Conclusion. Justice and retribution.

by Mark Twain

　　When the mysteries were all cleared up, it came out, by confessionof Hugh Hendon, that his wife had repudiated Miles by his command,that day at Hendon Hall--a command assisted and supported by theperfectly trustworthy promise that if she did not deny that he wasMiles Hendon, and stand firmly to it, he would have her life;whereupon she said, "Take it!"--she did not value it--and shewould not repudiate Miles; then the husband said he would spareher life but have Miles assassinated! This was a differentmatter; so she gave her word and kept it.Hugh was not prosecuted for his threats or for stealing hisbrother's estates and title, because the wife and brother wouldnot testify against him--and the former would not have beenallowed to do it, even if she had wanted to. Hugh deserted hiswife and went over to the continent, where he presently died; andby-and-by the Earl of Kent married his relict. There were grandtimes and rejoicings at Hendon village when the couple paid theirfirst 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 aslave, and reclaimed him from his evil life with the Ruffler'sgang, 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 womenwhom he saw burned at the stake, and roundly punished the officialwho laid the undeserved stripes upon Miles Hendon's back.He saved from the gallows the boy who had captured the strayfalcon, and also the woman who had stolen a remnant of cloth froma weaver; but he was too late to save the man who had beenconvicted of killing a deer in the royal forest.He showed favour to the justice who had pitied him when he wassupposed to have stolen a pig, and he had the gratification ofseeing him grow in the public esteem and become a great andhonoured man.As long as the King lived he was fond of telling the story of hisadventures, all through, from the hour that the sentinel cuffedhim away from the palace gate till the final midnight when hedeftly mixed himself into a gang of hurrying workmen and soslipped into the Abbey and climbed up and hid himself in theConfessor's tomb, and then slept so long, next day, that he camewithin one of missing the Coronation altogether. He said that thefrequent rehearsing of the precious lesson kept him strong in hispurpose to make its teachings yield benefits to his people; andso, whilst his life was spared he should continue to tell thestory, and thus keep its sorrowful spectacles fresh in his memoryand the springs of pity replenished in his heart.Miles Hendon and Tom Canty were favourites of the King, allthrough his brief reign, and his sincere mourners when he died.The good Earl of Kent had too much sense to abuse his peculiarprivilege; but he exercised it twice after the instance we haveseen of it before he was called from this world--once at theaccession of Queen Mary, and once at the accession of QueenElizabeth. A descendant of his exercised it at the accession ofJames I. Before this one's son chose to use the privilege, near aquarter of a century had elapsed, and the 'privilege of the Kents'had faded out of most people's memories; so, when the Kent of thatday appeared before Charles I. and his court and sat down in thesovereign's presence to assert and perpetuate the right of hishouse, there was a fine stir indeed! But the matter was soonexplained, and the right confirmed. The last Earl of the linefell in the wars of the Commonwealth fighting for the King, andthe odd privilege ended with him.Tom Canty lived to be a very old man, a handsome, white-haired oldfellow, of grave and benignant aspect. As long as he lasted hewas honoured; and he was also reverenced, for his striking andpeculiar costume kept the people reminded that 'in his time he hadbeen royal;' so, wherever he appeared the crowd fell apart, makingway for him, and whispering, one to another, "Doff thy hat, it isthe King's Ward!"--and so they saluted, and got his kindly smilein return--and they valued it, too, for his was an honourablehistory.Yes, King Edward VI. lived only a few years, poor boy, but helived them worthily. More than once, when some great dignitary,some gilded vassal of the crown, made argument against hisleniency, and urged that some law which he was bent upon amendingwas gentle enough for its purpose, and wrought no suffering oroppression which any one need mightily mind, the young King turnedthe mournful eloquence of his great compassionate eyes upon himand answered--"What dost thou know of suffering and oppression? I and my peopleknow, but not thou."The reign of Edward VI. was a singularly merciful one for thoseharsh times. Now that we are taking leave of him, let us try tokeep this in our minds, to his credit.