CHAPTER XXV

A rushing crowd greets the king and the duke as Peter Wilks’s long-lost brothers. In the Wilks home, the pair stage an extravagant display of mourning at the coffin, moving the townspeople and the three nieces—Mary Jane, Susan, and Joanna—to tears.

The king delivers a tearful speech and invites select town notables to supper and the funeral. He bolsters his credibility by recalling local details learned earlier, then reads Peter’s letter, which details bequests and a hidden $6,000 in the cellar. The king, the duke, and Huck fetch the money, discover it is $415 short, and decide to replace the deficit from their own haul to appear above suspicion.

To further secure trust, the duke proposes—and the king exults—that they count the full $6,000 publicly and then give it to the nieces. They do so, winning overwhelming approval and gratitude from the crowd and the girls.

As the king keeps misusing “funeral orgies,” the duke corrects him by note, but the king brazenly doubles down with fake etymology. Dr. Robinson, arriving later, laughs at the king’s act and denounces the pair as frauds, citing the king’s poor “English” and nonsense.

Though townsfolk try to hush the doctor, Dr. Robinson warns the nieces to cast the impostors out. Mary Jane instead dramatically entrusts the $6,000 to the king for investment without a receipt. The crowd applauds; the doctor washes his hands of the matter and leaves, while the king mocks him, their deception firmly entrenched.