The Prince and The Pauper: Chapters 8-14

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.

Alack, how have I longed for this sweet hour! and lo, too late it cometh, and I am robbed of this so coveted chance.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Their dread of bodily injury gave way at once to distress of a different sort.

Between them they belaboured the boy right soundly, and then gave the girls and their mother a beating for showing sympathy for the victim.

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.

It pursued her, it harassed her, it clung to her, and refused to be put away or ignored.

Evidently she was racking her head in vain--it seemed manifest that she must give the matter up.

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.

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.

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.

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

To wit, that a spurious Prince of Wales was being feasted by the city in his stead.

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.

Tears of mortification sprang to his eyes, but he stood his ground and defied the mob right royally.

"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!"

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

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.

I will teach him; I will cure his malady; yea, I will be his elder brother, and care for him and watch over him

I fought out my long probation in the continental wars, tasting sumptuously of hard knocks, privation, and adventure

Name thy desire, and so it be within the compass of my royal power, it is thine.

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.

Out of my sight, idiot! Thy prating drives me mad!

he gasped again when the fact appeared that 20,000 pounds of this money was still owing and unpaid; 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.

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.