Forgiveness
- Despereaux goes to the throne room, but the king isn't there. That's when he decides to go into the room where the Mouse Council meets.
- When they see Despereaux all covered in flour with a bloody stump of a tail, all the mice freak out—they think he must be a ghost.
- Despereaux sees his father, Lester, approach him. Lester's gone gray in only a few days. He tells the ghost of his son that he's so sorry; what he did was wrong. He even says that he destroyed the mouse drum.
- The Mouse Council yells at Lester not to apologize to Despereaux's ghost because he did the right thing, but Lester continues to beg for forgiveness.
- Despereaux tells his father that he forgives him, and asks the rest of the Mouse Council to apologize to him too.
- When they refuse, Despereaux just walks out of the room. He doesn't care what the other mice think of him anymore.