Demon King Cheat System Chapter 4

[Kenneth]

Ireturned to the dingle, Belle had removed the breakfastthings, and was busy in her own encampment: nothing occurred,worthy of being related, for two hours, at the end of which timeBelle departed on a short expedition, and I again found myselfalone in the dingle.

I said that I only wondered that between pope and cardinalsthe whole system of Rome had not long fallen to the ground, andwas told, in reply, that its not having fallen was the strongestproof of its vital power, and the absolute necessity for theexistence of the system. That the system, notwithstandingits occasional disorders, went on. Popes and cardinalsmight prey upon its bowels, and sell its interests, but thesystem survived. The cutting off of this or that member wasnot able to cause Rome any vital loss; for, as soon as she lost amember, the loss was supplied by her own inherent vitality;though her popes had been poisoned by cardinals, and hercardinals by popes; and though priests occasionally poisonedpopes, cardinals, and each other, after all that had been, andmight be, she had still, and would ever have, her priests,cardinals, and pope.

I was about to speak, when I was interrupted by the arrival ofBelle. After unharnessing her donkey, and adjusting herperson a little, she came and sat down by us. In themeantime I had helped my companion to some more hollands andwater, and had plunged with him into yet deeper discourse.

Having told the man in black that I should like to know allthe truth with regard to the Pope and his system, he assured mehe should be delighted to give me all the information in hispower; that he had come to the dingle, not so much for the sakeof the good cheer which I was in the habit of giving him, as inthe hope of inducing me to enlist under the banners of Rome, andto fight in her cause; and that he had no doubt that, by speakingout frankly to me, he ran the best chance of winning me over.

He then proceeded to tell me that the experience of countlessages had proved the necessity of religion; the necessity, hewould admit, was only for simpletons; but as nine-tenths of thedwellers upon this earth were simpletons, it would never do forsensible people to run counter to their folly, but, on thecontrary, it was their wisest course to encourage them in it,always provided that, by so doing, sensible people would deriveadvantage; that the truly sensible people of this world were thepriests, who, without caring a straw for religion for its ownsake, made use of it as a cord by which to draw the simpletonsafter them; that there were many religions in this world, all ofwhich had been turned to excellent account by the priesthood; butthat the one the best adapted for the purposes of priestcraft wasthe popish, which, he said, was the oldest in the world and thebest calculated to endure. On my inquiring what he meant bysaying the popish religion was the oldest in the world, whereasthere could be no doubt that the Greek and Roman religion hadexisted long before it, to say nothing of the old Indian religionstill in existence and vigour; he said, with a nod, after takinga sip at his glass, that, between me and him, the popishreligion, that of Greece and Rome, and the old Indian systemwere, in reality, one and the same.

The eyes of the clergyman, as he uttered these words, wanderedaround the whole congregation; and when he had concluded them,the eyes of the whole congregation were turned upon my companionsand myself.

The service over, my companions and myself returned towardsthe encampment, by the way we came. Some of the humble partof the congregation laughed and joked at us as we passed. Mr. Petulengro and his wife, however, returned their laughs andjokes with interest. As for Tawno and myself, we saidnothing: Tawno, like most handsome fellows, having very little tosay for himself at any time; and myself, though not handsome, notbeing particularly skilful at repartee. Some boys followedus for a considerable time, making all kinds of observationsabout gypsies; but as we walked at a great pace, we graduallyleft them behind, and at last lost sight of them. Mrs.Petulengro and Tawno Chikno walked together, even as they hadcome; whilst Mr. Petulengro and myself followed at a littledistance.

We went into the bar-room, where the landlord and I discussedbetween us two bottles of strong ale, which he said were part ofthe last six which he had in his possession. At first hewished to drink sherry, but I begged him to do no such thing,telling him that sherry would do him no good under the presentcircumstances; nor, indeed, to the best of my belief, under any,it being of all wines the one for which I entertained the mostcontempt. The landlord allowed himself to be dissuaded,and, after a glass or two of ale, confessed that sherry was asickly, disagreeable drink, and that he had merely been in thehabit of taking it from an idea he had that it was genteel. Whilst quaffing our beverage, he gave me an account of thevarious mortifications to which he had of late been subject,dwelling with particular bitterness on the conduct of Hunter, whohe said came every night and mouthed him, and afterwards wentaway without paying for what he had drank or smoked, in whichconduct he was closely imitated by a clan of fellows whoconstantly attended him. After spending several hours atthe public-house I departed, not forgetting to pay for the twobottles of ale. The landlord, before I went, shaking me bythe hand, declared that he had now made up his mind to stick tohis religion at all hazards, the more especially as he wasconvinced he should derive no good by giving it up.

