The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Chapter 33

Chapter 26

After everyone left, the king asked Mary?Jane, do you have any spare room at home?She said she had one room for Uncle William, and she would give her room to Uncle Harvey, her room was bigger, and she could sleep with her sisters, besides, there was a cabin in the attic with a bed cot.The king said the hut could accommodate his servants—meaning he meant.

Mary?Jane took us up-stairs, and showed us their room, which was plain, but quite nice.She said that if Uncle Harvey was inconvenient with her clothes in the house, she could move them out, but he said they were all right.Her clothes hung on the wall, and in front of it was a flowered curtain that stretched to the floor.There was an old mane-weaving box in one corner, a guitar case in another, and all the knick-knacks the girls used to decorate the house.The king said that it was more family and pleasant to have these things, so it was better not to touch them.The duke's house was rather small, but good enough, and my attic room was not bad either.

The supper that day was very rich, and many people came to eat, and I stood behind the king and duke and waited on them, and the negroes waited on the others.Mary?Jane sat at the head of the table, and Susan sat next to her, and kept complaining, saying that the muffins were bad, that the pickles didn't taste right, that the fried chicken was too hard and tasteless... and so on. The nonsense that the women say is nothing more than to get some compliments from the guests.People know everything is top-notch, so they say, "How do you make your muffins so dark, and why do they taste so delicious?" "Where did you get such delicious pickles?" These are the commonplaces that people talk about at the dinner table.

After people finished eating, I ate some leftovers in the kitchen with Rabbit Mouth, and the others helped the black people clean up the dishes.Rabbit mouth kept asking me about things in Britain, and a few times, I almost gave away my words.she asked:

"Have you seen the king?"

"Who? William IV? Of course. He went to our church." I knew he had been dead for years, but I didn't tell her.I said he went to our church, and she asked:
"What, do you go often?"

"Yes, often. His seat is directly opposite ours, across from the pulpit."

"I thought he lived in London, didn't he?"

"Oh, yes, where else can he live if he doesn't live there?"

"But don't you live in Sheffield?"

She stumped me now, so I pretended I had a chicken bone stuck in my throat so I could spend some time thinking about how to step down.Later I said:
"I mean he used to come to our church when he was in Sheffield. He only came in the summer, because he was going there to take a sea bath."

"Well, what do you mean by that—Sheffield isn't on the seashore?"

"Hey, who said it was by the sea?"

"You said so."

"I didn't say that at all."

"you said before."

"I did not say."

"you said before."

"I never said that at all."

"Okay, so what did you just say?"

"I said he was going there to take a sea bath."

"That's wrong, your place is not by the sea, how can he take a sea bath?"

"Listen to me," I said, "do you know the 'Congress Springs' (the mineral water in the 'Congress' spring in Saratoga, New York, USA—original note.)?"

"know."

"So you have to go to 'Congress' to get that water?"

"Of course not."

"That's wrong. Does William IV have to go to the seaside to take a sea bath?"

"Then how did he get sea water?"

"Just like we do with 'Parliamentary Springs' - in buckets. In Sheffield's palace, there's a stove, and he likes to bathe in hot water. They can't heat all the water from the sea, because they don't have that equipment." "Ah, I understand that. If you said that earlier, wouldn't you have saved time?"

Hearing what she said, I knew that my troubles were over again, and I felt very comfortable and happy in my heart.Then she asked again:
"Do you go to church too?"

"Yes, often."

"Where are you sitting?"

"Do you need to ask, of course it is in our seat."

"Whose seat is it?"

"Of course it's our seat—your Uncle Harvey's seat."

"His seat? What does he want a seat for?"

"Sit there. What do you say he wants the seat for?"

"I think he should be in the pulpit."

As luck would have it, I forgot he was a priest.Now I'm going to show off again, I quickly ate another chicken bone, thought about it, and then said:
"Hell, you think there's only one pastor in a church?"

"Why? What's the use of several pastors in a church?"

"What's the use!—to preach before the king, what's the use of having too many priests? I never saw such a silly girl as you. There are seventeen priests!"

"Seventeen! My God! I'm never going to heaven, and I'm never going to listen to so many pastors talking on and on. Isn't that going to be talking for a week?"

