Expecting a visit from his beloved Aunt Mary, the narrator is instead confronted by a shabby, insolent dwarf who turns out to be his own conscience. The creature lists every one of his petty sins, explains how consciences work, and grows weaker as its owner gathers courage for a reckoning.
A short, wickedly funny Twain sketch on guilt, first read before a Hartford club in 1876. Download the free EPUB.