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diff --git a/old/fntlr10.txt b/old/fntlr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1930608 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/fntlr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7124 @@ +*****The Project Gutenberg Etext of Little Lord Fauntleroy***** +#7 in our series by Frances Hodgson Burnett + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Scanned by Charles Keller with +OmniPage Professional OCR software +donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + + + + + +LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY +BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT + + + + +I + +Cedric himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never been +even mentioned to him. He knew that his papa had been an +Englishman, because his mamma had told him so; but then his papa +had died when he was so little a boy that he could not remember +very much about him, except that he was big, and had blue eyes +and a long mustache, and that it was a splendid thing to be +carried around the room on his shoulder. Since his papa's death, +Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to his mamma +about him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent away, +and when he had returned, everything was over; and his mother, +who had been very ill, too, was only just beginning to sit in her +chair by the window. She was pale and thin, and all the dimples +had gone from her pretty face, and her eyes looked large and +mournful, and she was dressed in black. + +"Dearest," said Cedric (his papa had called her that always, +and so the little boy had learned to say it),--"dearest, is my +papa better?" + +He felt her arms tremble, and so he turned his curly head and +looked in her face. There was something in it that made him feel +that he was going to cry. + +"Dearest," he said, "is he well?" + +Then suddenly his loving little heart told him that he'd better +put both his arms around her neck and kiss her again and again, +and keep his soft cheek close to hers; and he did so, and she +laid her face on his shoulder and cried bitterly, holding him as +if she could never let him go again. + +"Yes, he is well," she sobbed; "he is quite, quite well, but +we--we have no one left but each other. No one at all." + +Then, little as he was, he understood that his big, handsome +young papa would not come back any more; that he was dead, as he +had heard of other people being, although he could not comprehend +exactly what strange thing had brought all this sadness about. +It was because his mamma always cried when he spoke of his papa +that he secretly made up his mind it was better not to speak of +him very often to her, and he found out, too, that it was better +not to let her sit still and look into the fire or out of the +window without moving or talking. He and his mamma knew very few +people, and lived what might have been thought very lonely lives, +although Cedric did not know it was lonely until he grew older +and heard why it was they had no visitors. Then he was told that +his mamma was an orphan, and quite alone in the world when his +papa had married her. She was very pretty, and had been living +as companion to a rich old lady who was not kind to her, and one +day Captain Cedric Errol, who was calling at the house, saw her +run up the stairs with tears on her eyelashes; and she looked so +sweet and innocent and sorrowful that the Captain could not +forget her. And after many strange things had happened, they +knew each other well and loved each other dearly, and were +married, although their marriage brought them the ill-will of +several persons. The one who was most angry of all, however, was +the Captain's father, who lived in England, and was a very rich +and important old nobleman, with a very bad temper and a very +violent dislike to America and Americans. He had two sons older +than Captain Cedric; and it was the law that the elder of these +sons should inherit the family title and estates, which were very +rich and splendid; if the eldest son died, the next one would be +heir; so, though he was a member of such a great family, there +was little chance that Captain Cedric would be very rich himself. + +But it so happened that Nature had given to the youngest son +gifts which she had not bestowed upon his elder brothers. He had +a beautiful face and a fine, strong, graceful figure; he had a +bright smile and a sweet, gay voice; he was brave and generous, +and had the kindest heart in the world, and seemed to have the +power to make every one love him. And it was not so with his +elder brothers; neither of them was handsome, or very kind, or +clever. When they were boys at Eton, they were not popular; when +they were at college, they cared nothing for study, and wasted +both time and money, and made few real friends. The old Earl, +their father, was constantly disappointed and humiliated by them; +his heir was no honor to his noble name, and did not promise to +end in being anything but a selfish, wasteful, insignificant man, +with no manly or noble qualities. It was very bitter, the old +Earl thought, that the son who was only third, and would have +only a very small fortune, should be the one who had all the +gifts, and all the charms, and all the strength and beauty. +Sometimes he almost hated the handsome young man because he +seemed to have the good things which should have gone with the +stately title and the magnificent estates; and yet, in the depths +of his proud, stubborn old heart, he could not help caring very +much for his youngest son. It was in one of his fits of +petulance that he sent him off to travel in America; he thought +he would send him away for a while, so that he should not be made +angry by constantly contrasting him with his brothers, who were +at that time giving him a great deal of trouble by their wild +ways. + +But, after about six months, he began to feel lonely, and longed +in secret to see his son again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric and +ordered him home. The letter he wrote crossed on its way a +letter the Captain had just written to his father, telling of his +love for the pretty American girl, and of his intended marriage; +and when the Earl received that letter he was furiously angry. +Bad as his temper was, he had never given way to it in his life +as he gave way to it when he read the Captain's letter. His +valet, who was in the room when it came, thought his lordship +would have a fit of apoplexy, he was so wild with anger. For an +hour he raged like a tiger, and then he sat down and wrote to his +son, and ordered him never to come near his old home, nor to +write to his father or brothers again. He told him he might live +as he pleased, and die where he pleased, that he should be cut +off from his family forever, and that he need never expect help +from his father as long as he lived. + +The Captain was very sad when he read the letter; he was very +fond of England, and he dearly loved the beautiful home where he +had been born; he had even loved his ill-tempered old father, and +had sympathized with him in his disappointments; but he knew he +need expect no kindness from him in the future. At first he +scarcely knew what to do; he had not been brought up to work, and +had no business experience, but he had courage and plenty of +determination. So he sold his commission in the English army, +and after some trouble found a situation in New York, and +married. The change from his old life in England was very great, +but he was young and happy, and he hoped that hard work would do +great things for him in the future. He had a small house on a +quiet street, and his little boy was born there, and everything +was so gay and cheerful, in a simple way, that he was never sorry +for a moment that he had married the rich old lady's pretty +companion just because she was so sweet and he loved her and she +loved him. She was very sweet, indeed, and her little boy was +like both her and his father. Though he was born in so quiet and +cheap a little home, it seemed as if there never had been a more +fortunate baby. In the first place, he was always well, and so +he never gave any one trouble; in the second place, he had so +sweet a temper and ways so charming that he was a pleasure to +every one; and in the third place, he was so beautiful to look at +that he was quite a picture. Instead of being a bald-headed +baby, he started in life with a quantity of soft, fine, +gold-colored hair, which curled up at the ends, and went into +loose rings by the time he was six months old; he had big brown +eyes and long eyelashes and a darling little face; he had so +strong a back and such splendid sturdy legs, that at nine months +he learned suddenly to walk; his manners were so good, for a +baby, that it was delightful to make his acquaintance. He seemed +to feel that every one was his friend, and when any one spoke to +him, when he was in his carriage in the street, he would give the +stranger one sweet, serious look with the brown eyes, and then +follow it with a lovely, friendly smile; and the consequence was, +that there was not a person in the neighborhood of the quiet +street where he lived--even to the groceryman at the corner, who +was considered the crossest creature alive--who was not pleased +to see him and speak to him. And every month of his life he grew +handsomer and more interesting. + +When he was old enough to walk out with his nurse, dragging a +small wagon and wearing a short white kilt skirt, and a big white +hat set back on his curly yellow hair, he was so handsome and +strong and rosy that he attracted every one's attention, and his +nurse would come home and tell his mamma stories of the ladies +who had stopped their carriages to look at and speak to him, and +of how pleased they were when he talked to them in his cheerful +little way, as if he had known them always. His greatest charm +was this cheerful, fearless, quaint little way of making friends +with people. I think it arose from his having a very confiding +nature, and a kind little heart that sympathized with every one, +and wished to make every one as comfortable as he liked to be +himself. It made him very quick to understand the feelings of +those about him. Perhaps this had grown on him, too, because he +had lived so much with his father and mother, who were always +loving and considerate and tender and well-bred. He had never +heard an unkind or uncourteous word spoken at home; he had always +been loved and caressed and treated tenderly, and so his childish +soul was full of kindness and innocent warm feeling. He had +always heard his mamma called by pretty, loving names, and so he +used them himself when he spoke to her; he had always seen that +his papa watched over her and took great care of her, and so he +learned, too, to be careful of her. + +So when he knew his papa would come back no more, and saw how +very sad his mamma was, there gradually came into his kind little +heart the thought that he must do what he could to make her +happy. He was not much more than a baby, but that thought was in +his mind whenever he climbed upon her knee and kissed her and put +his curly head on her neck, and when he brought his toys and +picture-books to show her, and when he curled up quietly by her +side as she used to lie on the sofa. He was not old enough to +know of anything else to do, so he did what he could, and was +more of a comfort to her than he could have understood. + +"Oh, Mary!" he heard her say once to her old servant; "I am +sure he is trying to help me in his innocent way--I know he is. +He looks at me sometimes with a loving, wondering little look, as +if he were sorry for me, and then he will come and pet me or show +me something. He is such a little man, I really think he +knows." + +As he grew older, he had a great many quaint little ways which +amused and interested people greatly. He was so much of a +companion for his mother that she scarcely cared for any other. +They used to walk together and talk together and play together. +When he was quite a little fellow, he learned to read; and after +that he used to lie on the hearth-rug, in the evening, and read +aloud--sometimes stories, and sometimes big books such as older +people read, and sometimes even the newspaper; and often at such +times Mary, in the kitchen, would hear Mrs. Errol laughing with +delight at the quaint things he said. + +"And; indade," said Mary to the groceryman, "nobody cud help +laughin' at the quare little ways of him--and his ould-fashioned +sayin's! Didn't he come into my kitchen the noight the new +Prisident was nominated and shtand afore the fire, lookin' loike +a pictur', wid his hands in his shmall pockets, an' his innocent +bit of a face as sayrious as a jedge? An' sez he to me: `Mary,' +sez he, `I'm very much int'rusted in the 'lection,' sez he. `I'm +a 'publican, an' so is Dearest. Are you a 'publican, Mary?' +`Sorra a bit,' sez I; `I'm the bist o' dimmycrats!' An' he looks +up at me wid a look that ud go to yer heart, an' sez he: `Mary,' +sez he, `the country will go to ruin.' An' nivver a day since +thin has he let go by widout argyin' wid me to change me +polytics." + +Mary was very fond of him, and very proud of him, too. She had +been with his mother ever since he was born; and, after his +father's death, had been cook and housemaid and nurse and +everything else. She was proud of his graceful, strong little +body and his pretty manners, and especially proud of the bright +curly hair which waved over his forehead and fell in charming +love-locks on his shoulders. She was willing to work early and +late to help his mamma make his small suits and keep them in +order. + +"'Ristycratic, is it?" she would say. "Faith, an' I'd loike +to see the choild on Fifth Avey-NOO as looks loike him an' shteps +out as handsome as himself. An' ivvery man, woman, and choild +lookin' afther him in his bit of a black velvet skirt made out of +the misthress's ould gownd; an' his little head up, an' his curly +hair flyin' an' shinin'. It's loike a young lord he looks." + +Cedric did not know that he looked like a young lord; he did not +know what a lord was. His greatest friend was the groceryman at +the corner--the cross groceryman, who was never cross to him. +His name was Mr. Hobbs, and Cedric admired and respected him very +much. He thought him a very rich and powerful person, he had so +many things in his store,--prunes and figs and oranges and +biscuits,--and he had a horse and wagon. Cedric was fond of the +milkman and the baker and the apple-woman,, but he liked Mr.Hobbs +best of all, and was on terms of such intimacy with him that he +went to see