Chapter 14

THE WHIPPING-BOY

In the afternoon Tom had a few moments to himself, and a lad of about twelve years of age was brought in to him. He came up to Tom with his head bowed and fell on one knee before him.

Tom sat still and looked at the lad in silence a moment. Then he said:

" Rise, lad! Who are you? What do you want? "

The boy rose and said:

" You must remember me, my lord. I am your whipping-boy. "

" My whipping-boy? "

" Yes, my lord. I am Humphrey Marlow. "

Tom did not know what to do.

" It seems to me that I remember you, " he said at last: " But I can't remember well, as I am ill. "

" Oh, my poor master, " cried the whipping-boy, thinking to himself: " It is true — he is mad. But I forget-I was told not to notice that anything was wrong with him. "

" I often forget many things these days, " said Tom: " But pay no attention to it. Just tell me what you want. "

" Two days ago when your majesty made three mistakes in your Greek in the morning lessons — do you remember it? "

" Yes, I think I do. "

" Your teacher promised to whip me for it and... "

" Whip you? " said Tom in surprise. " Why did he want to whip you for my mistakes? "

" Ah, my lord, you have forgotten again. He always whips me when you do not know your lessons. "

" True, true — I have forgotten, " said Tom. " Since you teach me first, he says that you do not know how to teach me well, and if I make a mistake... "

" Oh, my lord! What are you saying? I, your servant, teach you? Never! But this is how it is: nobody may strike the Prince of Wales, so when he makes mistakes, I — his whipping-boy — get the blows. And that is right — it is my work and I get my wages for it. "

Tom looked at the boy and said:

" And have they beaten you, my poor friend? "

" No, your majesty, they were going to beat me today, but they did not do it because of the death of the king. Now you are no more Prince of Wales, you are the King of England, and I am afraid that you will not continue your studies. You will burn your books and turn the teachers away. Then I am lost and my poor sisters with me. "

" Lost? Why? "

" My back is my bread. Oh, my lord! If you stop studying, you will not need any whipping-boy and I shall have no work. Don't turn me away. "

Tom was sorry for the boy. He said:

" Rise, Humphrey Marlow, you will always have the post of whipping-boy at the royal house of England. I shall take my books again and study so badly that you will get money three times more than before. "

" Oh, thanks, my dear master! Now I shall be happy all my days, " cried Humphrey.

Tom was clever enough to understand that Humphrey could be useful to him. He asked Humphrey to talk about the people in the palace and the prince's lessons in the school-room. At the end of an hour he knew many things about the prince; so he decided to talk with Humphrey every day.

After Humphrey had gone, Lord Hertford came with some news for Tom. The Lords of the Council asked his majesty to dine in public in a day or two in order to show everybody that he was all right. Lord Hertford wanted to instruct Tom. But to his great joy, Tom needed very little instruction (thanks to Humphrey). Seeing that his memory was so much better, Lord Hertford decided to ask Tom about the Great Seal. But Tom did not know what it was.

" What was it like, my lord? " asked Tom.

" Oh, he is still mad, " thought Lord Hertford, and he began to talk about other things, trying to make Tom forget the Seal.

1. Answer the questions.

1) One day Tom met his whipping-boy, didn’t he?

2) What did Tom learn from him?

3) What did the whipping-boy ask Tom about?

4) Tom decided to talk with Humphrey every day, didn’t he?

5) What did Lord Hertford ask Tom about?

2. Tell the story of a whipping-boy from Tom’s point of view.

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