The Prince and the Pauper

The next morning, the band of criminals set out with Edward, Hugo, the boy who assisted in his abduction, and John. Hugo and Edward are sent into a town to beg, and Hugo concocts a scheme to rob a passersby. Edward refuses to take part in this and soon takes the opportunity to escape, running away until he finds a barn where he goes to sleep, using a horse blanket and a baby calf for warmth.

Edward wakes up next to a rat, which he thinks is a good sign, as surely he can descend no further. Two young farmgirls find him in the barn and listen to his story. They believe him and invite Edward into their house to have breakfast. Their mother thinks that Edward is “mad” but wants to help him. She asks questions about what he knows, trying to understand what he was before his “illness” began, but Edward proves to be ignorant of life in the village. She guesses that he worked in the palace kitchen, but her questioning reveals that Edward has no knowledge of cooking. Because she pities him, she allows him to sit at the table with her family; believing he was a tramp, she intended to feed him “with broken victuals in the corner, like any other tramp, or like a dog” (162). Edward believes the peasants are below him, but he deigns to eat at the table with them because they were so kind to him. Later that day, John and Hugo arrive, but Edward escapes before they see him.

Edward flees into the woods, intending to hide all day before the cold forces him to move. He finds a hut with an old man living in it and asks for shelter, declaring that he is the king. The hermit responds excitedly that he respects a king who has rejected his wealth and wears rags become closer to God.

The hermit believes he is an archangel. He believes that he should be pope, but he was forced into the wilderness when Henry VIII “dissolved [his] religious house” (168). He rants in this vein for an hour, ignoring Edward.

Eventually, the hermit allows Edward to make himself comfortable, feeding him dinner and showing him to a bed. Before Edward goes to sleep, the hermit asks him to clarify his title. Edward answers that he is King of England and that his father, Henry VIII, is dead. When Edward is asleep, the hermit binds and gags him. He plans to kill Edward in revenge for Henry VIII ruining his chance to be pope.

When Edward wakes up, he sees the hermit menacing him with a knife. The hermit insists that Edward say his final prayers before he is killed but is interrupted by Miles Hendon at the door. When Miles asks where Edward is, the hermit feigns ignorance. Miles briefly summarizes his previous adventures: He had caught up to the vagabonds and made them help him track Edwad to the hermit’s door.

The hermit claims that he has sent Edward out on an errand, which Miles finds dubious because he knows Edward’s haughty nature. However, the hermit successfully leads Miles into the woods, telling him he will take him to Edward.

Upon hearing this, Edward despairs, worried that without Miles he will die. Just then, John and Hugo appear at the hut. They untie Edward and take him back to the band of vagabonds.

The band of outlaws subjects Edward to more jokes and mockery. Over the next few days, Hugo tries to annoy Edward by stepping on his toes. Edward—who is trained in fencing—beats Hugo with a club, embarrassing Hugo in front of the tramps and earning their respect. For the next few days, Edward refuses to do any work, such as tinkering, thieving, or begging. He begins to dream of his royal life, a comparison that makes his current situation feel worse. Later, Hugo plots against Edward again, hoping to get him arrested, but Yokel, the formerly enslaved farmer, intervenes and ruins Hugo’s plan.

Edward tells the group’s leader about the incident, and he orders Hugo and Edward to go into town on a thieving mission. Happy to have another opportunity to get Edward arrested, Hugo steals a package from a woman and puts it in Edward’s hands while he is running away. Edward is swiftly caught, but Miles Hendon arrives to help him.

While Edward is arrested, Miles warns him against complaining that royals should not be prosecuted, stating that a king should respect the law of the land he rules. Edward accepts this reasoning, and Miles, Edward, the constable and the woman who was stolen from precede to court.

In the court, it is revealed that what was taken from the woman was a prepared pig, worth three shillings and eight pence. A theft of this amount would necessitate a death sentence for Edward, and so the woman lies and says it was only worth eight pence. Because of the kindness of this stranger, Edward is sentenced to a short confinement followed by flogging instead of the death sentence which was threatened.

While leaving the court, Miles sees the constable demanding to buy the pig from the woman for eight pence, reasoning that if she doesn’t agree, she lied under oath about the pig’s value. In that case, both she and Edward would be hanged. With no choice, the woman sells the pig to the constable for eight pence.