him every day, and often sat with him quite a long +time, discussing the topics of the hour. It was quite surprising +how many things they found to talk about--the Fourth of July, for +instance. When they began to talk about the Fourth of July there +really seemed no end to it. Mr. Hobbs had a very bad opinion of +"the British," and he told the whole story of the Revolution, +relating very wonderful and patriotic stories about the villainy +of the enemy and the bravery of the Revolutionary heroes, and he +even generously repeated part of the Declaration of Independence. + +Cedric was so excited that his eyes shone and his cheeks were red +and his curls were all rubbed and tumbled into a yellow mop. He +could hardly wait to eat his dinner after he went home, he was so +anxious to tell his mamma. It was, perhaps, Mr. Hobbs who gave +him his first interest in politics. Mr. Hobbs was fond of +reading the newspapers, and so Cedric heard a great deal about +what was going on in Washington; and Mr. Hobbs would tell him +whether the President was doing his duty or not. And once, when +there was an election, he found it all quite grand, and probably +but for Mr. Hobbs and Cedric the country might have been wrecked. + +Mr. Hobbs took him to see a great torchlight procession, and many +of the men who carried torches remembered afterward a stout man +who stood near a lamp-post and held on his shoulder a handsome +little shouting boy, who waved his cap in the air. + +It was not long after this election, when Cedric was between +seven and eight years old, that the very strange thing happened +which made so wonderful a change in his life. It was quite +curious, too, that the day it happened he had been talking to Mr. +Hobbs about England and the Queen, and Mr. Hobbs had said some +very severe things about the aristocracy, being specially +indignant against earls and marquises. It had been a hot +morning; and after playing soldiers with some friends of his, +Cedric had gone into the store to rest, and had found Mr. Hobbs +looking very fierce over a piece of the Illustrated London News, +which contained a picture of some court ceremony. + +"Ah," he said, "that's the way they go on now; but they'll get +enough of it some day, when those they've trod on rise and blow +'em up sky-high,--earls and marquises and all! It's coming, and +they may look out for it!" + +Cedric had perched himself as usual on the high stool and pushed +his hat back, and put his hands in his pockets in delicate +compliment to Mr. Hobbs. + +"Did you ever know many marquises, Mr. Hobbs?" Cedric +inquired,--"or earls?" + +"No," answered Mr. Hobbs, with indignation; "I guess not. I'd +like to catch one of 'em inside here; that's all! I'll have no +grasping tyrants sittin' 'round on my cracker-barrels!" + +And he was so proud of the sentiment that he looked around +proudly and mopped his forehead. + +"Perhaps they wouldn't be earls if they knew any better," said +Cedric, feeling some vague sympathy for their unhappy condition. + +"Wouldn't they!" said Mr. Hobbs. "They just glory in it! +It's in 'em. They're a bad lot." + +They were in the midst of their conversation, when Mary appeared. + +Cedric thought she had come to buy some sugar, perhaps, but she +had not. She looked almost pale and as if she were excited about +something. + +"Come home, darlint," she said; "the misthress is wantin' +yez." + +Cedric slipped down from his stool. + +"Does she want me to go out with her, Mary?" he asked. +"Good-morning, Mr. Hobbs. I'll see you again." + +He was surprised to see Mary staring at him in a dumfounded +fashion, and he wondered why she kept shaking her head. + +"What's the matter, Mary?" he said. "Is it the hot weather?" + +"No," said Mary; "but there's strange things happenin' to +us." + +"Has the sun given Dearest a headache?" he inquired anxiously. + +But it was not that. When he reached his own house there was a +coupe standing before the door. and some one was in the little +parlor talking to his mamma. Mary hurried him upstairs and put +on his best summer suit of cream-colored flannel, with the red +scarf around his waist, and combed out his curly locks. + +"Lords, is it?" he heard her say. "An' the nobility an' +gintry. Och! bad cess to them! Lords, indade--worse luck." + +It was really very puzzling, but he felt sure his mamma would +tell him what all the excitement meant, so he allowed Mary to +bemoan herself without asking many questions. When he was +dressed, he ran downstairs and went into the parlor. A tall, +thin old gentleman with a sharp face was sitting in an +arm-chair. His mother was standing near by with a pale face, and +he saw that there were tears in her eyes. + +"Oh! Ceddie!" she cried out, and ran to her little boy and +caught him in her arms and kissed him in a frightened, troubled +way. "Oh! Ceddie, darling!" + +The tall old gentleman rose from his chair and looked at Cedric +with his sharp eyes. He rubbed his thin chin with his bony hand +as he looked. + +He seemed not at all displeased. + +"And so," he said at last, slowly,--"and so this is little +Lord Fauntleroy." + + + +II + +There was never a more amazed little boy than Cedric during the +week that followed; there was never so strange or so unreal a +week. In the first place, the story his mamma told him was a +very curious one. He was obliged to hear it two or three times +before he could understand it. He could not imagine what Mr. +Hobbs would think of it. It began with earls: his grandpapa, +whom he had never seen, was an earl; and his eldest uncle, if he +had not been killed by a fall from his horse, would have been an +earl, too, in time; and after his death, his other uncle would +have been an earl, if he had not died suddenly, in Rome, of a +fever. After that, his own papa, if he had lived, would have +been an earl, but, since they all had died and only Cedric was +left, it appeared that HE was to be an earl after his grandpapa's +death--and for the present he was Lord Fauntleroy. + +He turned quite pale when he was first told of it. + +"Oh! Dearest!" he said, "I should rather not be an earl. +None of the boys are earls. Can't I NOT be one?" + +But it seemed to be unavoidable. And when, that evening, they +sat together by the open window looking out into the shabby +street, he and his mother had a long talk about it. Cedric sat +on his footstool, clasping one knee in his favorite attitude and +wearing a bewildered little face rather red from the exertion of +thinking. His grandfather had sent for him to come to England, +and his mamma thought he must go. + +"Because," she said, looking out of the window with sorrowful +eyes, "I know your papa would wish it to be so, Ceddie. He +loved his home very much; and there are many things to be thought +of that a little boy can't quite understand. I should be a +selfish little mother if I did not send you. When you are a man, +you will see why." + +Ceddie shook his head mournfully. + +"I shall be very sorry to leave Mr. Hobbs," he said. "I'm +afraid he'll miss me, and I shall miss him. And I shall miss +them all." + +When Mr. Havisham--who was the family lawyer of the Earl of +Dorincourt, and who had been sent by him to bring Lord Fauntleroy +to England--came the next day, Cedric heard many things. But, +somehow, it did not console him to hear that he was to be a very +rich man when he grew up, and that he would have castles here and +castles there, and great parks and deep mines and grand estates +and tenantry. He was troubled about his friend, Mr. Hobbs, and +he went to see him at the store soon after breakfast, in great +anxiety of mind. + +He found him reading the morning paper, and he approached him +with a grave demeanor. He really felt it would be a great shock +to Mr. Hobbs to hear what had befallen him, and on his way to the +store he had been thinking how it would be best to break the +news. + +"Hello!" said Mr. Hobbs. "Mornin'!" + +"Good-morning," said Cedric. + +He did not climb up on the high stool as usual, but sat down on a +cracker-box and clasped his knee, and was so silent for a few +moments that Mr. Hobbs finally looked up inquiringly over the top +of his newspaper. + +"Hello!" he said again. + +Cedric gathered all his strength of mind together. + +"Mr. Hobbs," he said, "do you remember what we were talking +about yesterday morning?" + +"Well," replied Mr. Hobbs,--"seems to me it was England." + +"Yes," said Cedric; "but just when Mary came for me, you +know?" + +Mr. Hobbs rubbed the back of his head. + +"We WAS mentioning Queen Victoria and the aristocracy." + +"Yes," said Cedric, rather hesitatingly, "and--and earls; +don't you know?" + +"Why, yes," returned Mr. Hobbs; "we DID touch 'em up a little; +that's so!" + +Cedric flushed up to the curly bang on his forehead. Nothing so +embarrassing as this had ever happened to him in his life. He +was a little afraid that it might be a trifle embarrassing to Mr. +Hobbs, too. + +"You said," he proceeded, "that you wouldn't have them sitting +'round on your cracker-barrels." + +"So I did!" returned Mr. Hobbs, stoutly. "And I meant it. +Let 'em try it--that's all!" + +"Mr. Hobbs," said Cedric, "one is sitting on this box now!" + +Mr. Hobbs almost jumped out of his chair. + +"What!" he exclaimed. + +"Yes," Cedric announced, with due modesty; "_I_ am one--or I +am going to be. I won't deceive you." + +Mr. Hobbs looked agitated. He rose up suddenly and went to look +at the thermometer. + +"The mercury's got into your head!" he exclaimed, turning back +to examine his young friend's countenance. "It IS a hot day! +How do you feel? Got any pain? When did you begin to feel that +way?" + +He put his big hand on the little boy's hair. This was more +embarrassing than ever. + +"Thank you," said Ceddie; "I'm all right. There is nothing +the matter with my head. I'm sorry to say it's true, Mr. Hobbs. +That was what Mary came to take me home for. Mr. Havisham was +telling my mamma, and he is a lawyer." + +Mr. Hobbs sank into his chair and mopped his forehead with his +handkerchief. + +"ONE of us has got a sunstroke!" he exclaimed. + +"No," returned Cedric, "we haven't. We shall have to make the +best of it, Mr. Hobbs. Mr. Havisham came all the way from +England to tell us about it. My grandpapa sent him." + +Mr. Hobbs stared wildly at the innocent, serious little face +before him. + +"Who is your grandfather?" he asked. + +Cedric put his hand in his pocket and carefully drew out a piece +of paper, on which something was written in his own round, +irregular hand. + +"I couldn't easily remember it, so I wrote it down on this," he +said. And he read aloud slowly: "`John Arthur Molyneux Errol, +Earl of Dorincourt.' That is his name, and he lives in a +castle--in two or three castles, I think. And my papa, who died, +was his youngest son; and I shouldn't have been a lord or an earl +if my papa hadn't died; and my papa wouldn't have been an earl if +his two brothers hadn't died. But they all died, and there is no +one but me,--no boy,--and so I have to be one; and my grandpapa +has sent for me to come to England." + +Mr. Hobbs seemed to grow hotter and hotter. He mopped his +forehead and his bald spot and breathed hard. He began to see +that something very remarkable had happened; but when he looked +at the little boy sitting on the cracker-box, with the innocent, +anxious expression in his childish eyes, and saw that he was not +changed at all, but was simply as he had been the day before, +just a handsome, cheerful, brave little fellow in a blue suit and +red neck-ribbon, all this information about the nobility +bewildered him. He was all the more bewildered because Cedric +gave it with such ingenuous simplicity, and plainly without +realizing himself how stupendous it was. + +"Wha--what did you say your name was?" Mr. Hobbs inquired. + +"It's Cedric Errol, Lord Fauntleroy," answered Cedric. "That +was what Mr. Havisham called me. He said when I went into the +room: `And so this is little Lord Fauntleroy!'" + +"Well," said Mr. Hobbs, "I'll be--jiggered!" + +This was an exclamation he always used when he was very much +astonished or excited. He could think of nothing else to say +just at that puzzling moment. + +Cedric felt it to be quite a proper and suitable ejaculation. +His respect and affection for Mr. Hobbs were so great that he +admired and approved of all his remarks. He had not seen enough +of society as yet to make him realize that sometimes Mr. Hobbs +was not quite conventional. He knew, of course, that he was +different from his mamma, but, then, his mamma was a lady, and he +had an idea that ladies were always different from gentlemen. + +He looked at Mr. Hobbs wistfully. + +"England is a long way off, isn't it?" he asked. + +"It's across the Atlantic Ocean," Mr. Hobbs answered. + +"That's the worst of it," said Cedric. "Perhaps I shall not +see you again for a long time. I don't like to think of that, +Mr. Hobbs." + +"The best of friends must part," said Mr. Hobbs. + +"Well," said Cedric, "we have been friends for a great many +years, haven't we?" + +"Ever since you was born," Mr. Hobbs answered. "You was about +six weeks old when you was first walked out on this street." + +"Ah," remarked Cedric, with a sigh, "I never thought I should +have to be an earl then!" + +"You think," said Mr. Hobbs, "there's no getting out of it?" + +"I'm afraid not," answered Cedric. "My mamma says that my +papa would wish me to do it. But if I have to be an earl, +there's one thing I can do: I can try to be a good one. I'm not +going to be a tyrant. And if there is ever to be another war +with America, I shall try to stop it." + +His conversation with Mr. Hobbs was a long and serious one. Once +having got over the first shock, Mr. Hobbs was not so rancorous +as might have been expected; he endeavored to resign himself to +the situation, and before the interview was at an end he had +asked a great many questions. As Cedric could answer but few of +them, he endeavored to answer them himself, and, being fairly +launched on the subject of earls and marquises and lordly +estates, explained many things in a way which would probably have +astonished Mr. Havisham, could that gentleman have heard it. + +But then there were many things which astonished Mr. Havisham. +He had spent all his life in England, and was not accustomed to +American people and American habits. He had been connected +professionally with the family of the Earl of Dorincourt for +nearly forty years, and he knew all about its grand estates and +its great wealth and importance; and, in a cold, business-like +way, he felt an interest in this little boy, who, in the future, +was to be the master and owner of them all,--the future Earl of +Dorincourt. He had known all about the old Earl's disappointment +in