"Bullshit, they don't preach on the same day - just one at a time."

"So, what are the others doing?"

"Ah, there's not much to do. Walk around, pass a collection plate, or do some errands, but they don't usually have much to do."

"So, what do you want them to do?"

"What are you doing? Just pretending. Why don't you understand anything?"

"Well, I don't want to understand such nonsense. How do the English treat their servants? Is it better than we treat blacks?"

"Not at all! A servant isn't a human being there. They treat dogs much better than servants."

"Do they give servants a holiday like we do? Like a week at Christmas and New Years, and the Fourth of July."

"Let me tell you, when you ask that, it's obvious that you've never been to England. Well, Rabbit... Oh, Joanna, the servants never have a day off all year round, never go to the circus, never go to the theater, can't Go to a black person show and don't even think about going anywhere."

"Can't you go to church?"

"You can't go to church either."

"But you said you went to church a lot."

Oops, I slipped my tongue again.I forgot that I was the old man's servant.But I immediately came up with a set of explanations, saying that I was a personal servant, not an ordinary servant, and whether he wanted to or not, I had to go to church to sit with my family, and said it was required by law.But I didn't explain it very well, and when I finished I saw that she was not satisfied.she says:
"Tell me the truth, did you tell a lie just now?"

"Everything is true," I said.

"Not a single lie?"

"Not a lie. Not a sham," I said.

"Put your hand on this book and swear."

I looked at it and saw that it was just a dictionary. Since it wasn't a "Bible", I put my hand on it and swore.Only then did she feel a little more satisfied, and said:
"Well, I believe some of what you said, but I can't believe some of it."

"What can't you believe, Sister Joanna?" At this time Mary?Jane and Suzanne came in and stood behind her. "It's not proper or polite for you to speak to him like that. He's staying with us away from his kindred. If it were you, would you want to be treated like this?"

"Mary, you're always like this, and he hasn't been wronged, but you just come to rescue him. I didn't say anything to offend him. I saw him say a lot of things that didn't make sense. Faith, that's all. I reckon he can stand a little thing like that, can't he?"

"I don't care if it's a big or small thing. He's a guest at our house now. It's not good for you to say that. If you were in his position, you would feel embarrassed. So, you shouldn't say things that make others feel embarrassed. "

"But, Mary, he said..."

"It doesn't matter what he says, that's not the problem. The problem is that you should be kind and polite to him, and don't make him feel that he is not in his own country, not with his family."

I thought to myself: I'm helping that old wretch steal money from such a good girl!
Then Susan came in too, and, believe it or not, she scolded Rabbit Mouth.

I thought again: I am helping him steal money from another good girl!
Then, Mary?Jane taught the rabbit a lesson, and comforted her for a while after speaking, which is her style.But after hearing what she said, that poor rabbit mouth didn't say anything anymore, and began to cry.

"Well, well," said the two sisters, "you apologize to him."

She politely apologized.What she said was so beautiful, I wish I had told her a thousand lies to hear her apologizing.

I thought to myself again: I am helping him steal money from another good girl.When she was done talking, they all tried to make me feel comfortable and make me feel like I was with a good friend.This made me feel even more mean and shameless, and I thought to myself, I've made up my mind to get them the money back, if I risk my life.

With that in mind, I leave them.I said I was going to sleep, but in fact I don't want to sleep right now.When I was alone, I thought about it a lot.I first consider whether I should go to the doctor and confess these two crooks?No - it won't work.Maybe he'll tell who told him it, and then the king and duke will make me go round and round.Shall I whisper this to Mary?simple?No—I dare not do that.Her expression will definitely tell the truth, the money is with them, and they will definitely slip away with it.If she'd gone for help, I'm sure she'd have me in it before it was over.No, there's nothing good about it except one: I've got to find a way to steal the money before they suspect me.They're doing so well here that they won't leave until they've got everything they can get their hands on in this house and this town.I'm going to steal the money and hide it and give it to Mary when I'm down the river?Write Jane a letter and tell her where the money is hidden.But I'd better steal it tonight, because the doctor said he didn't care about it, but he didn't really care, he might scare them away.

