A CONNECTICUT YANKEE
IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT
by
MARK TWAIN
(Samuel L. Clemens)
Part 7.
CONTENTS:
| CHAPTER XXXII. | DOWLEY'S HUMILIATION |
| CHAPTER XXXIII. | SIXTH CENTURY POLITICAL ECONOMY |
| CHAPTER XXXIV. | THE YANKEE AND THE KING SOLD AS SLAVES |
| CHAPTER XXXV. | A PITIFUL INCIDENT |
CHAPTER XXXII
DOWLEY'S HUMILIATION
Well, when that cargo arrived toward sunset, Saturday afternoon,I had my hands full to keep the Marcos from fainting. They weresure Jones and I were ruined past help, and they blamed themselvesas accessories to this bankruptcy. You see, in addition to thedinner-materials, which called for a sufficiently round sum,I had bought a lot of extras for the future comfort of the family:for instance, a big lot of wheat, a delicacy as rare to the tablesof their class as was ice-cream to a hermit's; also a sizeabledeal dinner-table; also two entire pounds of salt, which wasanother piece of extravagance in those people's eyes; also crockery,stools, the clothes, a small cask of beer, and so on. I instructedthe Marcos to keep quiet about this sumptuousness, so as to giveme a chance to surprise the guests and show off a little. Concerningthe new clothes, the simple couple were like children; they were upand down, all night, to see if it wasn't nearly daylight, so thatthey could put them on, and they were into them at last as muchas an hour before dawn was due. Then their pleasure—not to saydelirium—was so fresh and novel and inspiring that the sight of itpaid me well for the interruptions which my sleep had suffered.The king had slept just as usual—like the dead. The Marcos couldnot thank him for their clothes, that being forbidden; but theytried every way they could think of to make him see how gratefulthey were. Which all went for nothing: he didn't notice any change.<