his elder sons and all about his fierce rage at Captain +Cedric's American marriage, and he knew how he still hated the +gentle little widow and would not speak of her except with bitter +and cruel words. He insisted that she was only a common American +girl, who had entrapped his son into marrying her because she +knew he was an earl's son. The old lawyer himself had more than +half believed this was all true. He had seen a great many +selfish, mercenary people in his life, and he had not a good +opinion of Americans. When he had been driven into the cheap +street, and his coupe had stopped before the cheap, small house, +he had felt actually shocked. It seemed really quite dreadful to +think that the future owner of Dorincourt Castle and Wyndham +Towers and Chorlworth, and all the other stately splendors, +should have been born and brought up in an insignificant house in +a street with a sort of green-grocery at the corner. He wondered +what kind of a child he would be, and what kind of a mother he +had. He rather shrank from seeing them both. He had a sort of +pride in the noble family whose legal affairs he had conducted so +long, and it would have annoyed him very much to have found +himself obliged to manage a woman who would seem to him a vulgar, +money-loving person, with no respect for her dead husband's +country and the dignity of his name. It was a very old name and +a very splendid one, and Mr. Havisham had a great respect for it +himself, though he was only a cold, keen, business-like old +lawyer. + +When Mary handed him into the small parlor, he looked around it +critically. It was plainly furnished, but it had a home-like +look; there were no cheap, common ornaments, and no cheap, gaudy +pictures; the few adornments on the walls were in good taste. +and about the room were many pretty things which a woman's hand +might have made. + +"Not at all bad so far," he had said to himself; "but perhaps +the Captain's taste predominated." But when Mrs. Errol came into +the room, he began to think she herself might have had something +to do with it. If he had not been quite a self-contained and +stiff old gentleman, he would probably have started when he saw +her. She looked, in the simple black dress, fitting closely to +her slender figure, more like a young girl than the mother of a +boy of seven. She had a pretty, sorrowful, young face, and a +very tender, innocent look in her large brown eyes,--the +sorrowful look that had never quite left her face since her +husband had died. Cedric was used to seeing it there; the only +times he had ever seen it fade out had been when he was playing +with her or talking to her, and had said some old-fashioned +thing, or used some long word he had picked up out of the +newspapers or in his conversations with Mr. Hobbs. He was fond +of using long words, and he was always pleased when they made her +laugh, though he could not understand why they were laughable; +they were quite serious matters with him. The lawyer's +experience taught him to read people's characters very shrewdly, +and as soon as he saw Cedric's mother he knew that the old Earl +had made a great mistake in thinking her a vulgar, mercenary +woman. Mr. Havisham had never been married, he had never even +been in love, but he divined that this pretty young creature with +the sweet voice and sad eyes had married Captain Errol only +because she loved him with all her affectionate heart, and that +she had never once thought it an advantage that he was an earl's +son. And he saw he should have no trouble with her, and he began +to feel that perhaps little Lord Fauntleroy might not be such a +trial to his noble family, after all. The Captain had been a +handsome fellow, and the young mother was very pretty, and +perhaps the boy might be well enough to look at. + +When he first told Mrs. Errol what he had come for, she turned +very pale. + +"Oh!" she said; "will he have to be taken away from me? We +love each other so much! He is such a happiness to me! He is +all I have. I have tried to be a good mother to him." And her +sweet young voice trembled, and the tears rushed into her eyes. +"You do not know what he has been to me!" she said. + +The lawyer cleared his throat. + +"I am obliged to tell you," he said, "that the Earl of +Dorincourt is not--is not very friendly toward you. He is an old +man, and his prejudices are very strong. He has always +especially disliked America and Americans, and was very much +enraged by his son's marriage. I am sorry to be the bearer of so +unpleasant a communication, but he is very fixed in his +determination not to see you. His plan is that Lord Fauntleroy +shall be educated under his own supervision; that he shall live +with him. The Earl is attached to Dorincourt Castle, and spends +a great deal of time there. He is a victim to inflammatory gout, +and is not fond of London. Lord Fauntleroy will, therefore, be +likely to live chiefly at Dorincourt. The Earl offers you as a +home Court Lodge, which is situated pleasantly, and is not very +far from the castle. He also offers you a suitable income. Lord +Fauntleroy will be permitted to visit you; the only stipulation +is, that you shall not visit him or enter the park gates. You +see you will not be really separated from your son, and I assure +you, madam, the terms are not so harsh as--as they might have +been. The advantage of such surroundings and education as Lord +Fauntleroy will have, I am sure you must see, will be very +great." + +He felt a little uneasy lest she should begin to cry or make a +scene, as he knew some women would have done. It embarrassed and +annoyed him to see women cry. + +But she did not. She went to the window and stood with her face +turned away for a few moments, and he saw she was trying to +steady herself. + +"Captain Errol was very fond of Dorincourt," she said at last. +"He loved England, and everything English. It was always a +grief to him that he was parted from his home. He was proud of +his home, and of his name. He would wish--I know he would wish +that his son should know the beautiful old places, and be brought +up in such a way as would be suitable to his future position." + +Then she came back to the table and stood looking up at Mr. +Havisham very gently. + +"My husband would wish it," she said. "It will be best for my +little boy. I know--I am sure the Earl would not be so unkind as +to try to teach him not to love me; and I know--even if he +tried--that my little boy is too much like his father to be +harmed. He has a warm, faithful nature, and a true heart. He +would love me even if he did not see me; and so long as we may +see each other, I ought not to suffer very much." + +"She thinks very little of herself," the lawyer thought. "She +does not make any terms for herself." + +"Madam," he said aloud, "I respect your consideration for your +son. He will thank you for it when he is a man. I assure you +Lord Fauntleroy will be most carefully guarded, and every effort +will be used to insure his happiness. The Earl of Dorincourt +will be as anxious for his comfort and well-being as you yourself +could be." + +"I hope," said the tender little mother, in a rather broken +voice, "that his grandfather will love Ceddie. The little boy +has a very affectionate nature; and he has always been loved." + +Mr. Havisham cleared his throat again. He could not quite +imagine the gouty, fiery-tempered old Earl loving any one very +much; but he knew it would be to his interest to be kind, in his +irritable way, to the child who was to be his heir. He knew, +too, that if Ceddie were at all a credit to his name, his +grandfather would be proud of him. + +"Lord Fauntleroy will be comfortable, I am sure," he replied. +"It was with a view to his happiness that the Earl desired that +you should be near enough to him to see him frequently." + +He did not think it would be discreet to repeat the exact words +the Earl had used, which were in fact neither polite nor amiable. + +Mr. Havisham preferred to express his noble patron's offer in +smoother and more courteous language. + +He had another slight shock when Mrs. Errol asked Mary to find +her little boy and bring him to her, and Mary told her where he +was. + +"Sure I'll foind him aisy enough, ma'am," she said; "for it's +wid Mr. Hobbs he is this minnit, settin' on his high shtool by +the counther an' talkin' pollytics, most loikely, or enj'yin' +hisself among the soap an' candles an' pertaties, as sinsible an' +shwate as ye plase." + +"Mr. Hobbs has known him all his life," Mrs. Errol said to the +lawyer. "He is very kind to Ceddie, and there is a great +friendship between them." + +Remembering the glimpse he had caught of the store as he passed +it, and having a recollection of the barrels of potatoes and +apples and the various odds and ends, Mr. Havisham felt his +doubts arise again. In England, gentlemen's sons did not make +friends of grocerymen, and it seemed to him a rather singular +proceeding. It would be very awkward if the child had bad +manners and a disposition to like low company. One of the +bitterest humiliations of the old Earl's life had been that his +two elder sons had been fond of low company. Could it be, he +thought, that this boy shared their bad qualities instead of his +father's good qualities? + +He was thinking uneasily about this as he talked to Mrs. Errol +until the child came into the room. When the door opened, he +actually hesitated a moment before looking at Cedric. It would, +perhaps, have seemed very queer to a great many people who knew +him, if they could have known the curious sensations that passed +through Mr. Havisham when he looked down at the boy, who ran into +his mother's arms. He experienced a revulsion of feeling which +was quite exciting. He recognized in an instant that here was +one of the finest and handsomest little fellows he had ever seen. + +His beauty was something unusual. He had a strong, lithe, +graceful little body and a manly little face; he held his +childish head up, and carried himself with a brave air; he was so +like his father that it was really startling; he had his father's +golden hair and his mother's brown eyes, but there was nothing +sorrowful or timid in them. They were innocently fearless eyes; +he looked as if he had never feared or doubted anything in his +life. + +"He is the best-bred-looking and handsomest little fellow I ever +saw," was what Mr. Havisham thought. What he said aloud was +simply, "And so this is little Lord Fauntleroy." + +And, after this, the more he saw of little Lord Fauntleroy, the +more of a surprise he found him. He knew very little about +children, though he had seen plenty of them in England--fine, +handsome, rosy girls and boys, who were strictly taken care of by +their tutors and governesses, and who were sometimes shy, and +sometimes a trifle boisterous, but never very interesting to a +ceremonious, rigid old lawyer. Perhaps his personal interest in +little Lord Fauntleroy's fortunes made him notice Ceddie more +than he had noticed other children; but, however that was, he +certainly found himself noticing him a great deal. + +Cedric did not know he was being observed, and he only behaved +himself in his ordinary manner. He shook hands with Mr. Havisham +in his friendly way when they were introduced to each other, and +he answered all his questions with the unhesitating readiness +with which he answered Mr. Hobbs. He was neither shy nor bold, +and when Mr. Havisham was talking to his mother, the lawyer +noticed that he listened to the conversation with as much +interest as if he had been quite grown up. + +"He seems to be a very mature little fellow," Mr. Havisham said +to the mother. + +"I think he is, in some things," she answered. "He has always +been very quick to learn, and he has lived a great deal with +grownup people. He has a funny little habit of using long words +and expressions he has read in books, or has heard others use, +but he is very fond of childish play. I think he is rather +clever, but he is a very boyish little boy, sometimes." + +The next time Mr. Havisham met him, he saw that this last was +quite true. As his coupe turned the corner, he caught sight of a +group of small boys, who were evidently much excited. Two of +them were about to run a race, and one of them was his young +lordship, and he was shouting and making as much noise as the +noisiest of his companions. He stood side by side with another +boy, one little red leg advanced a step. + +"One, to make ready!" yelled the starter. "Two, to be steady. +Three--and away!" + +Mr. Havisham found himself leaning out of the window of his coupe +with a curious feeling of interest. He really never remembered +having seen anything quite like the way in which his lordship's +lordly little red legs flew up behind his knickerbockers and tore +over the ground as he shot out in the race at the signal word. +He shut his small hands and set his face against the wind; his +bright hair streamed out behind. + +"Hooray, Ced Errol!" all the boys shouted, dancing and +shrieking with excitement. "Hooray, Billy Williams! Hooray, +Ceddie! Hooray, Billy! Hooray! 'Ray! 