stopped and stood facing his house and so standing continued his talk we went three nights in succession it was plain that there was a charm about the performance that was apart from the mere interest which to it was presently that this charm lay in the s sincerity he was not lying he believed what he was saying to him his statements were facts and whenever he enlarged a statement the became a fact too he put his heart into his extravagant narrative just as a poet puts his heart into a heroic fiction and his earnestness criticism � it as far as he himself was concerned nobody believed his narrative but all believed that he believed it he made his without flourish without emphasis and so casually that often one failed to notice that a change had been made he spoke recollections of of arc of the governor of the first eight simply as the governor of he spoke of him the second night as his uncle the governor of the third night he was his father he did not seem to know that he was making these extraordinary changes they dropped from his lips in a quite natural and way by his first night s the governor merely attached him to the maid s military escort in a general and way the second night his uncle the governor sent him with the maid as lieutenant of her rear guard the third night his father the governor put the whole maid and all in his especial charge the first night the governor spoke of him as a youth without name or but destined to achieve both the second night his uncle the governor spoke of him as the latest and of the and noblest of the twelve of the third night he spoke of him as the of the whole dozen in three nights he promoted the count of from a acquaintance to and then brother in law at the king s audience everything grew in the same way first the four silver trumpets were twelve then thirty five finally ninety six and by that time he had thrown in so many drums and that he had to the hall from five hundred feet to nine hundred to accommodate them under his hand the people present multiplied in the same large way the first two nights he contented himself with mark twain merely describing and the chief incident of the audience but the third night he added illustration to description he the in his own high chair to represent the sham king then he told how the court watched the maid with intense interest and suppressed merriment expecting to see her by the deception and get herself swept permanently out of credit by the storm of scornful laughter which would follow he worked this scene up till he got his house in a burning fever of excitement and anticipation then came his climax turning to the he said but mark you what she did she gazed upon that sham s villain face as i now gaze upon yours � this being her noble and simple attitude just as i stand now � then turned she � thus � to me and stretching her arm out � so � and pointing with her finger she said in that firm calm tone which she was used to use in directing the conduct of a battle pluck me this false from the throne i forward as i do now took him by the collar and lifted him out and held him aloft � thus � as if he had been but a child the house rose shouting stamping and with their and went fairly mad over this magnificent exhibition of and there was not the shadow of a laugh though the spectacle of the limp but proud hanging there in the air like a held by the of its neck was a thing that had nothing of solemnity about it then i set him down upon his feet � thus � being minded to get him by a better hold and heave him is recollections op op arc out of the window but she bid me forbear so by that r he escaped with his life then she turned her about and viewed the throng with those eyes of hers which are the dear shining windows whence her immortal wisdom out upon the world its and coming at the of truth that is hid within them and presently they fell upon a young man modestly clothed and him she proclaimed for what he truly was saying i am thy servant � thou art the king then all were astonished and a great shout went up the whole six thousand joining in it so that the walls rocked with the volume and the tumult of it he made a fine and picturesque thing of the march out from the audience the glories of it to the last limit of the then he took from his finger and held up a brass nut from a bolt head which the head at the castle had given him that morning and made his conclusion � thus then the king dismissed the maid most graciously � as indeed was her desert � and turning to me said take tliis ring son of the and command me with it in day of need and look you said he touching my temple preserve this brain has use for it and look well to its also for i foresee that it will be with a one day i took the ring and knelt and his hand saying where glory calls there will i be found where danger and death are that is my native air when france and the throne need help � well i say s mark twain ing for i am not of the talking sort � let my deeds speak for me it is all i 