by Mark Twain
CHAPTER XV. Tom as King.
The next day the foreign ambassadors came, with their gorgeous trains;and Tom, throned in awful state, received them. ?The splendours of thescene delighted his eye and fired his imagination at first, butthe audience was long and dreary, and so were most of theaddresses--wherefore, what began as a pleasure grew into weariness andhome-sickness by-and-by. ?Tom said the words which Hertford put intohis mouth from time to time, and tried hard to acquit himselfsatisfactorily, but he was too new to such things, and too ill at easeto accomplish more than a tolerable success. ?He looked sufficientlylike a king, but he was ill able to feel like one. ?He was cordiallyglad when the ceremony was ended.
The larger part of his day was 'wasted'--as he termed it, in his ownmind--in labours pertaining to his royal office. ?Even the two hoursdevoted to certain princely pastimes and recreations were rather aburden to him than otherwise, they were so fettered by restrictionsand ceremonious observances. ?However, he had a private hour withhis whipping-boy which he counted clear gain, since he got bothentertainment and needful information out of it.
The third day of Tom Canty's kingship came and went much as the othershad done, but there was a lifting of his cloud in one way--he feltless uncomfortable than at first; he was getting a little used to hiscircumstances and surroundings; his chains still galled, but not all thetime; he found that the presence and homage of the great afflicted andembarrassed him less and less sharply with every hour that drifted overhis head.
But for one single dread, he could have seen the fourth day approachwithout serious distress--the dining in public; it was to begin thatday. There were greater matters in the programme--for on that dayhe would have to preside at a council which would take his views andcommands concerning the policy to be pursued toward various foreignnations scattered far and near over the great globe; on that day, too,Hertford would be formally chosen to the grand office of Lord Protector;other things of note were appointed for that fourth day, also; but toTom they were all insignificant compared with the ordeal of dining allby himself with a multitude of curious eyes fastened upon him and amultitude of mouths whispering comments upon his performance,--and uponhis mistakes, if he should be so unlucky as to make any.
Still, nothing could stop that fourth day, and so it came. ?It foundpoor Tom low-spirited and absent-minded, and this mood continued; hecould not shake it off. ?The ordinary duties of the morning dragged uponhis hands, and wearied him. ?Once more he felt the sense of captivityheavy upon him.
Late in the forenoon he was in a large audience-chamber, conversingwith the Earl of Hertford and dully awaiting the striking of the hourappointed for a visit of ceremony from a considerable number of greatofficials and courtiers.
After a little while, Tom, who had wandered to a window and becomeinterested in the life and movement of the great highway beyond thepalace gates--and not idly interested, but longing with all his heartto take part in person in its stir and freedom--saw the van of a hootingand shouting mob of disorderly men, women, and children of the lowestand poorest degree approaching from up the road.
"I would I knew what 'tis about!" he exclaimed, with all a boy'scuriosity in such happenings.
"Thou art the King!" solemnly responded the Earl, with a reverence."Have I your Grace's leave to act?"
"O blithely, yes! ?O gladly, yes!" exclaimed Tom excitedly, adding tohimself with a lively sense of satisfaction, "In truth, being a king isnot all dreariness--it hath its compensations and conveniences."
The Earl called a page, and sent him to the captain of the guard withthe order--
"Let the mob be halted, and inquiry made concerning the occasion of itsmovement. ?By the King's command!"
A few seconds later a long rank of the royal guards, cased in flashingsteel, filed out at the gates and formed across the highway in frontof the multitude. ?A messenger returned, to report that the crowd werefollowing a man, a woman, and a young girl to execution for crimescommitted against the peace and dignity of the realm.
Death--and a violent death--for these poor unfortunates! ?The thoughtwrung Tom's heart-strings. ?The spirit of compassion took control ofhim, to the exclusion of all other considerations; he never thought ofthe offended laws, or of the grief or loss which these three criminalshad inflicted upon their victims; he could think of nothing but thescaffold and the grisly fate hanging over the heads of the condemned.?His concern made him even forget, for the moment, that he was but thefalse shadow of a king, not the substance; and before he knew it he hadblurted out the command--
"Bring them here!"
Then he blushed scarlet, and a sort of apology sprung to his lips; butobserving that his order had wrought no sort of surprise in the Earl orthe waiting page, he suppressed the words he was about to utter. ?Thepage, in the most matter-of-course way, made a profound obeisanceand retired backwards out of the room to deliver the command. ?Tomexperienced a glow of pride and a renewed sense of the compensatingadvantages of the kingly office. He said to himself, "Truly it is likewhat I was used to feel when I read the old priest's tales, and didimagine mine own self a prince, giving law and command to all, saying'Do this, do that,' whilst none durst offer let or hindrance to mywill."