'Ray!" + +"I really believe he is going to win," said Mr. Havisham. The +way in which the red legs flew and flashed up and down, the +shrieks of the boys, the wild efforts of Billy Williams, whose +brown legs were not to be despised, as they followed closely in +the rear of the red legs, made him feel some excitement. "I +really--I really can't help hoping he will win!" he said, with +an apologetic sort of cough. At that moment, the wildest yell of +all went up from the dancing, hopping boys. With one last +frantic leap the future Earl of Dorincourt had reached the +lamp-post at the end of the block and touched it, just two +seconds before Billy Williams flung himself at it, panting. + +"Three cheers for Ceddie Errol!" yelled the little boys. +"Hooray for Ceddie Errol!" + +Mr. Havisham drew his head in at the window of his coupe and +leaned back with a dry smile. + +"Bravo, Lord Fauntleroy!" he said. + +As his carriage stopped before the door of Mrs. Errol's house, +the victor and the vanquished were coming toward it, attended by +the clamoring crew. Cedric walked by Billy Williams and was +speaking to him. His elated little face was very red, his curls +clung to his hot, moist forehead, his hands were in his pockets. + +"You see," he was saying, evidently with the intention of +making defeat easy for his unsuccessful rival, "I guess I won +because my legs are a little longer than yours. I guess that was +it. You see, I'm three days older than you, and that gives me a +'vantage. I'm three days older." + +And this view of the case seemed to cheer Billy Williams so much +that he began to smile on the world again, and felt able to +swagger a little, almost as if he had won the race instead of +losing it. Somehow, Ceddie Errol had a way of making people feel +comfortable. Even in the first flush of his triumphs, he +remembered that the person who was beaten might not feel so gay +as he did, and might like to think that he MIGHT have been the +winner under different circumstances. + +That morning Mr. Havisham had quite a long conversation with the +winner of the race--a conversation which made him smile his dry +smile, and rub his chin with his bony hand several times. + +Mrs. Errol had been called out of the parlor, and the lawyer and +Cedric were left together. At first Mr. Havisham wondered what +he should say to his small companion. He had an idea that +perhaps it would be best to say several things which might +prepare Cedric for meeting his grandfather, and, perhaps, for the +great change that was to come to him. He could see that Cedric +had not the least idea of the sort of thing he was to see when he +reached England, or of the sort of home that waited for him +there. He did not even know yet that his mother was not to live +in the same house with him. They had thought it best to let him +get over the first shock before telling him. + +Mr. Havisham sat in an arm-chair on one side of the open window; +on the other side was another still larger chair, and Cedric sat +in that and looked at Mr. Havisham. He sat well back in the +depths of his big seat, his curly head against the cushioned +back, his legs crossed, and his hands thrust deep into his +pockets, in a quite Mr. Hobbs-like way. He had been watching Mr. +Havisham very steadily when his mamma had been in the room, and +after she was gone he still looked at him in respectful +thoughtfulness. There was a short silence after Mrs. Errol went +out, and Cedric seemed to be studying Mr. Havisham, and Mr. +Havisham was certainly studying Cedric. He could not make up his +mind as to what an elderly gentleman should say to a little boy +who won races, and wore short knickerbockers and red stockings on +legs which were not long enough to hang over a big chair when he +sat well back in it. + +But Cedric relieved him by suddenly beginning the conversation +himself. + +"Do you know," he said, "I don't know what an earl is?" + +"Don't you?" said Mr. Havisham. + +"No," replied Ceddie. "And I think when a boy is going to be +one, he ought to know. Don't you?" + +"Well--yes," answered Mr. Havisham. + +"Would you mind," said Ceddie respectfully--"would you mind +'splaining it to me?" (Sometimes when he used his long words he +did not pronounce them quite correctly.) "What made him an +earl?" + +"A king or queen, in the first place," said Mr. Havisham. +"Generally, he is made an earl because he has done some service +to his sovereign, or some great deed." + +"Oh!" said Cedric; "that's like the President." + +"Is it?" said Mr. Havisham. "Is that why your presidents are +elected?" + +"Yes," answered Ceddie cheerfully. "When a man is very good +and knows a great deal, he is elected president. They have +torch-light processions and bands, and everybody makes speeches. +I used to think I might perhaps be a president, but I never +thought of being an earl. I didn't know about earls," he said, +rather hastily, lest Mr. Havisham might feel it impolite in him +not to have wished to be one,--"if I'd known about them, I dare +say I should have thought I should like to be one" + +"It is rather different from being a president," said Mr. +Havisham. + +"Is it?" asked Cedric. "How? Are there no torch-light +processions?" + +Mr. Havisham crossed his own legs and put the tips of his fingers +carefully together. He thought perhaps the time had come to +explain matters rather more clearly. + +"An earl is--is a very important person," he began. + +"So is a president!" put in Ceddie. "The torch-light +processions are five miles long, and they shoot up rockets, and +the band plays! Mr. Hobbs took me to see them." + +"An earl," Mr. Havisham went on, feeling rather uncertain of +his ground, "is frequently of very ancient lineage----" + +"What's that?" asked Ceddie. + +"Of very old family--extremely old." + +"Ah!" said Cedric, thrusting his hands deeper into his pockets. +"I suppose that is the way with the apple-woman near the park. +I dare say she is of ancient lin-lenage. She is so old it would +surprise you how she can stand up. She's a hundred, I should +think, and yet she is out there when it rains, even. I'm sorry +for her, and so are the other boys. Billy Williams once had +nearly a dollar, and I asked him to buy five cents' worth of +apples from her every day until he had spent it all. That made +twenty days, and he grew tired of apples after a week; but +then--it was quite fortunate--a gentleman gave me fifty cents and +I bought apples from her instead. You feel sorry for any one +that's so poor and has such ancient lin-lenage. She says hers +has gone into her bones and the rain makes it worse." + +Mr. Havisham felt rather at a loss as he looked at his +companion's innocent, serious little face. + +"I am afraid you did not quite understand me," he explained. +"When I said `ancient lineage' I did not mean old age; I meant +that the name of such a family has been known in the world a long +time; perhaps for hundreds of years persons bearing that name +have been known and spoken of in the history of their country." + +"Like George Washington," said Ceddie. "I've heard of him +ever since I was born, and he was known about, long before that. +Mr. Hobbs says he will never be forgotten. That's because of the +Declaration of Independence, you know, and the Fourth of July. +You see, he was a very brave man." + +"The first Earl of Dorincourt," said Mr. Havisham solemnly, +"was created an earl four hundred years ago." + +"Well, well!" said Ceddie. "That was a long time ago! Did +you tell Dearest that? It would int'rust her very much. We'll +tell her when she comes in. She always likes to hear cur'us +things. What else does an earl do besides being created?" + +"A great many of them have helped to govern England. Some of +them have been brave men and have fought in great battles in the +old days." + +"I should like to do that myself," said Cedric. "My papa was +a soldier, and he was a very brave man--as brave as George +Washington. Perhaps that was because he would have been an earl +if he hadn't died. I am glad earls are brave. That's a great +'vantage--to be a brave man. Once I used to be rather afraid of +things--in the dark, you know; but when I thought about the +soldiers in the Revolution and George Washington--it cured me." + +"There is another advantage in being an earl, sometimes," said +Mr. Havisham slowly, and he fixed his shrewd eyes on the little +boy with a rather curious expression. "Some earls have a great +deal of money." + +He was curious because he wondered if his young friend knew what +the power of money was. + +"That's a good thing to have," said Ceddie innocently. "I +wish I had a great deal of money." + +"Do you?" said Mr. Havisham. "And why?" + +"Well," explained Cedric, "there are so many things a person +can do with money. You see, there's the apple-woman. If I were +very rich I should buy her a little tent to put her stall in, and +a little stove, and then I should give her a dollar every morning +it rained, so that she could afford to stay at home. And +then--oh! I'd give her a shawl. And, you see, her bones +wouldn't feel so badly. Her bones are not like our bones; they +hurt her when she moves. It's very painful when your bones hurt +you. If I were rich enough to do all those things for her, I +guess her bones would be all right." + +"Ahem!" said Mr. Havisham. "And what else would you do if you +were rich?" + +"Oh! I'd do a great many things. Of course I should buy +Dearest all sorts of beautiful things, needle-books and fans and +gold thimbles and rings, and an encyclopedia, and a carriage, so +that she needn't have to wait for the street-cars. If she liked +pink silk dresses, I should buy her some, but she likes black +best. But I'd, take her to the big stores, and tell her to look +'round and choose for herself. And then Dick----" + +"Who is Dick?" asked Mr. Havisham. + +"Dick is a boot-black," said his young; lordship, quite warming +up in his interest in plans so exciting. "He is one of the +nicest boot-blacks you ever knew. He stands at the corner of a +street down-town. I've known him for years. Once when I was +very little, I was walking out with Dearest, and she bought me a +beautiful ball that bounced, and I was carrying it and it bounced +into the middle of the street where the carriages and horses +were, and I was so disappointed, I began to cry--I was very +little. I had kilts on. And Dick was blacking a man's shoes, +and he said `Hello!' and he ran in between the horses and caught +the ball for me and wiped it off with his coat and gave it to me +and said, `It's all right, young un.' So Dearest admired him very +much, and so did I, and ever since then, when we go down-town, we +talk to him. He says `Hello!' and I say `Hello!' and then we +talk a little, and he tells me how trade is. It's been bad +lately." + +"And what would you like to do for him?" inquired the lawyer, +rubbing his chin and smiling a queer smile. + +"Well," said Lord Fauntleroy, settling himself in his chair +with a business air, "I'd buy Jake out." + +"And who is Jake?" Mr. Havisham asked. + +"He's Dick's partner, and he is the worst partner a fellow could +have! Dick says so. He isn't a credit to the business, and he +isn't square. He cheats, and that makes Dick mad. It would make +you mad, you know, if you were blacking boots as hard as you +could, and being square all the time, and your partner wasn't +square at all. People like Dick, but they don't like Jake, and +so sometimes they don't come twice. So if I were rich, I'd buy +Jake out and get Dick a `boss' sign--he says a `boss' sign goes a +long way; and I'd get him some new clothes and new brushes, and +start him out fair. He says all he wants is to start out fair." + +There could have been nothing more confiding and innocent than +the way in which his small lordship told his little story, +quoting his friend Dick's bits of slang in the most candid good +faith. He seemed to feel not a shade of a doubt that his elderly +companion would be just as interested as he was himself. And in +truth Mr. Havisham was beginning to be greatly interested; but +perhaps not quite so much in Dick and the apple-woman as in this +kind little lordling, whose curly head was so busy, under its +yellow thatch, with good-natured plans for his friends, and who +seemed somehow to have forgotten himself altogether. + +"Is there anything----" he began. "What would you get for +yourself, if you were rich?" + +"Lots of things!" answered Lord Fauntleroy briskly; "but first +I'd give Mary some money for Bridget--that's her sister, with +twelve children, and a husband out of work. She comes here and +cries, and Dearest gives her things in a basket, and then she +cries again, and says: `Blessin's be on yez, for a beautiful +lady.' And I think Mr. Hobbs would like a gold watch and chain to +remember me by, and a meerschaum pipe. And then I'd like to get +up a company." + +"A company!" exclaimed Mr. Havisham. + +"Like a Republican rally," explained Cedric, becoming quite +excited. "I'd have torches and uniforms and things for all the +boys and myself, too. And we'd march, you know, and drill. +That's what I should like for myself, if I were rich." + +The door opened and Mrs. Errol came in. + +"I am sorry to have been obliged to leave you so long," she +said to Mr. Havisham; "but a poor woman, who is in great +trouble, came to see me." + +"This young gentleman," said Mr. Havisham, "has been telling +me about some of his friends, and what he would do for them if he +were rich." + +"Bridget is one of his friends," said Mrs. Errol; "and it is +Bridget to whom I have been talking in the kitchen. She is in +great trouble now because her husband has rheumatic fever." + +Cedric slipped down out of his big chair. + +"I think I'll go and see her," he said, "and ask her how he +is. He's a nice man when he is well. I'm obliged to him because +he once made me a sword out of wood. He's a very talented man." + +He ran out of the room, and Mr. Havisham rose from his chair. He +seemed to have something in his mind which he wished to speak of. + +He hesitated a moment, and then said, looking down at Mrs. Errol: + +"Before I left Dorincourt Castle, I had an interview with the +Earl, in which he gave me some instructions. He is desirous that +his grandson should look forward with some pleasure to his future +life in England, and also to his acquaintance with himself. He +said that I must let his lordship know that the change in his +life would bring him money and the pleasures children enjoy; if +he expressed any wishes, I was to gratify them, and to tell him +that his grand-father had given him what he wished. I am aware +that the Earl did not expect anything quite like this; but if it +would give Lord Fauntleroy pleasure to assist this poor woman, I +should feel that the Earl would be displeased if he were not +gratified." + +For the second time, he did not repeat the Earl's exact words. +His lordship had, indeed, said: + +"Make the lad understand that I can give him anything he wants. +Let him know what it is to be the grandson of the Earl of +Dorincourt. Buy him everything he takes a fancy to; let him have +money in his pockets, and tell him his grandfather put it +there." + +His motives were far from being good, and if he had been dealing +with a nature less affectionate and warm-hearted than little Lord +Fauntleroy's, great harm might have been done. And Cedric's +mother was too gentle to suspect any harm. She thought that +perhaps this meant that a lonely, unhappy old man, whose children +were dead, wished to be kind to her little boy, and win his love +and confidence. And it pleased her very much to think that +Ceddie would be able to help Bridget. It made her happier to +know that the very first result of the strange fortune which had +befallen her little boy was that he could do kind things for +those who needed kindness. Quite a warm color bloomed on her +pretty young face. + +"Oh!" she said, "that was very kind of the Earl; Cedric will +be so glad! He has always been fond of Bridget and Michael. +They are quite deserving. I have often wished I had been able to +help them more. Michael is a hard-working man when he is well, +but he has been ill a long time and needs expensive medicines and +warm clothing and nourishing food. He and Bridget will not be +wasteful of what is given them." + +Mr. Havisham put his thin hand in his breast