The Life & Times of Mark Twain - 4 Biographical Works in One Edition. Марк Твен

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      “Take him again? Why, he is my dog; you sold him to me, and at your own price.”

      “Yes,” I said, “it is true — but I have to have him, because the man wants him again.”

      “What man?”

      “The man that owns him; he wasn’t my dog.”

      The General looked even more surprised than before, and for a moment he couldn’t seem to find his voice; then he said,

      “Do you mean to tell me that you were selling another man’s dog — and knew it?”

      “Yes, I knew it wasn’t my dog.”

      “Then why did you sell him?”

      I said,

      “Well, that is a curious question to ask. I sold him because you wanted him. You offered to buy the dog; you can’t deny that I was not anxious to sell him — I had not even thought of selling him, but it seemed to me that if it could be any accommodation to you — ”

      He broke me off in the middle, and said,

      “Accommodation to me? It is the most extraordinary spirit of accommodation I have ever heard of — the idea of your selling a dog that didn’t belong to you — ”

      I broke him off there, and said,

      “There is no relevancy about this kind of argument; you said yourself that the dog was probably worth a hundred dollars, I only asked you three; was there anything unfair about that? You offered to pay more, you know you did. I only asked you three; you can’t deny it.”

      “Oh, what in the world has that to do with it! The crux of the matter is that you didn’t own the dog — can’t you see that? You seem to think that there is no impropriety in selling property that isn’t yours provided you sell it cheap. Now, then — ”

      I said,

      “Please don’t argue about it any more. You can’t get around the fact that the price was perfectly fair, perfectly reasonable — considering that I didn’t own the dog — and so arguing about it is only a waste of words. I have to have him back again because the man wants him; don’t you see that I haven’t any choice in the matter? Put yourself in my place. Suppose you had sold a dog that didn’t belong to you; suppose you — ”

      “Oh,” he said, “don’t muddle my brains any more with your idiotic reasonings! Take him along, and give me a rest.”

      So I paid back the three dollars and led the dog downstairs and passed him over to his owner, and collected three for my trouble.

      I went away then with a good conscience, because I had acted honorably; I never could have used the three that I sold the dog for, because it was not rightly my own, but the three I got for restoring him to his rightful owner was righteously and properly mine, because I had earned it. That man might never have gotten that dog back at all, if it hadn’t been for me. My principles have remained to this day what they were then. I was always honest; I know I can never be otherwise. It is as I said in the beginning — I was never able to persuade myself to use money which I had acquired in questionable ways.

      Now, then, that is the tale. Some of it is true.

      Mark Twain.

      MY MARK TWAIN

       By William Dean Howells’

       Main TOC

CONTENTS

       I.

       II.

       III.

       IV.

       V.

       VI.

       VII.

       VIII.

       IX.

       X.

       XI.

       XII.

       XIII.

       XIV.

       XV.

       XVI.

       XVII.

       XIX.

       XX.

       XXI.

       XXII.

       XXIII.

       XXIV.

       XXV.

      I.

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