then bowed respectfully, and said-- + +"Please you, sir, to follow me." + +Hendon followed, saying to himself, "An' I were not travelling to death +and judgment, and so must needs economise in sin, I would throttle this +knave for his mock courtesy." + +The two traversed a populous court, and arrived at the grand entrance of +the palace, where the officer, with another bow, delivered Hendon into +the hands of a gorgeous official, who received him with profound respect +and led him forward through a great hall, lined on both sides with rows +of splendid flunkeys (who made reverential obeisance as the two passed +along, but fell into death-throes of silent laughter at our stately +scarecrow the moment his back was turned), and up a broad staircase, +among flocks of fine folk, and finally conducted him into a vast room, +clove a passage for him through the assembled nobility of England, then +made a bow, reminded him to take his hat off, and left him standing in +the middle of the room, a mark for all eyes, for plenty of indignant +frowns, and for a sufficiency of amused and derisive smiles. + +Miles Hendon was entirely bewildered. There sat the young King, under a +canopy of state, five steps away, with his head bent down and aside, +speaking with a sort of human bird of paradise--a duke, maybe. Hendon +observed to himself that it was hard enough to be sentenced to death in +the full vigour of life, without having this peculiarly public +humiliation added. He wished the King would hurry about it--some of the +gaudy people near by were becoming pretty offensive. At this moment the +King raised his head slightly, and Hendon caught a good view of his face. +The sight nearly took his breath away!--He stood gazing at the fair young +face like one transfixed; then presently ejaculated-- + +"Lo, the Lord of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows on his throne!" + +He muttered some broken sentences, still gazing and marvelling; then +turned his eyes around and about, scanning the gorgeous throng and the +splendid saloon, murmuring, "But these are REAL--verily these are REAL-- +surely it is not a dream." + +He stared at the King again--and thought, "IS it a dream . . . or IS he +the veritable Sovereign of England, and not the friendless poor Tom o' +Bedlam I took him for--who shall solve me this riddle?" + +A sudden idea flashed in his eye, and he strode to the wall, gathered up +a chair, brought it back, planted it on the floor, and sat down in it! + +A buzz of indignation broke out, a rough hand was laid upon him and a +voice exclaimed-- + +"Up, thou mannerless clown! would'st sit in the presence of the King?" + +The disturbance attracted his Majesty's attention, who stretched forth +his hand and cried out-- + +"Touch him not, it is his right!" + +The throng fell back, stupefied. The King went on-- + +"Learn ye all, ladies, lords, and gentlemen, that this is my trusty and +well-beloved servant, Miles Hendon, who interposed his good sword and +saved his prince from bodily harm and possible death--and for this he is +a knight, by the King's voice. Also learn, that for a higher service, in +that he saved his sovereign stripes and shame, taking these upon himself, +he is a peer of England, Earl of Kent, and shall have gold and lands meet +for the dignity. More--the privilege which he hath just exercised is his +by royal grant; for we have ordained that the chiefs of his line shall +have and hold the right to sit in the presence of the Majesty of England +henceforth, age after age, so long as the crown shall endure. Molest him +not." + +Two persons, who, through delay, had only arrived from the country during +this morning, and had now been in this room only five minutes, stood +listening to these words and looking at the King, then at the scarecrow, +then at the King again, in a sort of torpid bewilderment. These were Sir +Hugh and the Lady Edith. But the new Earl did not see them. He was +still staring at the monarch, in a dazed way, and muttering-- + +"Oh, body o' me! THIS my pauper! This my lunatic! This is he whom _I_ +would show what grandeur was, in my house of seventy rooms and seven-and- +twenty servants! This is he who had never known aught but rags for +raiment, kicks for comfort, and offal for diet! This is he whom _I_ +adopted and would make respectable! Would God I had a bag to hide my head +in!" + +Then his manners suddenly came back to him, and he dropped upon his +knees, with his hands between the King's, and swore allegiance and did +homage for his lands and titles. Then he rose and stood respectfully +aside, a mark still for all eyes--and much envy, too. + +Now the King discovered Sir Hugh, and spoke out with wrathful voice and +kindling eye-- + +"Strip this robber of his false show and stolen estates, and put him +under lock and key till I have need of him." + +The late Sir Hugh was led away. + +There was a stir at the other end of the room, now; the assemblage fell +apart, and Tom Canty, quaintly but richly clothed, marched down, between +these living walls, preceded by an usher. He knelt before the King, who +said-- + +"I have learned the story of these past few weeks, and am well pleased +with thee. Thou hast governed