Page:Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field.djvu/169

 It sees the light of print people will puzzle whether your Joan was saint, witch, man, maid or something else."

Mark had replaced his cigar and was now chewing it viciously.

"Let's have the story," he said. While he read Joan of Arc's ephemeral epitaph, quoted by Lottchen, the stern lines of his face gradually softened and coming to the end, he laughed outright. "Tiptop," he chuckled, "I wish I had done these verses myself. But, of course, if I had thought of them fifteen or more years ago, I would never have taken Joan seriously."

The verses that amused the great humorist, read as follows:

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