Free The Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature) by Mark Twain Page A

made one mad, for pleasure; and we
could not take our eyes from him, and the looks that went out of
our eyes came from our hearts, and their dumb speech was worship.
He brought the dance from heaven, too, and the bliss of paradise
was in it.
    Presently he said he must go away on an errand. But we could
not bear the thought of it, and clung to him, and pleaded with him
to stay; and that pleased him, and he said so; and said he would not
go yet, but would wait a little while and we would sit down and talk a few minutes longer; and he told us Satan was only his real
name and he was to be known by it to us alone, but he had chosen
another one to be called by in presence of others; just a common
one, such as people have-Philip Traum.

    It sounded so odd and mean for such a being! But it was his
decision, and we said nothing; his decision was sufficient.
    We had seen wonders this day; and my thoughts began to run on
the pleasure it would be to tell of them when I got home; but he
noticed those thoughts, and said-
    "No, all these matters are a secret between us four. I do not mind
your trying to tell them, if you like, but I will protect your tongues,
and nothing of the secret will escape from them."
    It was a disappointment, but it couldn't be helped, and it cost us
a sigh or two. We talked pleasantly along, and he was always
reading our thoughts and responding to them, and it seemed to me
that this was the most wonderful of all the things he did; but he
interrupted my musings, and said-
    "No, it would be wonderful for you, but it is not wonderful for
me. I am not limited, like you. I am not subject to human conditions; I can measure and understand your human weaknesses, for I
have studied them; but I have none of them. My flesh is not real,
although it is firm to the touch, my clothes are not real, I am a
spirit. Father Peter is coming." We looked around, but did not see
any one. "He is not in sight yet, but you will see him presently."
    "Do you know him, Satan?"
    "No.
    "Won't you talk with him when he comes? He is not ignorant
and dull, like us, and he would so like to talk with you. Will you?"
    "Another time, yes, but not now. I must go on my errand after a
little. There he is; now you can see him. Sit still, and don't say
anything."
    We looked up and saw Father Peter approaching through the
chestnuts. We three were sitting together in the grass, and Satan
sat in front of us in the path. Father Peter came slowly along with
his head down, thinking, and stopped within a couple of yards of us
and took off }pis hat and got out his silk handkerchief and stood there mopping his face and looking as if he was going to speak to
us, but he didn't. Presently he muttered, "I can't think what
brought me here; it seems as if I was in my study a minute
ago-but I suppose I have been dreaming along for an hour and
have come all this stretch without noticing; for I am not myself in
these troubled days." Then he went mumbling along to himself
and walked straight through Satan, just as if nothing was there. It
made us catch our breath to see it. We had the impulse to cry out,
the way you nearly always do when a startling thing happens, but
something mysteriously restrained us and we remained quiet, only
breathing fast. Then the trees hid Father Peter after a little, and
Satan said-

    "It is as I told you-I am only a spirit."
    "Yes, one perceives it now," said Nikolaus, "but we are not
spirits. It is plain he did not see you, but were we invisible too? He
looked at us, but he didn't seem to see us."
    "No, none of us was visible to him, for I wished it so."
    It seemed almost too good to be true, that we were actually seeing
these romantic and wonderful things, and that it was not a dream.
And there he sat, looking just like anybody-so natural, and simple,
and charming, and chatting along again the same as ever, andwell, words cannot make you understand what we felt. It was an
ecstasy; and an ecstasy is a