The Mysterious stranger - Chapter 5

None

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter five of The Mysterious Stranger byMark Twain. This is a LibriVox recording.
All LibriVox recordings are in the publicdomain. For more information or to
volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Patrick seventy nine. Chapter

(00:20):
five. On the fourth day comesthe astrologer from his crumbling old tower up
the valley way. He had heardthe news I reckon. He had the
private talk with us, and wetold him what we could, for we
were mightily in dread of him.He sat there, studying and studying a

(00:44):
vial to himself. Then he asked, how many ducats did you say?
Oh, eleven hundred and seven,sir. Then he said, as if
he were talking to himself. Itis very very singular. Yes, very
strange, a curious coincidence. Thenhe began to ask questions and made over

(01:11):
the whole ground from the beginning.We answering bye and bye. He said,
eleven hundred and six ducads. Itis a large sum, seven said
Seppy, correcting him, Oh,seven, was it, of course a

(01:33):
duck? It more or less isn'tof consequence. But you said eleven hundred
and six before. It would nothave been safe for us to say he
was mistaken, but we knew hewas. Nicklaus said, we ask pardon
for the mistake, but we meantto say seven er. It is no

(01:56):
matter, lad, It was merelythat I noticed the discrepancy. It is
several days, and you cannot beexpected to remember precisely. One is apt
to be in exact when there isno particular circumstance to impress the count upon
the memory. But there was one, Sir, said Seppy eagerly. What

(02:23):
is it? My son, askedthe astrologer indifferently. First we all counted
the powers of coins, each inturn, and all made it the same,
eleven hundred and six. But Ihad slipped one out just for fun
when the count began, And nowI slipped it back and said, I

(02:46):
think there is a mistake. Thereare eleven hundred and seven. Let us
count again. We did, andof course I was right, and they
were astonished. Then I told howit came about. The astrologer asked us
if this was so, and wesaid it was un That settles it.

(03:12):
He said, I know the thief, now, lads, the money was
stolen. Then he went away,leaving us very much troubled and wondering what
he could mean. In about anhour we found out. For by that
time it was all over the villagethat Father Peter had been arrested for stealing

(03:37):
a great sum of money from theastrologer. Everybody's tongue was loose and going.
Many said it was not in FatherPeter's character, and it must be
a mistake. But others they shooktheir heads and said misery. And one
could drive a suffering man to almostanything about von detail. There was no

(04:01):
differences. All agreed that Father Peter'saccount of how the money came into his
hands was just about unbelievable. Ithad such an impossible look. They said
it might come into the Astrologer's handin some such way, but into Father
Peters. Never Our characters began tosuffer. Now we were Father Peter's only

(04:30):
witnesses. How much did he probablypay us to back up this fantastic tale.
Oh, people talk that kind oftalk to us pretty freely and frankly,
and were full of scoffings. Thenwe begged them to believe really we
had only told the truth. Ourparents were harder on us than anyone else.

(04:55):
Our father said we were disgracing ourfamilies, and they commanded us to
purge ourselves of our lie, andthere was no limit to their anger.
Then we continued to say we hadspoken true. Oh, our mothers cried
over us and begged us to giveback our bribe and get back our honest

(05:19):
names, and save the families fromshame, and come out and honorably confess.
And at last we were so worriedand harris that we tried to tell
the whole thing Satan and all,but no, it wouldn't come out.

(05:43):
We were hoping and longing all thetime that Satan would come and help us
out of our trouble, but therewas no sign of him. Within an
hour after the astrologer's talk with us, Father Peter of us in Risen,
and the money sealed up in thehands of the officers of the law.

(06:05):
The money was in a bag,and Solomon Isaac said he had not touched
it since he had counted it.His oath was taken that it was the
same money, and that the amountwas eleven hundred and seven ducats. Father
Peter claimed trial by the ecclesiastical court, but our other priest, Father Adolph,

(06:30):
said an ecclesiastical court hadn't jurisdiction overa suspended priest. The bishop upheld
him and that settled it. Thecase was to go to trial in the
civil court. The court would notsit for some time to come. William
Medling would be Father Peter's lawyer anddo the best he could, of course,

(06:57):
but he told us privately that aweak on his side and all the
power and prejudice on the other side, the outlook was bad. So Margaret's
new happiness died a quick death.No friends came to console with her,
and none were expected. An unsignednote withdrew her invitation to the party.

