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The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXVIII, XXIX, and XXX - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXVI and XXVII - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXVI and XXVII - Mark Twain
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?"

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXIV and XXV - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXIV and XXV - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XXII and XXIII - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XXII and XXIII - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XX and XXI - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XX and XXI - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapters XVIII and XIX - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapters XVIII and XIX - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XVII - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XVII - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XVI - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XVI - Mark Twain
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.

The Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XV - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XV - Mark Twain
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 Prince and the Pauper - Chapter XIV - Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper
Chapter XIV - Mark Twain
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?”