While Edward is taken to jail, he considers the unique lack of spectacle involved in jailing the true king. As this is happening, Miles and the constable speak. Miles reveals that he saw the constable threaten the woman at court. Using this as leverage, he forces the constable to allow Edward to escape and to restore the pig to the woman.

Having made his escape, Edward changes into the clothes that Miles bought for him in London. He and Miles then make their way toward Hendon Hall. During their journey to Hendon Hall, Edward continues to demand to be waited upon, and Miles indulges these demands as the pair compare stories since they were last together. On the final day of their travel, Miles tells Edward of his life at Hendon Hall, excited to return home after years abroad.

Miles’s hopes for a happy reunion are quickly dashed: He sees his younger brother, Hugh, and rushes to meet him, but Hugh claims that Miles is an imposter. The real Miles, according to Hugh, died six or seven years ago in battle in Europe, which was confirmed via a letter. It is revealed that Miles’s father and elder brother are dead and while his childhood love, Edith, is alive, she is now married to Hugh. Miles accuses Hugh of forging the letter to marry Edith. When Edith enters the room, she claims that Miles is not who he claims to be. Crying, she leaves the room quickly.

Miles and Edward wait together in Hendon Hall, wanting to prove Miles’s identity. Edward wants to write a letter to the Earl of Hertford to confirm his identity, but Miles insists he wait until the Hendon domains are under Miles’s control.

While Miles is reflecting on why Edith denied his identity, she enters the room. She again says that Miles must be a “madman” but that even if he were not, Hugh would try to make him seem “mad” so his power would not be threatened. Edith offers Miles money to ensure that he is comfortable and warns him to leave the estates immediately. Miles refuses and instead asks her to swear that he is not Miles, which she does shortly before local constables arrive to arrest Miles.

Miles and Edward are put into jail. An old servant of the Hendon family named Blake Andrews comes to the jail, pretending he is there to mock Miles. Once alone with the prisoners, Andrews confesses that he recognizes Miles, but if he says anything Hugh will order him killed. During a series of visits, Andrews tells them the true story of what has happened in Hendon Hall during Miles’s absence. Arthur Hendon, Miles’s elder brother, had died six years ago, which had made his father push for a marriage between Hugh and Edith. Edith protested, wishing to wait for Miles’s return, but then a letter arrived that claimed Miles had died on the continent. The shock of this news made their father’s health deteriorate, and before he died, he insisted on a marriage between Edith and Hugh. Following their marriage, Edith discovered drafts of the letter declaring Miles’s death in Hugh’s possession, but with Hugh as ruler of the Hendon holdings, she could not expose his fraud. Thus, Hugh was able to maintain his position through fear.

Miles and Edward hear further news from Andrews, who tells them of the rumor of the king’s “madness” and how “King Edward” is gaining praise by striking down the harshest laws of England. Edward becomes dismayed that no one has been able to recognize that Tom is an imposter. He is comforted by a group of female Baptists until they are taken out of jail. The people in prison are moved into the courtyard, where they see the Baptists burnt at the stake. This deeply affects Edward, who promises never to forget the cruelty of these laws and begins talking to many other prisoners, finding out the injustice of English laws by their personal stories of hardship. He begins to be somewhat thankful for his personal experience of the legal system, stating that “the world is made wrong; kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy” (220).

At his trial, Miles is sentenced to be confined to the stocks for two hours. While Miles is so confined, Edward complains that the king’s servant should be above such punishment, but this leads to him being sentenced to be lashed. Miles intercedes, asking for the lashings himself, a deed that Edward promises never to forget.

Miles’s stalwart acceptance of the whipping brings respect from the crowd of people who observe it. Edward tells him that only a person’s nature and God can make him noble, but as king, Edward can confirm it. He uses the lash to touch Miles’s shoulders, dubbing him Earl of his lands, an action Miles does not believe has any true value, but which is still emotionally meaningful to him.

Miles leaves the stocks and is ordered never to return to the Hendon lands. He and Edward resolve to head for London so Edward can take back his role as king.

On February 19, they enter London. Three weeks and three days have passed since Henry VIII died, and now it is the day before the official coronation of the new king. Due to the crowds that are moving through the city, Miles and Edward are once more separated.