(07:26):
There would be no scholars to takelessons. How could she support herself?
She could remain in the house forthe mortgage of us paid off, though
the government and not poor Solomon Isaac'shad the mortgage money in its grip for
the present. Old Ursela, whovass the cook, chambermaid, housekeeper,

(07:51):
laundress and everything else for Father Peterand had been Margaret's nurse in earlier years,
said God would prove. But shesaid that from habit, for she
was a good Christian. She meantto help in the providing to make sure
if she could find a way,we boys wanted to go and see market

(08:16):
and to show friendliness for her,but our parents were afraid of offending the
community and wouldn't let us. Theastrologer was going around inflaming everybody against Father
Peter and saying he was an abandonedthief and had stolen eleven hundred and seven

(08:37):
ducats from him. He said heknew he was a thief from the fact,
for it was exactly the sun hehad lost, and which Father Peter
pretended to have found. In theafternoon of the fourth day after the catastrophe,
Old Urseler appeared at our house andasked for some washing to do,

(09:01):
and begged my mother to keep thesecret to save Margaret's pride. Who would
stop this project if she found itout. Yet, Margaret had not enough
to eat and was growing weak.Ursler was growing weak herself, and she
showed it, and she ate offthe food that was offered her like a

(09:24):
starving person, but could not bepersuaded to carry any home, for Margaret
would not eat charity food. Shetook some clothes down to the stream to
Vashten, but we saw from thewindow that handling the bat was too much
for her strength, so she wascalled back and a trifle of money offered

(09:48):
her, but she was afraid totake lest Margaret should suspect. Then she
took it, saying she would explainthat she found it in the row,
and to keep it from being alie and damning her soul, she got
me to drop it while she watched. Then she went along by there and

(10:09):
found it, and exclaimed with surpriseand joy, and picked it up and
went her way. Like the restof the village, she could tell every
day lies fast enough and without takingany precautions against fire and brimstone on their
account. But this was a newkind of lie, and it had a

(10:35):
dangerous look because she hadn't had anypractice in it. After a week's practice,
it wouldn't have given her any trouble. Well, it is the way
we are made. I was introuble, for how would Margaret live Ursla
could not find a coin in theroad every day, perhaps not even a

(11:00):
second one. And I was ashamedtoo for not having been near Margaret,
and she so in need of friends. But that was my parents fault,
not mine, and I couldn't helpit. I was walking along the path

(11:20):
feeling very downhearted, when a mostcheery and tingling freshening up. Sensation went
rippling through me, and I wastoo glad for any words, for I
knew by that sign that Satan wasby. I had noticed it before.

(11:41):
Next moment, he was alongside ofme, and I was telling him all
my trouble and what had been happeningto Margaret and her uncle. While we
were talking, we turned a curveand saw old Ursela resting in the shade
of a tree, and she hada lean stray kitten in her lap and

(12:05):
was petting it. I asked ofResa got it, and she said it
came out of the woods and itfollowed her, and she said it probably
had any mother or any friends,and she was going to take it home
and take care of it. Satansaid, I understand you are very poor.

(12:28):
Why do you want to add anothermouth to feel Why don't you give
it to some rich person. OhUrsula bridled at this and said, perhaps
you would like to have it.You must be rich with your fine clothes
and quality airs. Then she sniffedand said give it to the rich.

(12:50):
The idea they rich don't care foranybody but themselves. It's only the poor
that had the feeling for the poorand help them the poor. God,
God will provide for this kitten.What makes you think so? Herless eyes
snapped with anger, Because I knowit, she said. Not a sparrow

(13:16):
falls to the ground without his seeingit, but it falls just the same.
What good is seeing it fall?Old Urseules's jaws worked, but she
could not get any word out forthe moment. She was so horrified.