pocket and drew +forth a large pocket-book. There was a queer look in his keen +face. The truth was, he was wondering what the Earl of +Dorincourt would say when he was told what was the first wish of +his grandson that had been granted. He wondered what the cross, +worldly, selfish old nobleman would think of it. + +"I do not know that you have realized," he said, "that the +Earl of Dorincourt is an exceedingly rich man. He can afford to +gratify any caprice. I think it would please him to know that +Lord Fauntleroy had been indulged in any fancy. If you will call +him back and allow me, I shall give him five pounds for these +people." + +"That would be twenty-five dollars!" exclaimed Mrs. Errol. +"It will seem like wealth to them. "I can scarcely believe +that it is true." + +"It is quite true," said Mr. Havisham, with his dry smile. "A +great change has taken place in your son's life, a great deal of +power will lie in his hands." + +"Oh!" cried his mother. "And he is such a little boy--a very +little boy. How can I teach him to use it well? It makes me +half afraid. My pretty little Ceddie!" + +The lawyer slightly cleared his throat. It touched his worldly, +hard old heart to see the tender, timid look in her brown eyes. + +"I think, madam," he said, "that if I may judge from my +interview with Lord Fauntleroy this morning, the next Earl of +Dorincourt will think for others as well as for his noble self. +He is only a child yet, but I think he may be trusted." + +Then his mother went for Cedric and brought him back into the +parlor. Mr. Havisham heard him talking before he entered the +room. + +"It's infam-natory rheumatism," he was saying, "and that's a +kind of rheumatism that's dreadful. And he thinks about the rent +not being paid, and Bridget says that makes the inf'ammation +worse. And Pat could get a place in a store if he had some +clothes." + +His little face looked quite anxious when he came in. He was +very sorry for Bridget. + +"Dearest said you wanted me," he said to Mr. Havisham. "I've +been talking to Bridget." + +Mr. Havisham looked down at him a moment. He felt a little +awkward and undecided. As Cedric's mother had said, he was a +very little boy. + +"The Earl of Dorincourt----" he began, and then he glanced +involuntarily at Mrs. Errol. + +Little Lord Fauntleroy's mother suddenly kneeled down by him and +put both her tender arms around his childish body. + +"Ceddie," she said, "the Earl is your grandpapa, your own +papa's father. He is very, very kind, and he loves you and +wishes you to love him, because the sons who were his little boys +are dead. He wishes you to be happy and to make other people +happy. He is very rich, and he wishes you to have everything you +would like to have. He told Mr. Havisham so, and gave him a +great deal of money for you. You can give some to Bridget now; +enough to pay her rent and buy Michael everything. Isn't that +fine, Ceddie? Isn't he good?" And she kissed the child on his +round cheek, where the bright color suddenly flashed up in his +excited amazement. + +He looked from his mother to Mr. Havisham. + +"Can I have it now?" he cried. "Can I give it to her this +minute? She's just going." + +Mr. Havisham handed him the money. It was in fresh, clean +greenbacks and made a neat roll. + +Ceddie flew out of the room with it. + +"Bridget!" they heard him shout, as he tore into the kitchen. +"Bridget, wait a minute! Here's some money. It's for you, and +you can pay the rent. My grandpapa gave it to me. It's for you +and Michael!" + +"Oh, Master Ceddie!" cried Bridget, in an awe-stricken voice. +"It's twinty-foive dollars is here. Where be's the misthress?" + +"I think I shall have to go and explain it to her," Mrs. Errol +said. + +So she, too, went out of the room and Mr. Havisham was left alone +for a while. He went to the window and stood looking out into +the street reflectively. He was thinking of the old Earl of +Dorincourt, sitting in his great, splendid, gloomy library at the +castle, gouty and lonely, surrounded by grandeur and luxury, but +not really loved by any one, because in all his long life he had +never really loved any one but himself; he had been selfish and +self-indulgent and arrogant and passionate; he had cared so much +for the Earl of Dorincourt and his pleasures that there had been +no time for him to think of other people; all his wealth and +power, all the benefits from his noble name and high rank, had +seemed to him to be things only to be used to amuse and give +pleasure to the Earl of Dorincourt; and now that he was an old +man, all this excitement and self-indulgence had only brought him +ill health and irritability and a dislike of the world, which +certainly disliked him. In spite of all his splendor, there was +never a more unpopular old nobleman than the Earl of Dorincourt, +and there could scarcely have been a more lonely one. He could +fill his castle with guests if he chose. He could give great +dinners and splendid hunting parties; but he knew that in secret +the people who would accept his invitations were afraid of his +frowning old face and sarcastic, biting speeches. He had a cruel +tongue and a bitter nature, and he took pleasure in sneering at +people and making them feel uncomfortable, when he had the power +to do so, because they were sensitive or proud or timid. + +Mr. Havisham knew his hard, fierce ways by heart, and he was +thinking of him as he looked out of the window into the narrow, +quiet street. And there rose in his mind, in sharp contrast, the +picture of the cheery, handsome little fellow sitting in the big +chair and telling his story of his friends, Dick and the +apple-woman, in his generous, innocent, honest way. And he +thought of the immense income, the beautiful, majestic estates, +the wealth, and power for good or evil, which in the course of +time would lie in the small, chubby hands little Lord Fauntleroy +thrust so deep into his pockets. + +"It will make a great difference," he said to himself. "It +will make a great difference." + +Cedric and his mother came back soon after. Cedric was in high +spirits. He sat down in his own chair, between his mother and +the lawyer, and fell into one of his quaint attitudes, with his +hands on his knees. He was glowing with enjoyment of Bridget's +relief and rapture. + +"She cried!" he said. "She said she was crying for joy! I +never saw any one cry for joy before. My grandpapa must be a +very good man. I didn't know he was so good a man. It's +more--more agreeabler to be an earl than I thought it was. I'm +almost glad--I'm almost QUITE glad I'm going to be one." + + + +III + +Cedric's good opinion of the advantages of being an earl +increased greatly during the next week. It seemed almost +impossible for him to realize that there was scarcely anything he +might wish to do which he could not do easily; in fact, I think +it may be said that he did not fully realize it at all. But at +least he understood, after a few conversations with Mr. Havisham, +that he could gratify all his nearest wishes, and he proceeded to +gratify them with a simplicity and delight which caused Mr. +Havisham much diversion. In the week before they sailed for +England he did many curious things. The lawyer long after +remembered the morning they went down-town together to pay a +visit to Dick, and the afternoon they so amazed the apple-woman +of ancient lineage by stopping before her stall and telling her +she was to have a tent, and a stove, and a shawl, and a sum of +money which seemed to her quite wonderful. + +"For I have to go to England and be a lord," explained Cedric, +sweet-temperedly. "And I shouldn't like to have your bones on +my mind every time it rained. My own bones never hurt, so I +think I don't know how painful a person's bones can be, but I've +sympathized with you a great deal, and I hope you'll be better." + +"She's a very good apple-woman," he said to Mr. Havisham, as +they walked away, leaving the proprietress of the stall almost +gasping for breath, and not at all believing in her great +fortune. "Once, when I fell down and cut my knee, she gave me +an apple for nothing. I've always remembered her for it. You +know you always remember people who are kind to you." + +It had never occurred to his honest, simple little mind that +there were people who could forget kindnesses. + +The interview with Dick was quite exciting. Dick had just been +having a great deal of trouble with Jake, and was in low spirits +when they saw him. His amazement when Cedric calmly announced +that they had come to give him what seemed a very great thing to +him, and would set all his troubles right, almost struck him +dumb. Lord Fauntleroy's manner of announcing the object of his +visit was very simple and unceremonious. Mr. Havisham was much +impressed by its directness as he stood by and listened. The +statement that his old friend had become a lord, and was in +danger of being an earl if he lived long enough, caused Dick to +so open his eyes and mouth, and start, that his cap fell off. +When he picked it up, he uttered a rather singular exclamation. +Mr. Havisham thought it singular, but Cedric had heard it before. + +"I soy!" he said, "what're yer givin' us?" This plainly +embarrassed his lordship a little, but he bore himself bravely. + +"Everybody thinks it not true at first," he said. "Mr. Hobbs +thought I'd had a sunstroke. I didn't think I was going to like +it myself, but I like it better now I'm used to it. The one who +is the earl now, he's my grandpapa; and he wants me to do +anything I like. He's very kind, if he IS an earl; and he sent +me a lot of money by Mr. Havisham, and I've brought some to you +to buy Jake out." + +And the end of the matter was that Dick actually bought Jake out, +and found himself the possessor of the business and some new +brushes and a most astonishing sign and outfit. He could not +believe in his good luck any more easily than the apple-woman of +ancient lineage could believe in hers; he walked about like a +boot-black in a dream; he stared at his young benefactor and felt +as if he might wake up at any moment. He scarcely seemed to +realize anything until Cedric put out his hand to shake hands +with him before going away. + +"Well, good-bye," he said; and though he tried to speak +steadily, there was a little tremble in his voice and he winked +his big brown eyes. "And I hope trade'll be good. I'm sorry +I'm going away to leave you, but perhaps I shall come back again +when I'm an earl. And I wish you'd write to me, because we were +always good friends. And if you write to me, here's where you +must send your letter." And he gave him a slip of paper. "And +my name isn't Cedric Errol any more; it's Lord Fauntleroy +and--and good-bye, Dick." + +Dick winked his eyes also, and yet they looked rather moist about +the lashes. He was not an educated boot-black, and he would have +found it difficult to tell what he felt just then if he had +tried; perhaps that was why he didn't try, and only winked his +eyes and swallowed a lump in his throat. + +"I wish ye wasn't goin' away," he said in a husky voice. Then +he winked his eyes again. Then he looked at Mr. Havisham, and +touched his cap. "Thanky, sir, fur bringin' him down here an' +fur wot ye've done, He's--he's a queer little feller," he added. +"I've allers thort a heap of him. He's such a game little +feller, an'--an' such a queer little un." + +And when they turned away he stood and looked after them in a +dazed kind of way, and there was still a mist in his eyes, and a +lump in his throat, as he watched the gallant little figure +marching gayly along by the side of its tall, rigid escort. + +Until the day of his departure, his lordship spent as much time +as possible with Mr. Hobbs in the store. Gloom had settled upon +Mr. Hobbs; he was much depressed in spirits. When his young +friend brought to him in triumph the parting gift of a gold watch +and chain, Mr. Hobbs found it difficult to acknowledge it +properly. He laid the case on his stout knee, and blew his nose +violently several times. + +"There's something written on it," said Cedric,--"inside the +case. I told the man myself what to say. `From his oldest +friend, Lord Fauntleroy, to Mr. Hobbs. When this you see, +remember me.' I don't want you to forget me." + +Mr. Hobbs blew his nose very loudly again. + +"I sha'n't forget you," he said, speaking a trifle huskily, as +Dick had spoken; "nor don't you go and forget me when you get +among the British arrystocracy." + +"I shouldn't forget you, whoever I was among," answered his +lordship. "I've spent my happiest hours with you; at least, +some of my happiest hours. I hope you'll come to see me +sometime. I'm sure my grandpapa would be very much pleased. +Perhaps he'll write and ask you, when I tell him about you. +You--you wouldn't mind his being an earl, would you, I mean you +wouldn't stay away just because he was one, if he invited you to +come?" + +"I'd come to see you," replied Mr. Hobbs, graciously. + +So it seemed to be agreed that if he received a pressing +invitation from the earl to come and spend a few months at +Dorincourt Castle, he was to lay aside his republican prejudices +and pack his valise at once. + +At last all the preparations were complete; the day came when the +trunks were taken to the steamer, and the hour arrived when the +carriage stood at the door. Then a curious feeling of loneliness +came upon the little boy. His mamma had been shut up in her room +for some time; when she came down the stairs, her eyes looked +large and wet, and her sweet mouth was trembling. Cedric went to +her, and she bent down to him, and he put his arms around her, +and they kissed each other. He knew something made them both +sorry, though he scarcely knew what it was; but one tender little +thought rose to his lips. + +"We liked this little house, Dearest, didn't we?" he said. +"We always will like it, won't we?" + +"Yes--yes," she answered, in a low, sweet voice. "Yes, +darling." + +And then they went into the carriage and Cedric sat very close to +her, and as she looked back out of the window, he looked at her +and stroked her hand and held it close. + +And then, it seemed almost directly, they were on the steamer in +the midst of the wildest bustle and confusion; carriages were +driving down and leaving passengers; passengers were getting into +a state of excitement about baggage which had not arrived and +threatened to be too late; big trunks and cases were being bumped +down and dragged about; sailors were uncoiling ropes and hurrying +to and fro; officers were giving orders; ladies and gentlemen and +children and nurses were coming on board,--some were laughing and +looked gay, some were silent and sad, here and there two or three +were crying