Now the doors swung open; one high-sounding title after another wasannounced, the personages owning them followed, and the place wasquickly half-filled with noble folk and finery. ?But Tom was hardlyconscious of the presence of these people, so wrought up was he and sointensely absorbed in that other and more interesting matter. ?He seatedhimself absently in his chair of state, and turned his eyes upon thedoor with manifestations of impatient expectancy; seeing which, thecompany forbore to trouble him, and fell to chatting a mixture of publicbusiness and court gossip one with another.
In a little while the measured tread of military men was heardapproaching, and the culprits entered the presence in charge of anunder-sheriff and escorted by a detail of the king's guard. ?The civilofficer knelt before Tom, then stood aside; the three doomed personsknelt, also, and remained so; the guard took position behind Tom'schair. ?Tom scanned the prisoners curiously. Something about the dressor appearance of the man had stirred a vague memory in him. ?"MethinksI have seen this man ere now . . . but the when or the where failme."--Such was Tom's thought. Just then the man glanced quickly up andquickly dropped his face again, not being able to endure the awful portof sovereignty; but the one full glimpse of the face which Tom got wassufficient. ?He said to himself: "Now is the matter clear; this is thestranger that plucked Giles Witt out of the Thames, and saved his life,that windy, bitter, first day of the New Year--a brave good deed--pityhe hath been doing baser ones and got himself in this sad case . . . Ihave not forgot the day, neither the hour; by reason that an hour after,upon the stroke of eleven, I did get a hiding by the hand of GammerCanty which was of so goodly and admired severity that all thatwent before or followed after it were but fondlings and caresses bycomparison."
Tom now ordered that the woman and the girl be removed from the presencefor a little time; then addressed himself to the under-sheriff, saying--
"Good sir, what is this man's offence?"
The officer knelt, and answered--
"So please your Majesty, he hath taken the life of a subject by poison."
Tom's compassion for the prisoner, and admiration of him as the daringrescuer of a drowning boy, experienced a most damaging shock.
"The thing was proven upon him?" he asked.
"Most clearly, sire."
Tom sighed, and said--
"Take him away--he hath earned his death. ?'Tis a pity, for he was abrave heart--na--na, I mean he hath the _look_ of it!"
The prisoner clasped his hands together with sudden energy, and wrungthem despairingly, at the same time appealing imploringly to the 'King'in broken and terrified phrases--
"O my lord the King, an' thou canst pity the lost, have pity upon me! ?Iam innocent--neither hath that wherewith I am charged been more thanbut lamely proved--yet I speak not of that; the j
udgment is gone forthagainst me and may not suffer alteration; yet in mine extremity I beg aboon, for my doom is more than I can bear. A grace, a grace, my lord theKing! in thy royal compassion grant my prayer--give commandment that Ibe hanged!"
Tom was amazed. ?This was not the outcome he had looked for.
"Odds my life, a strange _boon_! ?Was it not the fate intended thee?"
"O good my liege, not so! ?It is ordered that I be _boiled alive_!"
The hideous surprise of these words almost made Tom spring from hischair. ?As soon as he could recover his wits he cried out--
"Have thy wish, poor soul! an' thou had poisoned a hundred men thoushouldst not suffer so miserable a death."
The prisoner bowed his face to the ground and burst into passionateexpressions of gratitude--ending with--
"If ever thou shouldst know misfortune--which God forefend!--may thygoodness to me this day be remembered and requited!"
Tom turned to the Earl of Hertford, and said--
"My lord, is it believable that there was warrant for this man'sferocious doom?"
"It is the law, your Grace--for poisoners. ?In Germany coiners be boiledto death in _oil_--not cast in of a sudden, but by a rope let down intothe oil by degrees, and slowly; first the feet, then the legs, then--"
"O prithee no more, my lord, I cannot bear it!" cried Tom, coveringhis eyes with his hands to shut out the picture. ?"I beseech your goodlordship that order be taken to change this law--oh, let no more poorcreatures be visited with its tortures."
The Earl's face showed profound gratification, for he was a man ofmerciful and generous impulses--a thing not very common with his classin that fierce age. ?He said--
"These your Grace's noble words have sealed its doom. ?History willremember it to the honour of your royal house."