(13:37):
When she got her tongue, shestormed out, Oh go about your business,
you poppy, or I will takea stick to you. I could
not speak. I was so scared. I knew that, with his notions
about the human race, Satan wouldconsider it a matter of no consequence to

(14:00):
I got dead, there being plentymore, But my tongue stood still.
I could give her no warning,but nothing happened. Satan remained tranquil,
tranquil and indifferent. I suppose hecould not be insulted by Ursula any more

(14:24):
than the than the king could beinsulted by a tumble bug. The old
woman jumped to her feet when shemade her remark, and did it as
briskly as a young girl. Ithad been many years since she had done
the like of that. That wasSatan's influence. He was a fresh breeze

(14:48):
to the weak and the sick whereverhe came. His presence affected even the
lean kitten, and it skipped tothe ground and began to chase a leif.
This surprised Ursula, and she stoodlooking at the creature and nodding her
head wonderingly. Her anger quite forgotten. But come over it, she said,

(15:15):
a violet go It could hardly walk. You have not seen a kitten
of that breed before, said Satan. Urseler was not proposing to be friendly
with the mocking stranger, and shegave him an ungentle look and retorted,
who asked you to come here andpester me? I'd like to know?

(15:39):
And what do you know about whatI've seen and what I haven't seen?
You haven't seen a kitten with hairspines on its tongue pointing to the front,
have you no? Nor you either? Well examine this one and see.

(16:02):
Ursula was become pretty spry, butthe kitten was sprier and she could
not catch it and had to giveit up. Then Satan said, give
it a name and maybe it willcome. Ursela tried several times, but
the kitten was not interested. Callit Agnes. Try that. The creature

(16:32):
answered to the name and came.Ursela examined its tongue up on my word,
it's true, she said, Ihave seen this kind of cat before.
Is it yours? No? Thenhow do you know its name?
So pat because all cats of thatbreed are named Agnes. They will not

(16:57):
answer to any other. Ursela wasimpressed. It is a most wonderful thing.
Then a shadow of the trouble cameinto her face. For her superstitions
were aroused, and she reluctantly putthe creature down, saying, I suppose
I must let it go. Iam not afraid, No, no,

(17:21):
no, not exactly that though thepriest well that hurt people, indeed many
people, And besides it is quitewell and now can take care of itself.
She sighed and turned to go,murmuring, still it is such a
pretty vun too, and would besuch a company. And the house is

(17:42):
so sad and lonesome these days,Miss margets so mournful and just a shadow,
and the old master shut up injail. It seems a pity to
keep it, said Satan. Ursselaturned quickly just as if she were hoping

(18:07):
someone would encourage her. Why,she asked wistfully, because this breed brings
luck? Does it? Is ittrue? Young man? Do you know
it to be true? How doesit bring luck? Well, it brings

(18:30):
money anyway. Ursela looked disappointed.Manny I have to bring money? Oh
the idea. You could never sellit here. People do not buy cats
here, or god even give themaway. And she turned to go,

(18:52):
I don't mean sell it, Imean have an income from it. This
kind is called the lucky cat.Its owner finds four silver grossing in the
pocket every morning. I saw theindignation rising in the old woman's face.

(19:12):
Who she was insulted? This boywas making fun of her, that was
her thought. She thrust her handsinto her pockets and straightened up to give
him a piece of her mind.Her temper of was all up and hot.
Her mouth came open and let outthree words of a bitter sentence.

(19:38):
Then it fell silent, and theanger in her face turned to surprise or
wonder of fear or something, Andshe slowly brought out her hands from her
pocket and opened them and held themso in one was my piece of money.

(20:00):
In the other lay four silver Grosian. She gazed a little vial,
perhaps to see if the Grosan wouldvanish away, And then she said,
fervently, it's true, it's true, and I'm ashamed and beg forgiveness out

(20:21):
a master and benefactor, and sheran back to Satan and kissed his hand
over and over again, according tothe Austrian custom. In her heart she
probably believed it was a witch catand an agent of the devil, but

(20:41):
no matter, it was all themore certain to be able to keep its
contract and furnish a daily good livingfor the family. For in the matters
of violence, even the priest ofour peasants would have more confidence in the
arrangement with the devil than with anarchangel. Ursula started homeward and Agnes in

(21:06):
her arms, and I said,I wish I had her privilege of seeing
Margaret. Then I caught my breath, for we were there there in the
parlor, and Margaret standing looking atus, astonished. She was feeble and

(21:26):
pale. But I knew that thoseconditions would not last in Satan's atmosphere,
and it turned out, so Iintroduced Satan, that is Philip Traum,
and we sat down and talked.There was no constraint. We were simple

