Английский язык с Марком Твеном. Принц и нищий / Mark Twain. The Prince and the Pauper

When the king ate, the rigor of his royal dignity relaxed a little, and with his growing contentment came a desire to talk. He said:

'I think thou callest thyself Miles Hendon, if I heard thee aright?'

'Yes, sire,' Miles replied then observed to himself, 'If I must humor the poor lad's madness, I must sire him, I must majesty him, I must not go by halves, I must stick at nothing that belongeth to the part I play, else shall I play it ill and work evil to this charitable and kindly cause.'

The king warmed his heart with a second glass of wine, and said: 'I would know thee — tell me thy story. Thou hast a gallant way with thee, and a noble — art nobly born?'

'We are of the tail of the nobility, good your majesty. My father is a baronet — one of the smaller lords, by knight service — Sir Richard Hendon, of Hendon Hall, by Monk's Holm in Kent.'

'The name has escaped my memory. Go on — tell me thy story.'