the realm with right royal gentleness and +mercy. Thou hast found thy mother and thy sisters again? Good; they +shall be cared for--and thy father shall hang, if thou desire it and the +law consent. Know, all ye that hear my voice, that from this day, they +that abide in the shelter of Christ's Hospital and share the King's +bounty shall have their minds and hearts fed, as well as their baser +parts; and this boy shall dwell there, and hold the chief place in its +honourable body of governors, during life. And for that he hath been a +king, it is meet that other than common observance shall be his due; +wherefore note this his dress of state, for by it he shall be known, and +none shall copy it; and wheresoever he shall come, it shall remind the +people that he hath been royal, in his time, and none shall deny him his +due of reverence or fail to give him salutation. He hath the throne's +protection, he hath the crown's support, he shall be known and called by +the honourable title of the King's Ward." + +The proud and happy Tom Canty rose and kissed the King's hand, and was +conducted from the presence. He did not waste any time, but flew to his +mother, to tell her and Nan and Bet all about it and get them to help him +enjoy the great news. {1} + + + +Conclusion. Justice and retribution. + +When the mysteries were all cleared up, it came out, by confession of +Hugh Hendon, that his wife had repudiated Miles by his command, that day +at Hendon Hall--a command assisted and supported by the perfectly +trustworthy promise that if she did not deny that he was Miles Hendon, +and stand firmly to it, he would have her life; whereupon she said, "Take +it!"--she did not value it--and she would not repudiate Miles; then the +husband said he would spare her life but have Miles assassinated! This +was a different matter; so she gave her word and kept it. + +Hugh was not prosecuted for his threats or for stealing his brother's +estates and title, because the wife and brother would not testify against +him--and the former would not have been allowed to do it, even if she had +wanted to. Hugh deserted his wife and went over to the continent, where +he presently died; and by-and-by the Earl of Kent married his relict. +There were grand times and rejoicings at Hendon village when the couple +paid their first visit to the Hall. + +Tom Canty's father was never heard of again. + +The King sought out the farmer who had been branded and sold as a slave, +and reclaimed him from his evil life with the Ruffler's gang, and put him +in the way of a comfortable livelihood. + +He also took that old lawyer out of prison and remitted his fine. He +provided good homes for the daughters of the two Baptist women whom he +saw burned at the stake, and roundly punished the official who laid the +undeserved stripes upon Miles Hendon's back. + +He saved from the gallows the boy who had captured the stray falcon, and +also the woman who had stolen a remnant of cloth from a weaver; but he +was too late to save the man who had been convicted of killing a deer in +the royal forest. + +He showed favour to the justice who had pitied him when he was supposed +to have stolen a pig, and he had the gratification of seeing him grow in +the public esteem and become a great and honoured man. + +As long as the King lived he was fond of telling the story of his +adventures, all through, from the hour that the sentinel cuffed him away +from the palace gate till the final midnight when he deftly mixed himself +into a gang of hurrying workmen and so slipped into the Abbey and climbed +up and hid himself in the Confessor's tomb, and then slept so long, next +day, that he came within one of missing the Coronation altogether. He +said that the frequent rehearsing of the precious lesson kept him strong +in his purpose to make its teachings yield benefits to his people; and +so, whilst his life was spared he should continue to tell the story, and +thus keep its sorrowful spectacles fresh in his memory and the springs of +pity replenished in his heart. + +Miles Hendon and Tom Canty were favourites of the King, all through his +brief reign, and his sincere mourners when he died. The good Earl of Kent +had too much sense to abuse his peculiar privilege; but he exercised it +twice after the instance we have seen of it before he was called from +this world--once at the accession of Queen Mary, and once at the +accession of Queen Elizabeth. A descendant of his exercised it at the +accession of James I. Before this one's son chose to use the privilege, +near a quarter of a century had elapsed, and the 'privilege of the Kents' +had faded out of most people's memories; so, when the Kent of that day +appeared before Charles I. and his court and sat down in the sovereign's +presence to assert and perpetuate the right of his house, there was a +fine stir indeed! But the matter was soon explained, and the right +confirmed. The last Earl of the line fell in the wars of the +Commonwealth fighting for the King, and the odd privilege ended with him. + +Tom Canty lived to be a very old man, a handsome, white-haired old +fellow, of grave and benignant aspect. As long as he lasted he was +honoured; and he was also reverenced, for his striking and peculiar +costume kept the people reminded that 'in his time he had been royal;' +so, wherever he appeared the crowd fell apart, making way for him, and +whispering, one to another, "Doff thy hat, it is the King's Ward!"