(21:48):
folk in our village, and whena stranger was pleasant person, we were
soon friends. Margaret wondered how wegot in without her hearing us. Troum
said the door was open, andwe walked in and waited until she could
turn round and greet us. Well, this was not true. No door

(22:11):
was open. We entered through thewalls of a roof, or down the
chimney or somehow. But no matterwhat Satan wished, a person believed,
the person was sure to believe.And so Margaret was quite satisfied with that
explanation. And then the main partof her mind was on traum anyway,

(22:36):
she couldn't keep her eyes often.He was so beautiful, ah had that
gratified me and made me proud.I hoped he would show off some,
but he didn't. He seemed onlyinterested in being friendly and telling lies.

(22:56):
He said he was an orphan.That made Margaret pity him. The water
came into her eyes. He saidhe had never known his mamma, she
passed away while he was young thing, and said his papa was in shattered
health and had no property to speakof. In fact, none of any

(23:19):
earthly value. But he had anuncle in business down in the tropics,
and he was very well off andhad a monopoly. And it was from
this uncle that he drew his support. The very mention of a kind uncle
vazz enough to remind Margaret of herown, and her eyes filled again.

(23:42):
She said she hoped that to uncleswould meet some day. It made me
shudder. Philip said he hoped sotoo, and that made me shudder again.
Maybe they will, said Margaret.Does your uncle travel much? Oh,

(24:03):
yes, he goes all about.He has business everywhere. And so
they went on chatting, and poorMargaret forgot her sorrows for one little vial.
Anyway, it was probably the onlyreally bright and cheery how she had

(24:25):
known lately. I saw she likedPhilip, and I knew she would,
And when he told her he wasstudying for their ministry, I could see
that she liked him better than ever. And then when he promised to get
her admitted to jail so that shecould see her uncle, that was the

(24:48):
capstone. He said he would givethe guards a little present, and she
must always go in the evening afterdark and say nothing, but just show
this paper and pass in and showit again when you come out, and

(25:08):
he scribbled some queer marks on thepaper and gave it to her, and
she was ever so thankful, andright away was in a fever for the
sun to go down. For inthat old cruel time, prisoners were not
allowed to see their friends, andsometimes they spent years in jails without ever

(25:33):
seeing a friendly face. I judgedthat the marks on the paper were an
enchantment, and that the guards wouldnot know what they were doing, nor
have any memory of it afterwards,and that was indeed the way of it.

(25:53):
Ursella put her head in the doornow and said, as sappers.
Miss. Then she saw us andlooked frightened and motioned me to come to
her, which I did, andshe asked if we had told about the
cat. I said no, andshe was relieved and said, please don't,

(26:18):
for if miss Margaret knew, shewould think it was an unholy cat
and would send for a priest andhave its gifts all purified out of it,
and then there wouldn't be any morediffidends. So I said we wouldn't
tell, and she was satisfied.Then I was beginning to say goodbye to

(26:41):
Margaret, but Satan interrupted me andsaid, ever so politely, Well,
I don't remember just the words,but anyway, he as good as invited
himself to supper and me too.Well. Of course, Margaret was miserably
embarrassed, for she had no reasonto suppose there would be half enough for

(27:04):
a sick bird. Ursela heard him, and she came straight into the room,
not a bit pleased at first.She was astonished to see Margaret looking
so fresh and rosy, and shesaid so. Then she spoke up in
her native tongue, which was Bohemian, and said, well, as I

(27:29):
learned afterwards, send him away,miss Margaret, there's not vittles enough.
Before Margaret could speak, Satan hadthe word and was talking back at Ursulie
in her own language, which wasa surprise for her and for her mistress

(27:49):
too. He said, didn't Isee you down the road a while ago?
Oh, yes, sir ah,that pleases me. I see you,
remember, He stepped to her andwhispered, I told you it is

(28:11):
a lucky cat. Don't be troubled. It will provide that sponged the slate
of Ursula's feelings, clean up itsanxieties, and a deep financial joy.
Shone in her eyes. The cat'svalive was augmenting. It was getting full

(28:33):
time for Margaret to take some sortof notice of Satan's invitation, and she
did it in the best way,the honest way that was natural to her.
She said she had little to offer, but that weaver a welcome if
we would share it with her.We had supper in the kitchen and ursulivated

