The Mask Wearer Read Online Free PDF Page A

attention. After a few minutes, Urban called the innkeeper over. The man did not move from behind the bar.
    “There’s a wonderful smell coming from your kitchen!” Frilla said, trying to get his attention. “We’d like to eat and sleep here tonight.”
    The man still did not budge. He simply went on talking with the other customers, not bothering to glance at the Daragons. When the family finally decided to leave, the innkeeper winked to his regular customers.
    “One moment,” he shouted. “You must pay before you head out!”
    “We did not eat, we did not drink, sir,” Urban answered. “So why should we have to pay?”
    “Be informed that we don’t wait on strangers here,” the innkeeper said, beaming with satisfaction. “Yet you’ve enjoyed the aroma of my cooking, for which you must pay. Did you imagine that you could indulge your hunger and not give me a few coins?”
    The other customers burst into laughter. Obviously they were used to hearing the innkeeper extort money from unsuspecting travelers.
    “You must pay or go to jail!” the innkeeper went on.
    Urban refused to open his purse. Three men got up, clubs in their hands, and went to block the exit.
    “Go and bring back a knight,” the innkeeper told one of his friends. “We have a problem here.”
    A few minutes later, the friend returned with a knight. It was Barthelemy.
    “What is going on this time?” asked the weary knight as he walked in.
    “These thieves want to leave without paying,” said the innkeeper. “They inhaled the fragrance of my soup and refuse to pay for it. This is my inn and I can sell whatever I please, even a smell, isn’t that so?”
    Barthelemy recognized the Daragon family.
    “You came to the wrong place, my friends,” he told them. “This inn is probably the worst one in all of Bratel-la-Grande. According to our laws, this man is right; all travelers who stop at the Goat’s Head are swindled in the same way. He uses our laws to his advantage. He’s a crook and there is nothing I can do about it. I must make sure that this man is paid for the kitchen smells you enjoyed. I must also tell you that in case of a dispute, the knights will judge the case. I counsel you to give him something and leave. There is nothing I can do for you.”
    “Very well,” Amos said with a sigh. “We will pay the innkeeper.”
    The whole assembly erupted in laughter again. The trick always worked, and the regular customers always watched the scene unfold with glee.
    Amos took his father’s purse. “We have exactly six gold coins,” he told the innkeeper. “Will that be enough to pay for the scent of a soup that we did not taste?”
    Delighted, the innkeeper rubbed his hands. “But of course, young man! It’s the perfect sum!”
    Amos shook the purse and jingled the coins close to the scoundrel’s ear.
    “Just as we inhaled the smell of a soup that we did not eat,” he said, “now you are paid in kind with the sound of coins that you’ll never pocket.”
    Barthelemy laughed loudly. “I believe that this boy has just settled his and his parents’ debt right in front of my eyes!” he exclaimed.
    The innkeeper stood openmouthed. He was humiliated. He had been outwitted by a child.
    Amos and his parents left, accompanied by Barthelemy. As soon as they were outside the inn, all four of them laughed heartily. However, inside the inn, a profound silence had replaced the mocking laughter.

BEORF
     

 
    A t the suggestion of their new friend Barthelemy, Amos and his parents settled in a nice inn owned by the knight’s mother. They were happy to be able to rest at last. The old blind cat they had adopted lost no time finding a cozy corner to sleep in.
    Urban also found a job at the inn. The roof needed to be replaced. After his father’s death, Barthelemy had become the inn’s caretaker, but in spite of his goodwill, he wasn’t very handy; Urban gladly agreed to take care of whatever needed to be fixed. To compensate him,