and touching their eyes with their handkerchiefs. +Cedric found something to interest him on every side; he looked +at the piles of rope, at the furled sails, at the tall, tall +masts which seemed almost to touch the hot blue sky; he began to +make plans for conversing with the sailors and gaining some +information on the subject of pirates. + +It was just at the very last, when he was standing leaning on the +railing of the upper deck and watching the final preparations, +enjoying the excitement and the shouts of the sailors and +wharfmen, that his attention was called to a slight bustle in one +of the groups not far from him. Some one was hurriedly forcing +his way through this group and coming toward him. It was a boy, +with something red in his hand. It was Dick. He came up to +Cedric quite breathless. + +"I've run all the way," he said. "I've come down to see ye +off. Trade's been prime! I bought this for ye out o' what I +made yesterday. Ye kin wear it when ye get among the swells. I +lost the paper when I was tryin' to get through them fellers +downstairs. They didn't want to let me up. It's a hankercher." + +He poured it all forth as if in one sentence. A bell rang, and +he made a leap away before Cedric had time to speak. + +"Good-bye!" he panted. "Wear it when ye get among the +swells." And he darted off and was gone. + +A few seconds later they saw him struggle through the crowd on +the lower deck, and rush on shore just before the gang-plank was +drawn in. He stood on the wharf and waved his cap. + +Cedric held the handkerchief in his hand. It was of bright red +silk ornamented with purple horseshoes and horses' heads. + +There was a great straining and creaking and confusion. The +people on the wharf began to shout to their friends, and the +people on the steamer shouted back: + +"Good-bye! Good-bye! Good-bye, old fellow!" Every one seemed +to be saying, "Don't forget us. Write when you get to +Liverpool. Good-bye! Good-bye!" + +Little Lord Fauntleroy leaned forward and waved the red +handkerchief. + +"Good-bye, Dick!" he shouted, lustily. "Thank you! Good-bye, +Dick!" + +And the big steamer moved away, and the people cheered again, and +Cedric's mother drew the veil over her eyes, and on the shore +there was left great confusion; but Dick saw nothing save that +bright, childish face and the bright hair that the sun shone on +and the breeze lifted, and he heard nothing but the hearty +childish voice calling "Good-bye, Dick!" as little Lord +Fauntleroy steamed slowly away from the home of his birth to the +unknown land of his ancestors. + + + +IV + +It was during the voyage that Cedric's mother told him that his +home was not to be hers; and when he first understood it, his +grief was so great that Mr. Havisham saw that the Earl had been +wise in making the arrangements that his mother should be quite +near him, and see him often; for it was very plain he could not +have borne the separation otherwise. But his mother managed the +little fellow so sweetly and lovingly, and made him feel that she +would be so near him, that, after a while, he ceased to be +oppressed by the fear of any real parting. + +"My house is not far from the Castle, Ceddie," she repeated +each time the subject was referred to--"a very little way from +yours, and you can always run in and see me every day, and you +will have so many things to tell me! and we shall be so happy +together! It is a beautiful place. Your papa has often told me +about it. He loved it very much; and you will love it too." + +"I should love it better if you were there," his small lordship +said, with a heavy little sigh. + +He could not but feel puzzled by so strange a state of affairs, +which could put his "Dearest" in one house and himself in +another. + +The fact was that Mrs. Errol had thought it better not to tell +him why this plan had been made. + +"I should prefer he should not be told," she said to Mr. +Havisham. "He would not really understand; he would only be +shocked and hurt; and I feel sure that his feeling for the Earl +will be a more natural and affectionate one if he does not know +that his grandfather dislikes me so bitterly. He has never seen +hatred or hardness, and it would be a great blow to him to find +out that any one could hate me. He is so loving himself, and I +am so dear to him! It is better for him that he should not be +told until he is much older, and it is far better for the Earl. +It would make a barrier between them, even though Ceddie is such +a child." + +So Cedric only knew that there was some mysterious reason for the +arrangement, some reason which he was not old enough to +understand, but which would be explained when he was older. He +was puzzled; but, after all, it was not the reason he cared about +so much; and after many talks with his mother, in which she +comforted him and placed before him the bright side of the +picture, the dark side of it gradually began to fade out, though +now and then Mr. Havisham saw him sitting in some queer little +old-fashioned attitude, watching the sea, with a very grave face, +and more than once he heard an unchildish sigh rise to his lips. + +"I don't like it," he said once as he was having one of his +almost venerable talks with the lawyer. "You don't know how +much I don't like it; but there are a great many troubles in this +world, and you have to bear them. Mary says so, and I've heard +Mr. Hobbs say it too. And Dearest wants me to like to live with +my grandpapa, because, you see, all his children are dead, and +that's very mournful. It makes you sorry for a man, when all his +children have died--and one was killed suddenly." + +One of the things which always delighted the people who made the +acquaintance of his young lordship was the sage little air he +wore at times when he gave himself up to conversation;--combined +with his occasionally elderly remarks and the extreme innocence +and seriousness of his round childish face, it was irresistible. +He was such a handsome, blooming, curly-headed little fellow, +that, when he sat down and nursed his knee with his chubby hands, +and conversed with much gravity, he was a source of great +entertainment to his hearers. Gradually Mr. Havisham had begun +to derive a great deal of private pleasure and amusement from his +society. + +"And so you are going to try to like the Earl," he said. + +"Yes," answered his lordship. "He's my relation, and of +course you have to like your relations; and besides, he's been +very kind to me. When a person does so many things for you, and +wants you to have everything you wish for, of course you'd like +him if he wasn't your relation; but when he's your relation and +does that, why, you're very fond of him." + +"Do you think," suggested Mr. Havisham, "that he will be fond +of you?" + +"Well," said Cedric, "I think he will, because, you see, I'm +his relation, too, and I'm his boy's little boy besides, and, +well, don't you see--of course he must be fond of me now, or he +wouldn't want me to have everything that I like, and he wouldn't +have sent you for me." + +"Oh!" remarked the lawyer, "that's it, is it?" + +"Yes," said Cedric, "that's it. Don't you think that's it, +too? Of course a man would be fond of his grandson." + +The people who had been seasick had no sooner recovered from +their seasickness, and come on deck to recline in their +steamer-chairs and enjoy themselves, than every one seemed to +know the romantic story of little Lord Fauntleroy, and every one +took an interest in the little fellow, who ran about the ship or +walked with his mother or the tall, thin old lawyer, or talked to +the sailors. Every one liked him; he made friends everywhere. +He was ever ready to make friends. When the gentlemen walked up +and down the deck, and let him walk with them, he stepped out +with a manly, sturdy little tramp, and answered all their jokes +with much gay enjoyment; when the ladies talked to him, there was +always laughter in the group of which he was the center; when he +played with the children, there was always magnificent fun on +hand. Among the sailors he had the heartiest friends; he heard +miraculous stories about pirates and shipwrecks and desert +islands; he learned to splice ropes and rig toy ships, and gained +an amount of information concerning "tops'ls" and "mains'ls," +quite surprising. His conversation had, indeed, quite a nautical +flavor at times, and on one occasion he raised a shout of +laughter in a group of ladies and gentlemen who were sitting on +deck, wrapped in shawls and overcoats, by saying sweetly, and +with a very engaging expression: + +"Shiver my timbers, but it's a cold day!" + +It surprised him when they laughed. He had picked up this +sea-faring remark from an "elderly naval man" of the name of +Jerry, who told him stories in which it occurred frequently. To +judge from his stories of his own adventures, Jerry had made some +two or three thousand voyages, and had been invariably +shipwrecked on each occasion on an island densely populated with +bloodthirsty cannibals. Judging, also, by these same exciting +adventures, he had been partially roasted and eaten frequently +and had been scalped some fifteen or twenty times. + +"That is why he is so bald," explained Lord Fauntleroy to his +mamma. "After you have been scalped several times the hair +never grows again. Jerry's never grew again after that last +time, when the King of the Parromachaweekins did it with the +knife made out of the skull of the Chief of the Wopslemumpkies. +He says it was one of the most serious times he ever had. He was +so frightened that his hair stood right straight up when the king +flourished his knife, and it never would lie down, and the king +wears it that way now, and it looks something like a hair-brush. +I never heard anything like the asperiences Jerry has had! I +should so like to tell Mr. Hobbs about them!" + +Sometimes, when the weather was very disagreeable and people were +kept below decks in the saloon, a party of his grown-up friends +would persuade him to tell them some of these "asperiences" of +Jerry's, and as he sat relating them with great delight and +fervor, there was certainly no more popular voyager on any ocean +steamer crossing the Atlantic than little Lord Fauntleroy. He +was always innocently and good-naturedly ready to do his small +best to add to the general entertainment, and there was a charm +in the very unconsciousness of his own childish importance. + +"Jerry's stories int'rust them very much," he said to his +mamma. "For my part--you must excuse me, Dearest--but sometimes +I should have thought they couldn't be all quite true, if they +hadn't happened to Jerry himself; but as they all happened to +Jerry --well, it's very strange, you know, and perhaps sometimes +he may forget and be a little mistaken, as he's been scalped so +often. Being scalped a great many times might make a person +forgetful." + +It was eleven days after he had said good-bye to his friend Dick +before he reached Liverpool; and it was on the night of the +twelfth day that the carriage in which he and his mother and Mr. +Havisham had driven from the station stopped before the gates of +Court Lodge. They could not see much of the house in the +darkness. Cedric only saw that there was a drive-way under great +arching trees, and after the carriage had rolled down this +drive-way a short distance, he saw an open door and a stream of +bright light coming through it. + +Mary had come with them to attend her mistress, and she had +reached the house before them. When Cedric jumped out of the +carriage he saw one or two servants standing in the wide, bright +hall, and Mary stood in the door-way. + +Lord Fauntleroy sprang at her with a gay little shout. + +"Did you get here, Mary?" he said. "Here's Mary, Dearest," +and he kissed the maid on her rough red cheek. + +"I am glad you are here, Mary," Mrs. Errol said to her in a low +voice. "It is such a comfort to me to see you. It takes the +strangeness away." And she held out her little hand, which Mary +squeezed encouragingly. She knew how this first "strangeness" +must feel to this little mother who had left her own land and was +about to give up her child. + +The English servants looked with curiosity at both the boy and +his mother. They had heard all sorts of rumors about them both; +they knew how angry the old Earl had been, and why Mrs. Errol was +to live at the lodge and her little boy at the castle; they knew +all about the great fortune he was to inherit, and about the +savage old grandfather and his gout and his tempers. + +"He'll have no easy time of it, poor little chap," they had +said among themselves. + +But they did not know what sort of a little lord had come among +them; they did not quite understand the character of the next +Earl of Dorincourt. + +He pulled off his overcoat quite as if he were used to doing +things for himself, and began to look about him. He looked about +the broad hall, at the pictures and stags' antlers and curious +things that ornamented it. They seemed curious to him because he +had never seen such things before in a private house. + +"Dearest," he said, "this is a very pretty house, isn't it? I +am glad you are going to live here. It's quite a large house." + +It was quite a large house compared to the one in the shabby New +York street, and it was very pretty and cheerful. Mary led them +upstairs to a bright chintz-hung bedroom where a fire was +burning, and a large snow-white Persian cat was sleeping +luxuriously on the white fur hearth-rug. + +"It was the house-kaper up at the Castle, ma'am, sint her to +yez," explained Mary. "It's herself is a kind-hearted lady an' +has had iverything done to prepar' fur yez. I seen her meself a +few minnits, an' she was fond av the Capt'in, ma'am, an' graivs +fur him; and she said to say the big cat slapin' on the rug +moight make the room same homeloike to yez. She knowed Capt'in +Errol whin he was a bye--an' a foine handsum' bye she ses he was, +an' a foine young man wid a plisint word fur every one, great an' +shmall. An' ses I to her, ses I: `He's lift a bye that's loike +him, ma'am, fur a foiner little felly niver sthipped in +shoe-leather."' + +When they were ready, they went downstairs into another big +bright room; its ceiling was low, and the furniture was heavy and +beautifully carved, the chairs were deep and had high massive +backs, and there were queer shelves and cabinets with strange, +pretty ornaments on them. There was a great tiger-skin before +the fire, and an arm-chair on each side of it. The stately white +cat had responded to Lord Fauntleroy's stroking and followed him +downstairs, and when he threw himself down upon the rug, she +curled herself up grandly beside him as if she intended to make +friends. Cedric was so pleased that he put his head down by +hers, and lay stroking her, not noticing what his mother and Mr. +Havisham were saying. + +They were, indeed, speaking in a rather low tone. Mrs. Errol +looked a little pale and agitated. + +"He need not go to-night?" she said. "He will stay with me +to-night?" + +"Yes," answered Mr. Havisham in the same low tone; "it will +not be necessary for him to go to-night. I myself will go to the +Castle as soon as we have dined, and inform the Earl of our +arrival." + +Mrs. Errol glanced down at Cedric. He was lying in a graceful, +careless attitude upon the black-and-yellow skin; the fire shone +on his handsome, flushed little face, and on the tumbled, curly +hair spread out on the rug; the big cat was purring in drowsy +content,--she liked the caressing touch of the kind little hand +on her fur. + +Mrs. Errol smiled faintly. + +"His lordship does not know all that he is taking from me," she +said rather sadly. Then she looked at the lawyer. "Will you +tell him, if you please," she said, "that I should rather not +have the money?" + +"The money!" Mr. Havisham exclaimed. "You can not mean the +income he proposed to settle upon you!" + +"Yes," she answered, quite simply; "I think I should rather +not have it. I am obliged to accept the house, and I thank him +for it, because it makes it possible for me to be near my child; +but I have a little money of my own,--enough to live simply +upon,--and I should rather not take the other. As he dislikes me +so much, I should feel a little as if I were selling Cedric to +him. I am giving him up only because I love him enough to forget +myself for his good, and because his father would wish it to be +so." + +Mr. Havisham rubbed his chin. + +"This is very strange," he said. "He will be very angry. He +won't understand it." + +"I think he will understand it after he thinks it over," she +said. "I do not really need the money, and why should I accept +luxuries from the man who hates me so much that he takes my +little boy from me--his son's child?" + +Mr. Havisham looked reflective for a few moments. + +"I will deliver your message," he said afterward. + +And then the dinner was brought in and they sat down together, +the big cat taking a seat on a chair near Cedric's and purring +majestically throughout the meal. + +When, later in the evening, Mr. Havisham presented himself at the +Castle, he was taken at once to the Earl. He found him sitting +by the fire in a luxurious easy-chair, his foot on a gout-stool. +He looked at the lawyer sharply from under his shaggy eyebrows, +but Mr. Havisham could see that, in spite of his pretense at +calmness, he was nervous and secretly excited. + +"Well," he said; "well, Havisham, come back, have you? What's +the news?" + +"Lord Fauntleroy and his mother are at Court Lodge," replied +Mr. Havisham. "They bore the voyage very well and are in +excellent health." + +The Earl made a half-impatient sound and moved his hand +restlessly. + +"Glad to hear it," he said brusquely. "So far, so good. Make +yourself comfortable. Have a glass of wine and settle down. +What else?" + +"His lordship remains with his mother to-night. To-morrow I +will bring him to the Castle." + +The Earl's elbow was resting on the arm of his chair; he put his +hand up and shielded his eyes with it. + +"Well," he said; "go on. You know I told you not to write to +me about the matter, and I know nothing whatever about it. What +kind of a lad is he? I don't care about the mother; what sort of +a lad is he?" + +Mr. Havisham drank a little of the glass of port he had poured +out for himself, and sat holding it in his hand. + +"It is rather difficult to judge of the character of a child of +seven," he said cautiously. + +The Earl's prejudices were very intense. He looked up quickly +and uttered a rough word. + +"A fool, is he?" he exclaimed. "Or a clumsy cub? His +American blood tells, does it?" + +"I do not think it has injured him, my lord," replied the +lawyer in his dry, deliberate fashion. "I don't know much about +children, but I thought him rather a fine lad." + +His manner of speech was always deliberate and unenthusiastic, +but he made it a trifle more so than usual. He had a shrewd +fancy that it would be better that the Earl should judge for +himself, and be quite unprepared for his first interview with his +grandson. + +"Healthy and well-grown?" asked my lord. + +"Apparently very healthy, and quite well-grown," replied the +lawyer. + +"Straight-limbed and well enough to look at?" demanded the +Earl. + +A very slight smile touched Mr. Havisham's thin lips. There rose +up before his mind's eye the picture he had left at Court +Lodge,--the beautiful, graceful child's body lying upon the +tiger-skin in careless comfort--the bright, tumbled hair spread +on the rug--the bright, rosy boy's face. + +"Rather a handsome boy, I think, my lord, as boys go," he said, +"though I am scarcely a judge, perhaps. But you will find him +somewhat different from most English children, I dare say." + +"I haven't a doubt of that," snarled the Earl, a twinge of gout +seizing him. "A lot of impudent little beggars, those American +children; I've heard that often enough." + +"It is not exactly impudence in his case," said Mr. Havisham. +"I can scarcely describe what the difference is. He has lived +more with older people than with children, and the difference +seems to be a mixture of maturity and childishness." + +"American impudence!" protested the Earl. "I've heard of it +before. They call it precocity and freedom. Beastly, impudent +bad manners; that's what it is!" + +Mr. Havisham drank some more port. He seldom argued with his +lordly patron,--never when his lordly patron's noble leg was +inflamed by gout. At such times it was always better to leave +him alone. So there was a silence of a few moments. It was Mr. +Havisham who broke it. + +"I have a message to deliver from Mrs. Errol," he remarked. + +"I don't want any of her messages!" growled his lordship; "the +less I hear of her the better." + +"This is a rather important one," explained the lawyer. "She +prefers not to accept the income you proposed to settle on her." + +The Earl started visibly. + +"What's that?" he cried out. "What's that?" + +Mr. Havisham repeated his words. + +"She says it is not necessary, and that as the relations between +you are not friendly----" + +"Not friendly!" ejaculated my lord savagely; "I should say +they were not friendly! I hate to think of her! A mercenary, +sharp-voiced American! I don't wish to see her." + +"My lord," said Mr. Havisham, "you can scarcely call her +mercenary. She has asked for nothing. She does not accept the +money you offer her." + +"All done for effect!" snapped his noble lordship. "She wants +to wheedle me into seeing her. She thinks I shall admire her +spirit. I don't admire it! It's only American independence! I +won't have her living like a beggar at my park gates. As she's +the boy's mother, she has a position to keep up, and she shall +keep it up. She shall have the money, whether she likes it or +not!" + +"She won't spend it," said Mr. Havisham. + +"I don't care whether she spends it or not!" blustered my lord. +"She shall have it sent to her. She sha'n't tell people that +she has to live like a pauper because I have done nothing for +her! She wants to give the boy a bad opinion of me! I suppose +she has poisoned his mind against me already!" + +"No," said Mr. Havisham. "I have another message, which will +prove to you that she has not done that." + +"I don't want to hear it!" panted the Earl, out of breath with +anger and excitement and gout. + +But Mr. Havisham delivered it. + +"She asks you not to let Lord Fauntleroy hear anything which +would lead him to understand that you separate him from her +because of your prejudice against her. He is very fond of her, +and she is convinced that it would cause a barrier to exist +between you. She says he would not comprehend it, and it might +make him fear you in some measure, or at least cause him to feel +less affection for you. She has told him that he is too young to +understand the reason, but shall hear it when he is older. She +wishes that there should be no shadow on your first meeting." + +The Earl sank back into his chair. His deep-set fierce old eyes +gleamed under his beetling brows. + +"Come, now!" he said, still breathlessly. "Come, now! You +don't mean the mother hasn't told him?" + +"Not one word, my lord," replied the lawyer coolly. "That I +can assure you. The child is prepared to believe you the most +amiable and affectionate of grandparents. Nothing--absolutely +nothing has been said to him to give him the slightest doubt of +your perfection. And as I carried out your commands in every +detail, while in New York, he certainly regards you as a wonder +of generosity." + +"He does, eh?" said the Earl. + +"I give you my word of honor," said Mr. Havisham, "that Lord +Fauntleroy's impressions of you will depend entirely upon +yourself. And if you will pardon the liberty I take in making +the suggestion, I think you will succeed better with him if you +take the precaution not to speak slightingly of his mother." + +"Pooh, pooh!" said the Earl. "The youngster is only seven +years old!" + +"He has spent those seven years at his mother's side," returned +Mr. Havisham; "and she has all his affection." + + + +V + +It was late in the afternoon when the carriage containing little +Lord Fauntleroy and Mr. Havisham drove up the long avenue which +led to the castle. The Earl had given orders that his grandson +should arrive in time to dine with him; and for some reason best +known to himself, he had also ordered that the child should be +sent alone into the room in which he intended to receive him. As +the carriage rolled up the avenue, Lord Fauntleroy sat leaning +comfortably against the luxurious cushions, and regarded the +prospect with great interest. He was, in fact, interested in +everything he saw. He had been interested in the carriage, with +its large, splendid horses and their glittering harness; he had +been interested in the tall coachman and footman, with their +resplendent livery; and he had been especially interested in the +coronet on the panels, and had struck up an acquaintance with the +footman for the purpose of inquiring what it meant. + +When the carriage reached the great gates of the park, he looked +out of the window to get a good view of the huge stone lions +ornamenting the entrance. The gates were opened by a motherly, +rosy-looking woman, who came out of a pretty, ivy-covered lodge. +Two children ran out of the door of the house and stood looking +with round, wide-open eyes at the little boy in the carriage, who +looked at them also. Their mother stood courtesying and smiling, +and the children, on receiving a sign from her, made bobbing +little courtesies too. + +"Does she know me?" asked Lord Fauntleroy. "I think she must +think she knows me." And he took off his black velvet cap to her +and smiled. + +"How do you do?" he said brightly. "Good-afternoon!" + +The woman seemed pleased, he thought. The smile broadened on her +rosy face and a kind look came into her blue eyes. + +"God bless your lordship!" she said. "God bless your pretty +face! Good luck and happiness to your lordship! Welcome to +you!" + +Lord Fauntleroy waved his cap and nodded to her again as the +carriage rolled by her. + +"I like that woman," he said. "She looks as if she liked +boys. I should like to come here and play with her children. I +wonder if she has enough to make up a company?" + +Mr. Havisham did not tell him that he would scarcely be allowed +to make playmates of the gate-keeper's children. The lawyer +thought there was time enough for giving him that information. + +The carriage rolled on and on between the great, beautiful trees +which grew on each side of the avenue and stretched their broad, +swaying branches in an arch across it. Cedric had never seen +such trees,--they were so grand and stately, and their branches +grew so low down on their huge trunks. He did not then know that +Dorincourt Castle was one of the most beautiful in all England; +that its park was one of the broadest and finest, and its trees +and avenue almost without rivals. But he did know that it was +all very beautiful. He liked the big, broad-branched trees, with +the late afternoon sunlight striking golden lances through them. +He liked the perfect stillness which rested on everything. He +felt a great, strange pleasure in the beauty of which he caught +glimpses under and between the sweeping boughs--the great, +beautiful spaces of the park, with still other trees standing +sometimes stately and alone, and sometimes in groups. Now and +then they passed places where tall ferns grew in masses, and +again and again the ground was azure with the bluebells swaying +in the soft breeze. Several times he started up with a laugh of +delight as a rabbit leaped up from under the greenery and scudded +away with a twinkle of short white tail behind it. Once a covey +of partridges rose with a sudden whir and flew away, and then he +shouted and clapped his hands. + +"It's a beautiful place, isn't it?" he said to Mr. Havisham. +"I never saw such a beautiful place. It's prettier even than +Central Park." + +He was rather puzzled by the length of time they were on their +way. + +"How far is it," he said, at length, "from the gate to the +front door?" + +"It is between three and four miles," answered the lawyer. + +"That's a long way for a person to live from his gate," +remarked his lordship. + +Every few minutes he saw something new to wonder at and admire. +When he caught sight of the deer, some couched in the grass, some +standing with their pretty antlered heads turned with a +half-startled air toward the avenue as the carriage wheels +disturbed them, he was enchanted. + +"Has there been a circus?" he cried; "or do they live here +always? Whose are they?" + +"They live here," Mr. Havisham told him. "They belong to the +Earl, your grandfather." + +It was not long after this that they saw the castle. It rose up +before them stately and beautiful and gray, the last rays of the +sun casting dazzling lights on its many windows. It had turrets +and battlements and towers; a great deal of ivy grew upon its +walls; all the broad, open space about it was laid out in +terraces and lawns and beds of brilliant flowers. + +"It's the most beautiful place I ever saw!" said Cedric, his +round face flushing with pleasure. "It reminds any one of a +king's palace. I saw a picture of one once in a fairy-book." + +He saw the great entrance-door thrown open and many servants +standing in two lines looking at him. He wondered why they were +standing there, and admired their liveries very much. He