(28:59):
at table. A small fish wasin the frying pan, crisp and brown
and tempting, and one could seethat Margaret was not expecting such respectable food
as this. Ursela brought it inand Margaret divided it between Satan and me,
declining to take any of it herself, and was beginning to say she

(29:23):
did not care for fish to day, but she did not finish the remark.
It was because she noticed that anotherfish had appeared in the pan.
Oh. She looked surprised, butdid not say anything. She probably meant
to inquire of Ursula about this later. There were other surprises, flesh and

(29:49):
game and vines and fruits, thingswhich had been strangers in that house lately,
but Margaret made no exclaim, andnow even looked unsurprised, which was
Satan's influence. Of course, Satantalked right along and was entertaining and made

(30:14):
the time pass pleasantly and cheerfully.And although he told a good many lies,
it was no harm in him,for he was only an angel and
did not know any better. Theydo not know right from wrong. I
know this because I remembered what hesaid about it. He got on the

(30:38):
good side of Ursela. He praisedher to Margaret, confidentially, but speaking
just loud enough for Ursela to hear. He said, oh, she was
a fine woman, and he hopedSunday to bring her and our uncle together

(31:00):
very soon. Ursler was mincing andsimpening around in ridiculous girly way, and
smoothing out her gown and prinking herselflike a foolish old hen, all the
time pretending she was not hearing whatSatan was saying. I was ashamed for

(31:21):
it showed us to be what Satanconsidered us, a silly race and trivial.
Satan said, his uncle entertained agreat deal, and to have a
clever woman presiding over the festivities weredouble the attractions of the place. But

(31:42):
your uncle is a gentleman isn't,he asked Margaret, Yes, said Satan
indifferently. Some even call him aprince out of compliment, but he is
It's not bigoted to him. Personalmerit is everything. Rank is nothing.

(32:08):
My hand was hanging down by mychair. Agnes came along and licked it.
By this act a secret was revealed. I started to say, it
is all a mistake. This isjust a common, ordinary cat. The
hand needles on the tongue point inward, was not outwards. But the words

(32:32):
did not come because they couldn't.Satan smiled at me, and I understood.
When it was dark, Margaret tookfood and vine and fruit in a
basket and hurried away to the jail, and Satan and I walked towards my

(32:57):
home. I was thinking to myselfthat I should like to see what the
inside of the jail was like.Satan overheard the thought, and the next
moment VI were in the jail.We were in the torture chamber. Sathan
said, the rack was there,and the other instruments, and there was

(33:21):
a smoky lantern or two hanging onthe walls and helping to make the place
look dim and dreadful. There werepeople there and executioners, But as they
took no notice of us, itmeant that viv invisible. A young man

(33:44):
lay bound, and Satan said hewas suspected of being a heretic, and
the executioners were about to inquire intoit. They asked the man to confess
to the charge, and he saidhe could not, for it was not
true. Then they drove splinter aftersplinter under his nails, and he shrieked

(34:10):
with pain. Satan was not disturbed, but I could not endure it and
had to be whisked out of there. I was faint and sick, but
the fresh air revived me and revokedto my home. I said it was

(34:35):
a brutal thing, No, itwas a human thing. You should not
insult the brutes by such a misuseof that word. They have not deserved
it an event. On talking likethat, it is like your paltry race

(34:59):
always lie, always claiming virtues whichit hasn't got, always denying them to
the higher animals which alone possess them. No brute ever does a cruel thing.
That is a monopoly of those withthe moral sense. When a brute

(35:20):
inflicts pain, he does it innocently. It is not wrong. For him,
there is no such thing as wrong, and he does not inflict pain
for the pleasure of inflicting it.Only man does that, inspired by that

(35:44):
moral moral sense of his, asense whose function is to distinguish between right
and wrong, with liberty to choosewhich of them he will do. Now,
what advantage can he get out ofthat? He is always choosing,

(36:07):
And in nine cases out of tenhe prefers the wrong. There shouldn't be
any wrong, and without the moralsense, there couldn't be any. And
yet he is such an unreasoning creaturethat he is not able to perceive that

(36:30):
the moral sense degrades him to thebottom layer of animated beings, and is
a shameful possession. Are you feelingbetter? Let me show you something.

(36:52):
End of chapter five