I thought, I'm going to find their room and search.The upstairs corridor was quite dark, but I found the Duke's room and groped around with my hands.Then it occurred to me that the king probably wouldn't let anyone else keep the money, but he must have kept it for himself.So I went into his house and looked around.I found it impossible to do without a candle, but of course I dared not light one.So I decided to do something different: stay here and wait to eavesdrop on what they had to say.At this moment, I heard their footsteps getting closer. I wanted to get under the bed, so I groped there, but the bed was not where I thought it was. As a result, I touched Mary?Jane hurriedly got behind the cloth curtain where she hung her clothes, stood motionless in the middle of the clothes and hid herself.

They come in and close the door.The first thing the Duke did when he came in was to see if anyone was under the bed.I couldn't help being glad I didn't find the bed.If people want to eavesdrop on something, they will naturally think of hiding under the bed.They both sat down, and the king said:
"What's the matter with you? You cut me off in the middle of my talk. We'd better stay down there and talk to people about the dead. Isn't that better than giving people a chance to say us?"

"It's like this, Gabe, this thing makes me feel uncomfortable, something is wrong. The doctor's shadow is always dangling in my mind. I want to know your plan. I have an idea too, I think, this It's a safer idea."

"What idea, Duke?"

"We'd better get out of here before three o'clock in the morning and take what we've got and run downriver. It's such an easy money, we were going to steal it back, but it's returned to us, It's like it just fell from the sky. I'm advocating getting it over with and getting out of here."

When I heard it, my heart sank immediately.An hour or so ago, I was thinking a little differently, but now I feel sad and disappointed.The king got angry and said:

"What! Don't you sell other properties? Are we like two big fools who saw 9000 yuan property waiting for someone to grab it, but left it and ran away? That's the best stuff to sell."

The duke grumbled and complained that the sack of gold was enough, and he didn't want to go any further—he didn't want to rob the orphans of everything.

"What do you say!" said the king. "We're not going to take anything from them except the money. It's unlucky whoever bought their property, because after we slip away, they will find that we are not the owners of the property, and the deal will be void. , everything that is sold must be returned to the original owner. These orphans can still get their house back. With a house, they are enough. They are still young and energetic, and they can earn their own money to live. I can't stand it. What a pain. Come to think of it, there are millions of people who don't have a better life than them. Damn, they shouldn't complain."

The king had nothing to say to him, and at last he had to give in, but he said he still thought it was foolish to stay, and the doctor was always watching them.The king said:
"To hell with that doctor! Are we still afraid that he won't succeed? Don't we have the support of so many fools in the town? Which town has so many people not count as the majority?"

After talking, they planned to go downstairs again.duke said:

"I don't think we have safe places to hide our money."

I immediately became happy when I heard it.I'm already beginning to think that there won't be any clues as to where the money is hidden.Just listen to the king say:

"why?"

"Because Mary? Jane will wear mourning clothes in the future. The black slaves who clean up this room will obey her orders and come here to pack up all these clothes. Can you guarantee that a black man will not take the money when he sees it?"

"Your wit is clear again," said the King, and began to grope under the curtain within two or three feet of me.I pressed against the wall tightly, not daring to breathe, but my body was trembling.I was thinking about what they would say if they found out I was here; and I was starting to think about what I'd better do if they did find out.But halfway through I thought of it, the king had found the purse, and he never suspected that I was near.They put the purse in a slit in the straw mattress under the duvet, and pushed it a foot or two into the grass, and said it was all right now, because when niggers come to the shop they only do the duvet and the straw mattress takes two. It only turns over once a year, so the money will not be stolen.

But I know it all too well.They hadn't been halfway down the stairs before I got the purse out of there.I groped my way up to the attic and hid it in my room until I found a better opportunity to put it in a better place.I think it's best to hide the money somewhere outside the house because they're going to turn the house upside down if they don't find it, I know that very well.Then I went to bed with my clothes on, but couldn't sleep no matter how much I wanted to, and I was anxious to get this thing done.Then I heard the king and the duke coming up the stairs, and I slipped out of bed, and put my chin on the top of the ladder, and waited to see what happened.But nothing happened.

I waited and waited until all the noises in the middle of the night disappeared, and the busy morning noises hadn't started yet, so I quietly went downstairs along the ladder.

(End of this chapter)