The under-sheriff was about to remove his prisoner; Tom gave him a signto wait; then he said--
"Good sir, I would look into this matter further. ?The man has said hisdeed was but lamely proved. ?Tell me what thou knowest."
"If the King's grace please, it did appear upon the trial that thisman entered into a house in the hamlet of Islington where one laysick--three witnesses say it was at ten of the clock in the morning, andtwo say it was some minutes later--the sick man being alone at the time,and sleeping--and presently the man came forth again and went hisway. ?The sick man died within the hour, being torn with spasms andretchings."
"Did any see the poison given? ?Was poison found?"
"Marry, no, my liege."
"Then how doth one know there was poison given at all?"
"Please your Majesty, the doctors testified that none die with suchsymptoms but by poison."
Weighty evidence, this, in that simple age. ?Tom recognised itsformidable nature, and said--
"The doctor knoweth his trade--belike they were right. ?The matter hathan ill-look for this poor man."
"Yet was not this all, your Majesty; there is more and worse. Manytestified that a witch, since gone from the village, none know whither,did foretell, and speak it privately in their ears, that the sickman _would die by poison_--and more, that a stranger would give it--astranger with brown hair and clothed in a worn and common garb; andsurely this prisoner doth answer woundily to the bill. ?Please yourMajesty to give the circumstance that solemn weight which is its due,seeing it was _foretold_."
This was an argument of tremendous force in that superstitious day. ?Tomfelt that the thing was settled; if evidence was worth anything, thispoor fellow's guilt was proved. ?Still he offered the prisoner a chance,saying--
"If thou canst say aught in thy behalf, speak."
"Nought that will avail, my King. ?I am innocent, yet cannot I makeit appear. ?I have no friends, else might I show that I was not inIslington that day; so also might I show that at that hour they name Iwas above a league away, seeing I was at Wapping Old Stairs; yea more,my King, for I could show, that whilst they say I was _taking_ life, Iwas _saving_ it. ?A drowning boy--"
"Peace! ?Sheriff, name the day the deed was done!"
"At ten in the morning, or some minutes later, the first day of the NewYear, most illustrious--"
"Let the prisoner go free--it is the King's will!"
Another blush followed this unregal outburst, and he covered hisindecorum as well as he could by adding--
"It enrageth me that a man should be hanged upon such idle, hare-brainedevidence!"
A low buzz of admiration swept through the assemblage. ?It was notadmiration of the decree that had been delivered by Tom, for thepropriety or expediency of pardoning a convicted poisoner was a thingwhich few there would have felt justified in either admitting oradmiring--no, the admiration was for the intelligence and spirit whichTom had displayed. ?Some of the low-voiced remarks were to this effect--
"This is no mad king--he hath his wits sound."
"How sanely he put his questions--how like his former natural self wasthis abrupt imperious disposal of the matter!"
"God be thanked, his infirmity is spent! ?This is no weakling, but aking. ?He hath borne himself like to his own father."
The air being filled with applause, Tom's ear necessarily caught alittle of it. ?The effect which this had upon him was to put himgreatly at his ease, and also to charge his system with very gratifyingsensations.
However, his juvenile curiosity soon rose superior to these pleasantthoughts and feelings; he was eager to know what sort of deadly mischiefthe woman and the little girl could have been about; so, by his command,the two terrified and sobbing creatures were brought before him.
"What is it that these have done?" he inquired of the sheriff.
"Please your Majesty, a black crime is charged upon them, and clearlyproven; wherefore the judges have decreed, according to the law, thatthey be hanged. ?They sold themselves to the devil--such is theircrime."
Tom shuddered. ?He had been taught to abhor people who did this wickedthing. ?Still, he was not going to deny himself the pleasure of feedinghis curiosity for all that; so he asked--
"Where was this done?--and when?"
"On a midnight in December, in a ruined church, your Majesty."
Tom shuddered again.
"Who was there present?"
"Only these two, your grace--and _that other_."
"Have these confessed?"
"Nay, not so, sire--they do deny it."
"Then prithee, how was it known?"
"Certain witness did see them wending thither, good your Majesty; thisbred the suspicion, and dire effects have since confirmed and justifiedit. ?In particular, it is in evidence that through the wicked power soobtained, they did invoke and bring about a storm that wasted all theregion round about. ?Above forty witnesses have proved the storm; andsooth one might have had a thousand, for all had reason to remember it,sith all had suffered by it."
