Chapters 31-45 Summary and Analysis

Chapter XXXI, "A Thumb-print and What Came of It," is the story of what Twain has to do in Napoleon and why he wants to stay overnight and not de-boat at noon. He once had a friend in Munich whose job it was to watch over the dead bodies right after death to make sure they didn't come back to life. This man had seen his wife and child murdered in front of him and sworn revenge. He later found the two soldiers who had done it, posing as a fortune teller to become their friends. The man, Ritter, then told them he knew what they had done; one of them said that he had just sat by the victims and tried to comfort them, which Ritter knew to be true. That night, Ritter killed the other and fled...