--and +so they saluted, and got his kindly smile in return--and they valued it, +too, for his was an honourable history. + +Yes, King Edward VI. lived only a few years, poor boy, but he lived them +worthily. More than once, when some great dignitary, some gilded vassal +of the crown, made argument against his leniency, and urged that some law +which he was bent upon amending was gentle enough for its purpose, and +wrought no suffering or oppression which any one need mightily mind, the +young King turned the mournful eloquence of his great compassionate eyes +upon him and answered-- + +"What dost THOU know of suffering and oppression? I and my people know, +but not thou." + +The reign of Edward VI. was a singularly merciful one for those harsh +times. Now that we are taking leave of him, let us try to keep this in +our minds, to his credit. + + + + +FOOTNOTES AND TWAIN'S NOTES + +{1} For Mark Twain's note see below under the relevant chapter heading. + +{2} He refers to the order of baronets, or baronettes; the barones +minores, as distinct from the parliamentary barons--not, it need hardly +be said, to the baronets of later creation. + +{3} The lords of Kingsale, descendants of De Courcy, still enjoy this +curious privilege. + +{4} Hume. + +{5} Ib. + +{6} Leigh Hunt's 'The Town,' p.408, quotation from an early tourist. + +{7} Canting terms for various kinds of thieves, beggars and vagabonds, +and their female companions. + +{8} From 'The English Rogue.' London, 1665. + +{9} Hume's England. + +{10} See Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull's Blue Laws, True and False, p. 11. + + + +NOTE 1, Chapter IV. Christ's Hospital Costume. + +It is most reasonable to regard the dress as copied from the costume of +the citizens of London of that period, when long blue coats were the +common habit of apprentices and serving-men, and yellow stockings were +generally worn; the coat fits closely to the body, but has loose sleeves, +and beneath is worn a sleeveless yellow under-coat; around the waist is a +red leathern girdle; a clerical band around the neck, and a small flat +black cap, about the size of a saucer, completes the costume.--Timbs' +Curiosities of London. + + + +NOTE 2, Chapter IV. + +It appears that Christ's Hospital was not originally founded as a SCHOOL; +its object was to rescue children from the streets, to shelter, feed, +clothe them.--Timbs' Curiosities of London. + + + +NOTE 3, Chapter V. The Duke of Norfolk's Condemnation commanded. + +The King was now approaching fast towards his end; and fearing lest +Norfolk should escape him, he sent a message to the Commons, by which he +desired them to hasten the Bill, on pretence that Norfolk enjoyed the +dignity of Earl Marshal, and it was necessary to appoint another, who +might officiate at the ensuing ceremony of installing his son Prince of +Wales.--Hume's History of England, vol. iii. p. 307. + + + +NOTE 4, Chapter VII. + +It was not till the end of this reign (Henry VIII.) that any salads, +carrots, turnips, or other edible roots were produced in England. The +little of these vegetables that was used was formerly imported from +Holland and Flanders. Queen Catherine, when she wanted a salad, was +obliged to despatch a messenger thither on purpose.--Hume's History of +England, vol. iii. p. 314. + + + +NOTE 5, Chapter VIII. Attainder of Norfolk. + +The House of Peers, without examining the prisoner, without trial or +evidence, passed a Bill of Attainder against him and sent it down to the +Commons . . . The obsequious Commons obeyed his (the King's) directions; +and the King, having affixed the Royal assent to the Bill by +commissioners, issued orders for the execution of Norfolk on the morning +of January 29 (the next day).--Hume's History of England, vol iii. p 306. + + + +NOTE 6, Chapter X. The Loving-cup. + +The loving-cup, and the peculiar ceremonies observed in drinking from it, +are older than English history. It is thought that both are Danish +importations. As far back as knowledge goes, the loving-cup has always +been drunk at English banquets. Tradition explains the ceremonies in +this way. In the rude ancient times it was deemed a wise precaution to +have both hands of both drinkers employed, lest while the pledger pledged +his love and fidelity to the pledgee, the pledgee take that opportunity +to slip a dirk into him! + + + +NOTE 7, Chapter XI. The Duke of Norfolk's narrow Escape. + +Had Henry VIII. survived a few hours longer, his order for the duke's +execution would have been carried into effect. 'But news being carried to +the Tower that the King himself had expired that night, the lieutenant +deferred obeying the warrant; and it was not thought advisable by the +Council to begin a new reign by the death of the greatest nobleman in the +kingdom, who had been condemned by a sentence so unjust and tyrannical.' +--Hume's History of England, vol. iii, p. 307. + + + +NOTE 8, Chapter XIV. The Whipping-boy. + +James I. and Charles II. had whipping-boys, when they were little +fellows, to take their punishment for them when they fell short in their +lessons; so I have ventured to furnish my small prince with one, for my +own purposes. + + + +NOTES to Chapter XV. + +Character of Hertford. + +The young King discovered an extreme attachment to his uncle, who was, in +the main, a man of moderation and probity.