"Certes this is a serious matter." ?Tom turned this dark piece ofscoundrelism over in his mind a while, then asked--
"Suffered the woman also by the storm?"
Several old heads among the assemblage nodded their recognition ofthe wisdom of this question. ?The sheriff, however, saw nothingconsequential in the inquiry; he answered, with simple directness--
"Indeed did she, your Majesty, and most righteously, as all aver. Herhabitation was swept away, and herself and child left shelterless."
"Methinks the power to do herself so ill a turn was dearly bought. Shehad been cheated, had she paid but a farthing for it; that she paidher soul, and her child's, argueth that she is mad; if she is mad sheknoweth not what she doth, therefore sinneth not."
The elderly heads nodded recognition of Tom's wisdom once more, and oneindividual murmured, "An' the King be mad himself, according to report,then is it a madness of a sort that would improve the sanity of some Iwot of, if by the gentle providence of God they could but catch it."
"What age hath the child?" asked Tom.
"Nine years, please your Majesty."
"By the law of England may a child enter
into covenant and sell itself,my lord?" asked Tom, turning to a learned judge.
"The law doth not permit a child to make or meddle in any weightymatter, good my liege, holding that its callow wit unfitteth it to copewith the riper wit and evil schemings of them that are its elders. ?The_Devil_ may buy a child, if he so choose, and the child agree thereto,but not an Englishman--in this latter case the contract would be nulland void."
"It seemeth a rude unchristian thing, and ill contrived, that Englishlaw denieth privileges to Englishmen to waste them on the devil!" criedTom, with honest heat.
This novel view of the matter excited many smiles, and was storedaway in many heads to be repeated about the Court as evidence of Tom'soriginality as well as progress toward mental health.
The elder culprit had ceased from sobbing, and was hanging upon Tom'swords with an excited interest and a growing hope. ?Tom noticed this,and it strongly inclined his sympathies toward her in her perilous andunfriended situation. ?Presently he asked--
"How wrought they to bring the storm?"
"_By pulling off their stockings_, sire."
This astonished Tom, and also fired his curiosity to fever heat. Hesaid, eagerly--
"It is wonderful! ?Hath it always this dread effect?"
"Always, my liege--at least if the woman desire it, and utter theneedful words, either in her mind or with her tongue."
Tom turned to the woman, and said with impetuous zeal--
"Exert thy power--I would see a storm!"
There was a sudden paling of cheeks in the superstitious assemblage, anda general, though unexpressed, desire to get out of the place--all ofwhich was lost upon Tom, who was dead to everything but the proposedcataclysm. ?Seeing a puzzled and astonished look in the woman's face, headded, excitedly--
"Never fear--thou shalt be blameless. ?More--thou shalt go free--noneshall touch thee. ?Exert thy power."
"Oh, my lord the King, I have it not--I have been falsely accused."
"Thy fears stay thee. ?Be of good heart, thou shalt suffer no harm.?Make a storm--it mattereth not how small a one--I require nought greator harmful, but indeed prefer the opposite--do this and thy life isspared--thou shalt go out free, with thy child, bearing the King'spardon, and safe from hurt or malice from any in the realm."
The woman prostrated herself, and protested, with tears, that she hadno power to do the miracle, else she would gladly win her child's lifealone, and be content to lose her own, if by obedience to the King'scommand so precious a grace might be acquired.
Tom urged--the woman still adhered to her declarations. ?Finally hesaid--
"I think the woman hath said true. ?An' _my_ mother were in her placeand gifted with the devil's functions, she had not stayed a moment tocall her storms and lay the whole land in ruins, if the saving of myforfeit life were the price she got! ?It is argument that othermothers are made in like mould. ?Thou art free, goodwife--thou and thychild--for I do think thee innocent. ?_Now_ thou'st nought to fear,being pardoned--pull off thy stockings!--an' thou canst make me a storm,thou shalt be rich!"
The redeemed creature was loud in her gratitude, and proceeded toobey, whilst Tom looked on with eager expectancy, a little marredby apprehension; the courtiers at the same time manifesting decideddiscomfort and uneasiness. ?The woman stripped her own feet and herlittle girl's also, and plainly did her best to reward the King'sgenerosity with an earthquake, but it was all a failure and adisappointment. ?Tom sighed, and said--
"There, good soul, trouble thyself no further, thy power is departedout of thee. ?Go thy way in peace; and if it return to thee at any time,forget me not, but fetch me a storm." {13}