Переведите, , не через перевочик 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 or to say. “it seems to me that i remember you, ” he said at last. “but i cannot remember everything, as i am ill.” “oh, my poor master, ” cried the whipping boy, thinking to himself: “it is true — he is mad, the poor fellow. 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 composition in the morning lessons — do you remember it? ” “yes, i think i do, ” answered tom, thinking: “this is not so far from the truth. if / had been having a composition in greek, i should have made not three mistakes, but thirty.” “my lord, your teacher promised to whip me for it and ” “whip you? ” tom cried in surprise. “why did he want to whip you for my mistakes? ” “ah, my lord, he always whips you when you don’t know your lessons.” “true, true — i have forgotten, ” said tom. “since you help me to do my lessons, he says that you don’t teach me well enough, and if i make a mistake ” “teach you, my lord? i, the humblest of your servants? 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. it is my work and i get the wages for it.” “and have they beaten you, my poor friend? ” “no, your majesty, they were going to beat me today, but they didn’t 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 now you will throw all your books away, because nobody can tell you now 260 what to do and what not to do. 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 won’t need any whipping boy and i shall have no work. don’t turn me away.” tom was sorry for the boy. besides, he thought the boy could be useful in the future because he lived in the palace and knew a lot. he said: “rise, humphrey marlow, you and your children will always have the post of whipping boy at the royal house of england. very soon i shall take my books again and study so badly that you will get money three times more than before.” “oh, thank you, my lord! now 1 shall be happy as long as i live, ” cried out the boy. tom asked humphrey to talk about the people in the palace and the prince’s lessons in the schoolroom. by the end of an hour he knew a lot of things about the prince; so he decided to talk with humphrey more the other day. (from the prince and the pauper by mark twain)