I found the Romany party waiting for me, and everything inreadiness for departing. Mr. Petulengro and Tawno Chiknowere mounted on two old horses. The rest, who intended togo to the fair, amongst whom were two or three women, were onfoot. On arriving at the extremity of the plain, I lookedtowards the dingle. Isopel Berners stood at the mouth, thebeams of the early morning sun shone full on her noble face andfigure. I waved my hand towards her. She slowlylifted up her right arm. I turned away, and never sawIsopel Berners again.

Nothing occurred to me of any particular moment during thefollowing day. Isopel Berners did not return; but Mr.Petulengro and his companions came home from the fair early inthe morning. When I saw him, which was about midday, Ifound him with his face bruised and swelled. It appearedthat, some time after I had left him, he himself perceived thatthe jockeys with whom he was playing cards were cheating him andhis companion; a quarrel ensued, which terminated in a fightbetween Mr. Petulengro and one of the jockeys, which lasted sometime, and in which Mr. Petulengro, though he eventually came offvictor, was considerably beaten. His bruises, inconjunction with his pecuniary loss, which amounted to aboutseven pounds, were the cause of his being much out of humour;before night, however, he had returned to his usual philosophicframe of mind, and, coming up to me as I was walking about,apologized for his behaviour on the preceding day, and assured methat he was determined, from that time forward, never to quarrelwith a friend for giving him good advice.

And now, young man, I will, in the first place, saysomething about the manner in which I quitted you. It musthave seemed somewhat singular to you that I went away withouttaking any leave, or giving you the slightest hint that I wasgoing; but I did not do so without considerable reflection. I was afraid that I should not be able to support a leave-taking;and as you had said that you were determined to go wherever Idid, I thought it best not to tell you at all; for I did notthink it advisable that you should go with me, and I wished tohave no dispute.

However, setting matters of blood and family entirelyaside, many thanks to you, young man, from poor Belle, for thehonour you did her in making that same offer; for, after all, itis an honour to receive an honourable offer, which she could seeclearly yours was, with no floriness nor chaff in it; but, on thecontrary, entire sincerity. She assures you that she shallalways bear it and yourself in mind, whether on land or water;and as a proof of the good-will she bears to you, she sends you alock of the hair which she wears on her head, which you wereoften looking at, and were pleased to call flax, which word shesupposes you meant as a compliment, even as the old people meantto pass a compliment to their great folks, when they called thembears; though she cannot help thinking that they might have foundan animal as strong as a bear, and somewhat less uncouth, to calltheir great folks after: even as she thinks yourself, amongstyour great store of words, might have found something a littlemore genteel to call her hair after than flax, which, thoughstrong and useful, is rather a coarse and common kind ofarticle.

It was rather late on the following morning when Iawoke. At first I was almost unconscious of what hadoccurred on the preceding day; recollection, however, by degreesreturned, and I felt a deep melancholy coming over me, butperfectly aware that no advantage could be derived from theindulgence of such a feeling, I sprang up, prepared my breakfast,which I ate with a tolerable appetite, and then left the dingle,and betook myself to the gypsy encampment, where I entered intodiscourse with various Romanies, both male and female. After some time, feeling myself in better spirits, I determinedto pay another visit to the landlord of the public-house. From the position of his affairs when I had last visited him Ientertained rather gloomy ideas with respect to his presentcircumstances. I imagined that I should either find himalone in his kitchen smoking a wretched pipe, or in company withsome surly bailiff or his follower, whom his friend the brewerhad sent into the house in order to take possession of hiseffects.

Thereupon the landlord, taking a bottle of ale from a basket,uncorked it, and pouring the contents into two large glasses,handed me one, and motioning me to sit down, placed himself byme; then, emptying his own glass at a draught, he gave a kind ofgrunt of satisfaction, and fixing his eyes upon the opposite sideof the bar, remained motionless, without saying a word, buriedapparently in important cogitations. With respect tomyself, I swallowed my ale more leisurely, and was about toaddress my friend, when his niece, coming into the bar, said thatmore and more customers were arriving, and how she should supplytheir wants she did not know, unless her uncle would get and helpher.

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