--Hume's History of England, +vol. iii, p324. + +But if he (the Protector) gave offence by assuming too much state, he +deserves great praise on account of the laws passed this session, by +which the rigour of former statutes was much mitigated, and some security +given to the freedom of the constitution. All laws were repealed which +extended the crime of treason beyond the statute of the twenty-fifth of +Edward III.; all laws enacted during the late reign extending the crime +of felony; all the former laws against Lollardy or heresy, together with +the statute of the Six Articles. None were to be accused for words, but +within a month after they were spoken. By these repeals several of the +most rigorous laws that ever had passed in England were annulled; and +some dawn, both of civil and religious liberty, began to appear to the +people. A repeal also passed of that law, the destruction of all laws, +by which the King's proclamation was made of equal force with a statute. +--Ibid. vol. iii. p. 339. + + + +Boiling to Death. + +In the reign of Henry VIII. poisoners were, by Act of Parliament, +condemned to be BOILED TO DEATH. This Act was repealed in the following +reign. + +In Germany, even in the seventeenth century, this horrible punishment was +inflicted on coiners and counterfeiters. Taylor, the Water Poet, +describes an execution he witnessed in Hamburg in 1616. The judgment +pronounced against a coiner of false money was that he should 'BE BOILED +TO DEATH IN OIL; not thrown into the vessel at once, but with a pulley or +rope to be hanged under the armpits, and then let down into the oil BY +DEGREES; first the feet, and next the legs, and so to boil his flesh from +his bones alive.'--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull's Blue Laws, True and False, +p. 13. + + + +The Famous Stocking Case. + +A woman and her daughter, NINE YEARS OLD, were hanged in Huntingdon for +selling their souls to the devil, and raising a storm by pulling off +their stockings!--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull's Blue Laws, True and False, p. +20. + + + +NOTE 10, Chapter XVII. Enslaving. + +So young a King and so ignorant a peasant were likely to make mistakes; +and this is an instance in point. This peasant was suffering from this +law BY ANTICIPATION; the King was venting his indignation against a law +which was not yet in existence; for this hideous statute was to have +birth in this little King's OWN REIGN. However, we know, from the +humanity of his character, that it could never have been suggested by +him. + + + +NOTES to Chapter XXIII. Death for Trifling Larcenies. + +When Connecticut and New Haven were framing their first codes, larceny +above the value of twelve pence was a capital crime in England--as it had +been since the time of Henry I.--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull's Blue Laws, +True and False, p. 17. + +The curious old book called The English Rogue makes the limit thirteen +pence ha'penny: death being the portion of any who steal a thing 'above +the value of thirteen pence ha'penny.' + + + +NOTES to Chapter XXVII. + +From many descriptions of larceny the law expressly took away the benefit +of clergy: to steal a horse, or a HAWK, or woollen cloth from the +weaver, was a hanging matter. So it was to kill a deer from the King's +forest, or to export sheep from the kingdom.--Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull's +Blue Laws, True and False, p.13. + +William Prynne, a learned barrister, was sentenced (long after Edward +VI.'s time) to lose both his ears in the pillory, to degradation from the +bar, a fine of 3,000 pounds, and imprisonment for life. Three years +afterwards he gave new offence to Laud by publishing a pamphlet against +the hierarchy. He was again prosecuted, and was sentenced to lose WHAT +REMAINED OF HIS EARS, to pay a fine of 5,000 pounds, to be BRANDED ON +BOTH HIS CHEEKS with the letters S. L. (for Seditious Libeller), and to +remain in prison for life. The severity of this sentence was equalled by +the savage rigour of its execution.--Ibid. p. 12. + + + +NOTES to Chapter XXXIII. + +Christ's Hospital, or Bluecoat School, 'the noblest institution in the +world.' + +The ground on which the Priory of the Grey Friars stood was conferred by +Henry VIII. on the Corporation of London (who caused the institution +there of a home for poor boys and girls). Subsequently, Edward VI. caused +the old Priory to be properly repaired, and founded within it that noble +establishment called the Bluecoat School, or Christ's Hospital, for the +EDUCATION and maintenance of orphans and the children of indigent persons +. . . Edward would not let him (Bishop Ridley) depart till the letter was +written (to the Lord Mayor), and then charged him to deliver it himself, +and signify his special request and commandment that no time might be +lost in proposing what was convenient, and apprising him of the +proceedings. The work was zealously undertaken, Ridley himself engaging +in it; and the result was the founding of Christ's Hospital for the +education of poor children. (The King endowed several other charities at +the same time.) "Lord God," said he, "I yield Thee most hearty thanks +that Thou hast given me life thus long to finish this work to the glory +of Thy name!" That innocent and most exemplary life was drawing rapidly +to its close, and in a few days he rendered up his spirit to his Creator, +praying God to defend the realm from Papistry.