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

'With the master? To save thee thy whipping?'

'Ah, thou dost remember!'

'My memory mendeth, thou seest. Set thy mind at ease — thy back shall go unscathed — I will see to it.'

'Oh, thanks, my good lord!' cried the boy, dropping upon his knee again. 'Mayhap I have ventured far enow; and yet'...

Seeing Master Humphrey hesitate, Tom encouraged him to go on, saying he was 'in the granting mood.'

'Then will I speak it out, for it lieth near my heart. Sith thou art no more Prince of Wales but king, thou canst order matters as thou wilt, with none to say thee nay; wherefore it is not in reason that thou wilt longer vex thyself with dreary studies, but wilt burn thy books and turn thy mind to things less irksome. Then am I ruined, and mine orphan sisters with me!'

'Ruined? Prithee, how?'

'My back is my bread, O my gracious liege! if it go idle, I starve. An thou cease from study, mine office is gone, thou'lt need no whipping-boy. Do not turn me away!'

Tom was touched with this pathetic distress. He said, with a right royal burst of generosity:

'Discomfort thyself no further, lad. Thine office shall be permanent in thee and thy line, forever.' Then he struck the boy a light blow on the shoulder with the flat of his sword, exclaiming, 'Rise, Humphrey Marlow, Hereditary Grand Whipping-Boy to the royal house of England! Banish sorrow — I will betake me to my books again, and study so ill that they must in justice treble thy wage, so mightily shall the business of thine office be augmented.'

The grateful Humphrey responded fervidly (благодарный Хамфри ответил горячо; fervid — горячий, пылкий, страстный):

'Thanks, oh, most noble master (спасибо, о, самый благородный повелитель), this princely lavishness doth far surpass my most distempered dreams of fortune (эта княжеская щедрость далеко превосходит мои самые сумасшедшие мечты об удаче). Now shall I be happy all my days (теперь буду я счастлив все мои дни), and all the house of Marlow after me (и весь дом Марло после меня).'