The Prince and the Pauper
CHAPTER XXIII. The Prince a prisoner.
Hendon forced back a smile, and bent down and whispered in the King'sear--
"Softly, softly, my prince, wag thy tongue warily--nay, suffer it not towag at all. ?Trust in me--all shall go well in the end." Then he addedto himself: ?"_Sir_ Miles! ?Bless me, I had totally forgot I was aknight! Lord, how marvellous a thing it is, the grip his memory dothtake upon his quaint and crazy fancies! . . . An empty and foolish titleis mine, and yet it is something to have deserved it; for I think it ismore honour to be held worthy to be a spectre-knight in his Kingdom ofDreams and Shadows, than to be held base enough to be an earl in some ofthe _real_ kingdoms of this world."
The crowd fell apart to admit a constable, who approached and was aboutto lay his hand upon the King's shoulder, when Hendon said--
"Gently, good friend, withhold your hand--he shall go peaceably; I amresponsible 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 was inclined torebel; 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 respectthem? Apparently one of these laws has been broken; when the King is onhis throne again, can it ever grieve him to remember that when he wasseemingly a private person he loyally sank the king in the citizen andsubmitted to its authority?"
"Thou art right; say no more; thou shalt see that whatsoever the Kingof England requires a subject to suffer, under the law, he will himselfsuffer while he holdeth the station of a subject."
When the woman was called upon to testify before the justice of thepeace, she swore that the small prisoner at the bar was the person whohad committed the theft; there was none able to show the contrary, sothe King stood convicted. ?The bundle was now unrolled, and when thecontents proved to be a plump little dressed pig, the judge lookedtroubled, whilst Hendon turned pale, and his body was thrilled with anelectric shiver of dismay; but the King remained unmoved, protectedby his ignorance. ?The judge meditated, during an ominous pause, thenturned 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 pennyand set forth the value honestly."
The justice glanced around uncomfortably upon the crowd, then nodded tothe constable, and said--
"Clear the court and close the doors."
It was done. ?None remained but the two officials, the accused, theaccuser, and Miles Hendon. ?This latter was rigid and colourless, andon his forehead big drops of cold sweat gathered, broke and blendedtogether, and trickled down his face. ?The judge turned to the womanagain, and said, in a compassionate voice--
"'Tis a poor ignorant lad, and mayhap was driven hard by hunger, forthese be grievous times for the unfortunate; mark you, he hath not anevil face--but when hunger driveth--Good woman! dost know that when onesteals a thing above the value of thirteenpence ha'penny the law saithhe shall _hang_ for it?"
The little King started, wide-eyed with consternation, but controlledhimself and held his peace; but not so the woman. ?She sprang to herfeet, 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 not yet writupon the record."
"Then in God's name call the pig eightpence, and heaven bless the daythat freed my conscience of this awesome thing!"
Miles Hendon forgot all decorum in his delight; and surprised the Kingand wounded his dignity, by throwing his arms around him and hugginghim. 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 intothe narrow hall. ?The justice proceeded to write in his record book.?Hendon, always alert, thought he would like to know why the officerfollowed the woman out; so he slipped softly into the dusky hall andlistened. ?He heard a conversation to this effect--
"It is a fat pig, and promises good eating; I will buy it of thee; hereis the eightpence."
"Eightpence, indeed! ?Thou'lt do no such thing. ?It cost me threeshillings and eightpence, good honest coin of the last reign, that oldHarry that's just dead ne'er touched or tampered with. ?A fig for thyeightpence!"
"Stands the wind in that quarter? ?Thou wast under oath, and so sworefalsely when thou saidst the value was but eightpence. ?Come straightwayback with me before his worship, and answer for the crime!--and then thelad 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 court room,and the constable presently followed, after hiding his prize in someconvenient place. ?The justice wrote a while longer, then read the Kinga wise and kindly lecture, and sentenced him to a short imprisonmentin the common jail, to be followed by a public flogging. ?The astoundedKing opened his mouth, and was probably going to order the good judge tobe beheaded on the spot; but he caught a warning sign from Hendon, andsucceeded 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 thetwo departed in the wake of the constable toward the jail. ?The momentthe street 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 chances withdangerous speech. ?What God wills, will happen; thou canst not hurry it,thou canst not alter it; therefore wait, and be patient--'twill be timeenow to rail or rejoice when what is to happen has happened." {1}