--J. Heneage Jesse's +London: its Celebrated Characters and Places. + +In the Great Hall hangs a large picture of King Edward VI. seated on his +throne, in a scarlet and ermined robe, holding the sceptre in his left +hand, and presenting with the other the Charter to the kneeling Lord +Mayor. By his side stands the Chancellor, holding the seals, and next to +him are other officers of state. Bishop Ridley kneels before him with +uplifted hands, as if supplicating a blessing on the event; whilst the +Aldermen, etc., with the Lord Mayor, kneel on both sides, occupying the +middle ground of the picture; and lastly, in front, are a double row of +boys on one side and girls on the other, from the master and matron down +to the boy and girl who have stepped forward from their respective rows, +and kneel with raised hands before the King.--Timbs' Curiosities of +London, p. 98. + +Christ's Hospital, by ancient custom, possesses the privilege of +addressing the Sovereign on the occasion of his or her coming into the +City to partake of the hospitality of the Corporation of London.--Ibid. + +The Dining Hall, with its lobby and organ-gallery, occupies the entire +storey, which is 187 feet long, 51 feet wide, and 47 feet high; it is lit +by nine large windows, filled with stained glass on the south side; and +is, next to Westminster Hall, the noblest room in the metropolis. Here +the boys, now about 800 in number, dine; and here are held the 'Suppings +in Public,' to which visitors are admitted by tickets issued by the +Treasurer and by the Governors of Christ's Hospital. The tables are laid +with cheese in wooden bowls, beer in wooden piggins, poured from leathern +jacks, and bread brought in large baskets. The official company enter; +the Lord Mayor, or President, takes his seat in a state chair made of oak +from St. Catherine's Church, by the Tower; a hymn is sung, accompanied by +the organ; a 'Grecian,' or head boy, reads the prayers from the pulpit, +silence being enforced by three drops of a wooden hammer. After prayer +the supper commences, and the visitors walk between the tables. At its +close the 'trade-boys' take up the baskets, bowls, jacks, piggins, and +candlesticks, and pass in procession, the bowing to the Governors being +curiously formal. This spectacle was witnessed by Queen Victoria and +Prince Albert in 1845. + +Among the more eminent Bluecoat boys are Joshua Barnes, editor of +Anacreon and Euripides; Jeremiah Markland, the eminent critic, +particularly in Greek Literature; Camden, the antiquary; Bishop +Stillingfleet; Samuel Richardson, the novelist; Thomas Mitchell, the +translator of Aristophanes; Thomas Barnes, many years editor of the +London Times; Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and Leigh Hunt. + +No boy is admitted before he is seven years old, or after he is nine; and +no boy can remain in the school after he is fifteen, King's boys and +'Grecians' alone excepted. There are about 500 Governors, at the head of +whom are the Sovereign and the Prince of Wales. The qualification for a +Governor is payment of 500 pounds.--Ibid. + + +GENERAL NOTE. + + +One hears much about the 'hideous Blue Laws of Connecticut,' and is +accustomed to shudder piously when they are mentioned. There are people +in America--and even in England!--who imagine that they were a very +monument of malignity, pitilessness, and inhumanity; whereas in reality +they were about the first SWEEPING DEPARTURE FROM JUDICIAL ATROCITY which +the 'civilised' world had seen. This humane and kindly Blue Law Code, of +two hundred and forty years ago, stands all by itself, with ages of +bloody law on the further side of it, and a century and three-quarters of +bloody English law on THIS side of it. + +There has never been a time--under the Blue Laws or any other--when above +FOURTEEN crimes were punishable by death in Connecticut. But in England, +within the memory of men who are still hale in body and mind, TWO HUNDRED +AND TWENTY-THREE crimes were punishable by death! {10} These facts are +worth knowing--and worth thinking about, too. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Prince and The Pauper +by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER *** + +This file should be named prppr11.txt or prppr11.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, prppr12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, prppr11a.txt + +Produced by David Widger [widger@cecomet.net] + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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