Chapter XXIII. The Prince a prisoner.

by Mark Twain

　　Hendon forced back a smile, and bent down and whispered in theKing's ear--"Softly, softly, my prince, wag thy tongue warily--nay, suffer itnot 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 totallyforgot I was a knight! Lord, how marvellous a thing it is, thegrip his memory doth take upon his quaint and crazy fancies! . . .An empty and foolish title is mine, and yet it is something tohave deserved it; for I think it is more honour to be held worthyto be a spectre-knight in his Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows, thanto be held base enough to be an earl in some of the real kingdomsof this world."The crowd fell apart to admit a constable, who approached and wasabout to lay his hand upon the King's shoulder, when Hendon said--"Gently, good friend, withhold your hand--he shall go peaceably; Iam responsible for that. Lead on, we will follow."The officer led, with the woman and her bundle; Miles and the Kingfollowed after, with the crowd at their heels. The King wasinclined to rebel; but Hendon said to him in a low voice--"Reflect, Sire--your laws are the wholesome breath of your ownroyalty; shall their source resist them, yet require the branchesto respect them? Apparently one of these laws has been broken;when the King is on his throne again, can it ever grieve him toremember that when he was seemingly a private person he loyallysank the king in the citizen and submitted to its authority?""Thou art right; say no more; thou shalt see that whatsoever theKing of England requires a subject to suffer, under the law, hewill himself suffer while he holdeth the station of a subject."When the woman was called upon to testify before the justice ofthe peace, she swore that the small prisoner at the bar was theperson who had committed the theft; there was none able to showthe contrary, so the King stood convicted. The bundle was nowunrolled, and when the contents proved to be a plump littledressed pig, the judge looked troubled, whilst Hendon turned pale,and his body was thrilled with an electric shiver of dismay; butthe King remained unmoved, protected by his ignorance. The judgemeditated, during an ominous pause, then turned to the woman, withthe 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 apenny and set forth the value honestly."The justice glanced around uncomfortably upon the crowd, thennodded 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 andcolourless, and on his forehead big drops of cold sweat gathered,broke and blended together, and trickled down his face. The judgeturned 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 hathnot an evil face--but when hunger driveth--Good woman! dost knowthat when one steals a thing above the value of thirteenpenceha'penny the law saith he shall hang for it?"The little King started, wide-eyed with consternation, butcontrolled himself and held his peace; but not so the woman. Shesprang to her feet, shaking with fright, and cried out--"Oh, good lack, what have I done! God-a-mercy, I would not hangthe poor thing for the whole world! Ah, save me from this, yourworship--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 notyet writ upon the record.""Then in God's name call the pig eightpence, and heaven bless theday that freed my conscience of this awesome thing!"Miles Hendon forgot all decorum in his delight; and surprised theKing and wounded his dignity, by throwing his arms around him andhugging him. The woman made her grateful adieux and started awaywith her pig; and when the constable opened the door for her, hefollowed her out into the narrow hall. The justice proceeded towrite in his record book. Hendon, always alert, thought he wouldlike to know why the officer followed the woman out; so he slippedsoftly into the dusky hall and listened. He heard a conversationto 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 threeshillings and eightpence, good honest coin of the last reign, thatold Harry that's just dead ne'er touched or tampered with. A figfor thy eightpence!""Stands the wind in that quarter? Thou wast under oath, and soswore falsely when thou saidst the value was but eightpence. Comestraightway back with me before his worship, and answer for thecrime!--and then the lad will hang.""There, there, dear heart, say no more, I am content. Give me theeightpence, and hold thy peace about the matter."The woman went off crying: Hendon slipped back into the courtroom, and the constable presently followed, after hiding his prizein some convenient place. The justice wrote a while longer, thenread the King a wise and kindly lecture, and sentenced him to ashort imprisonment in the common jail, to be followed by a publicflogging. The astounded King opened his mouth, and was probablygoing to order the good judge to be beheaded on the spot; but hecaught a warning sign from Hendon, and succeeded in closing hismouth again before he lost anything out of it. Hendon took him bythe hand, now, made reverence to the justice, and the two departedin the wake of the constable toward the jail. The moment thestreet was reached, the inflamed monarch halted, snatched away hishand, 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 chanceswith dangerous speech. What God wills, will happen; thou canstnot hurry it, thou canst not alter it; therefore wait, and bepatient--'twill be time enow to rail or rejoice when what is tohappen has happened." {1}