did not +know that they were there to do honor to the little boy to whom +all this splendor would one day belong,--the beautiful castle +like the fairy king's palace, the magnificent park, the grand old +trees, the dells full of ferns and bluebells where the hares and +rabbits played, the dappled, large-eyed deer couching in the deep +grass. It was only a couple of weeks since he had sat with Mr. +Hobbs among the potatoes and canned peaches, with his legs +dangling from the high stool; it would not have been possible for +him to realize that he had very much to do with all this +grandeur. At the head of the line of servants there stood an +elderly woman in a rich, plain black silk gown; she had gray hair +and wore a cap. As he entered the hall she stood nearer than the +rest, and the child thought from the look in her eyes that she +was going to speak to him. Mr. Havisham, who held his hand, +paused a moment. + +"This is Lord Fauntleroy, Mrs. Mellon," he said. "Lord +Fauntleroy, this is Mrs. Mellon, who is the housekeeper." + +Cedric gave her his hand, his eyes lighting up. + +"Was it you who sent the cat?" he said. "I'm much obliged to +you, ma'am." + +Mrs. Mellon's handsome old face looked as pleased as the face of +the lodge-keeper's wife had done. + +"I should know his lordship anywhere," she said to Mr. +Havisham. "He has the Captain's face and way. It's a great +day, this, sir." + +Cedric wondered why it was a great day. He looked at Mrs. Mellon +curiously. It seemed to him for a moment as if there were tears +in her eyes, and yet it was evident she was not unhappy. She +smiled down on him. + +"The cat left two beautiful kittens here," she said; "they +shall be sent up to your lordship's nursery." + +Mr. Havisham said a few words to her in a low voice. + +"In the library, sir," Mrs. Mellon replied. "His lordship is +to be taken there alone." + + +A few minutes later, the very tall footman in livery, who had +escorted Cedric to the library door, opened it and announced: +"Lord Fauntleroy, my lord," in quite a majestic tone. If he +was only a footman, he felt it was rather a grand occasion when +the heir came home to his own land and possessions, and was +ushered into the presence of the old Earl, whose place and title +he was to take. + +Cedric crossed the threshold into the room. It was a very large +and splendid room, with massive carven furniture in it, and +shelves upon shelves of books; the furniture was so dark, and the +draperies so heavy, the diamond-paned windows were so deep, and +it seemed such a distance from one end of it to the other, that, +since the sun had gone down, the effect of it all was rather +gloomy. For a moment Cedric thought there was nobody in the +room, but soon he saw that by the fire burning on the wide hearth +there was a large easy-chair and that in that chair some one was +sitting--some one who did not at first turn to look at him. + +But he had attracted attention in one quarter at least. On the +floor, by the arm-chair, lay a dog, a huge tawny mastiff, with +body and limbs almost as big as a lion's; and this great creature +rose majestically and slowly, and marched toward the little +fellow with a heavy step. + +Then the person in the chair spoke. "Dougal," he called, +"come back, sir." + +But there was no more fear in little Lord Fauntleroy's heart than +there was unkindness--he had been a brave little fellow all his +life. He put his hand on the big dog's collar in the most +natural way in the world, and they strayed forward together, +Dougal sniffing as he went. + +And then the Earl looked up. What Cedric saw was a large old man +with shaggy white hair and eyebrows, and a nose like an eagle's +beak between his deep, fierce eyes. What the Earl saw was a +graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace +collar, and with love-locks waving about the handsome, manly +little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent +good-fellowship. If the Castle was like the palace in a fairy +story, it must be owned that little Lord Fauntleroy was himself +rather like a small copy of the fairy prince, though he was not +at all aware of the fact, and perhaps was rather a sturdy young +model of a fairy. But there was a sudden glow of triumph and +exultation in the fiery old Earl's heart as he saw what a strong, +beautiful boy this grandson was, and how unhesitatingly he looked +up as he stood with his hand on the big dog's neck. It pleased +the grim old nobleman that the child should show no shyness or +fear, either of the dog or of himself. + +Cedric looked at him just as he had looked at the woman at the +lodge and at the housekeeper, and came quite close to him. + +"Are you the Earl?" he said. "I'm your grandson, you know, +that Mr. Havisham brought. I'm Lord Fauntleroy." + +He held out his hand because he thought it must be the polite and +proper thing to do even with earls. "I hope you are very +well," he continued, with the utmost friendliness. "I'm very +glad to see you." + +The Earl shook hands with him, with a curious gleam in his eyes; +just at first, he was so astonished that he scarcely knew what to +say. He stared at the picturesque little apparition from under +his shaggy brows, and took it all in from head to foot. + +"Glad to see me, are you?" he said. + +"Yes," answered Lord Fauntleroy, "very." + +There was a chair near him, and he sat down on it; it was a +high-backed, rather tall chair, and his feet did not touch the +floor when he had settled himself in it, but he seemed to be +quite comfortable as he sat there, and regarded his august +relative intently but modestly. + +"I've kept wondering what you would look like," he remarked. +"I used to lie in my berth in the ship and wonder if you would +be anything like my father." + +"Am I?" asked the Earl. + +"Well," Cedric replied, "I was very young when he died, and I +may not remember exactly how he looked, but I don't think you are +like him." + +"You are disappointed, I suppose?" suggested his grandfather. + +"Oh, no," responded Cedric politely. "Of course you would +like any one to look like your father; but of course you would +enjoy the way your grandfather looked, even if he wasn't like +your father. You know how it is yourself about admiring your +relations." + +The Earl leaned back in his chair and stared. He could not be +said to know how it was about admiring his relations. He had +employed most of his noble leisure in quarreling violently with +them, in turning them out of his house, and applying abusive +epithets to them; and they all hated him cordially. + +"Any boy would love his grandfather," continued Lord +Fauntleroy, "especially one that had been as kind to him as you +have been." + +Another queer gleam came into the old nobleman's eyes. + +"Oh!" he said, "I have been kind to you, have I?" + +"Yes," answered Lord Fauntleroy brightly; "I'm ever so much +obliged to you about Bridget, and the apple-woman, and Dick." + +"Bridget!" exclaimed the Earl. "Dick! The apple-woman!" + +"Yes!" explained Cedric; "the ones you gave me all that money +for--the money you told Mr. Havisham to give me if I wanted it." + +"Ha!" ejaculated his lordship. "That's it, is it? The money +you were to spend as you liked. What did you buy with it? I +should like to hear something about that." + +He drew his shaggy eyebrows together and looked at the child +sharply. He was secretly curious to know in what way the lad had +indulged himself. + +"Oh!" said Lord Fauntleroy, "perhaps you didn't know about +Dick and the apple-woman and Bridget. I forgot you lived such a +long way off from them. They were particular friends of mine. +And you see Michael had the fever----" + +"Who's Michael?" asked the Earl. + +"Michael is Bridget's husband, and they were in great trouble. +When a man is sick and can't work and has twelve children, you +know how it is. And Michael has always been a sober man. And +Bridget used to come to our house and cry. And the evening Mr. +Havisham was there, she was in the kitchen crying, because they +had almost nothing to eat and couldn't pay the rent; and I went +in to see her, and Mr. Havisham sent for me and he said you had +given him some money for me. And I ran as fast as I could into +the kitchen and gave it to Bridget; and that made it all right; +and Bridget could scarcely believe her eyes. That's why I'm so +obliged to you." + +"Oh!" said the Earl in his deep voice, "that was one of the +things you did for yourself, was it? What else?" + +Dougal had been sitting by the tall chair; the great dog had +taken its place there when Cedric sat down. Several times it had +turned and looked up at the boy as if interested in the +conversation. Dougal was a solemn dog, who seemed to feel +altogether too big to take life's responsibilities lightly. The +old Earl, who knew the dog well, had watched it with secret +interest. Dougal was not a dog whose habit it was to make +acquaintances rashly, and the Earl wondered somewhat to see how +quietly the brute sat under the touch of the childish hand. And, +just at this moment, the big dog gave little Lord Fauntleroy one +more look of dignified scrutiny, and deliberately laid its huge, +lion-like head on the boy's black-velvet knee. + +The small hand went on stroking this new friend as Cedric +answered: + +"Well, there was Dick," he said. "You'd like Dick, he's so +square." + +This was an Americanism the Earl was not prepared for. + +"What does that mean?" he inquired. + +Lord Fauntleroy paused a moment to reflect. He was not very sure +himself what it meant. He had taken it for granted as meaning +something very creditable because Dick had been fond of using it. + +"I think it means that he wouldn't cheat any one," he +exclaimed; "or hit a boy who was under his size, and that he +blacks people's boots very well and makes them shine as much as +he can. He's a perfessional bootblack." + +"And he's one of your acquaintances, is he?" said the Earl. + +"He is an old friend of mine," replied his grandson. "Not +quite as old as Mr. Hobbs, but quite old. He gave me a present +just before the ship sailed." + +He put his hand into his pocket and drew forth a neatly folded +red object and opened it with an air of affectionate pride. It +was the red silk handkerchief with the large purple horse-shoes +and heads on it. + +"He gave me this," said his young lordship. "I shall keep it +always. You can wear it round your neck or keep it in your +pocket. He bought it with the first money he earned after I +bought Jake out and gave him the new brushes. It's a keepsake. +I put some poetry in Mr. Hobbs's watch. It was, `When this you +see, remember me.' When this I see, I shall always remember +Dick." + +The sensations of the Right Honorable the Earl of Dorincourt +could scarcely be described. He was not an old nobleman who was +very easily bewildered, because he had seen a great deal of the +world; but here was something he found so novel that it almost +took his lordly breath away, and caused him some singular +emotions. He had never cared for children; he had been so +occupied with his own pleasures that he had never had time to +care for them. His own sons had not interested him when they +were very young--though sometimes he remembered having thought +Cedric's father a handsome and strong little fellow. He had been +so selfish himself that he had missed the pleasure of seeing +unselfishness in others, and he had not known how tender and +faithful and affectionate a kind-hearted little child can be, and +how innocent and unconscious are its simple, generous impulses. +A boy had always seemed to him a most objectionable little +animal, selfish and greedy and boisterous when not under strict +restraint; his own two eldest sons had given their tutors +constant trouble and annoyance, and of the younger one he fancied +he had heard few complaints because the boy was of no particular +importance. It had never once occurred to him that he should +like his grandson; he had sent for the little Cedric because his +pride impelled him to do so. If the boy was to take his place in +the future, he did not wish his name to be made ridiculous by +descending to an uneducated boor. He had been convinced the boy +would be a clownish fellow if he were brought up in America. He +had no feeling of affection for the lad; his only hope was that +he should find him decently well-featured, and with a respectable +share of sense; he had been so disappointed in his other sons, +and had been made so furious by Captain Errol's American +marriage, that he had never once thought that anything creditable +could come of it. When the footman had announced Lord +Fauntleroy, he had almost dreaded to look at the boy lest he +should find him all that he had feared. It was because of this +feeling that he had ordered that the child should be sent to him +alone. His pride could not endure that others should see his +disappointment if he was to be disappointed. His proud, stubborn +old heart therefore had leaped within him when the boy came +forward with his graceful, easy carriage, his fearless hand on +the big dog's neck. Even in the moments when he had hoped the +most, the Earl had never hoped that his grandson would look like +that. It seemed almost too good to be true that this should be +the boy he had dreaded to see--the child of the woman he so +disliked--this little fellow with so much beauty and such a +brave, childish grace! The Earl's stern composure was quite +shaken by this startling surprise. + +And then their talk began; and he was still more curiously moved, +and more and more puzzled. In the first place, he was so used to +seeing people rather afraid and embarrassed before him, that he +had expected nothing else but that his grandson would be timid or +shy. But Cedric was no more afraid of the Earl than he had been +of Dougal. He was not bold; he was only innocently friendly, and +he was not conscious that there could be any reason why he should +be awkward or afraid. The Earl could not help seeing that the +little boy took him for a friend and treated him as one, without +having any doubt of him at all. It was quite plain as the little +fellow sat there in his tall chair and talked in his friendly way +that it had never occurred to him that this large, fierce-looking +old man could be anything but kind to him, and rather pleased to +see him there. And it was plain, too, that, in his childish way, +he wished to please and interest his grandfather. Cross, and +hard-hearted, and worldly as the old Earl was, he could not help +feeling a secret and novel pleasure in this very confidence. +After all, it was not disagreeable to meet some one who did not +distrust him or shrink from him, or seem to detect the ugly part +of his nature; some one who looked at him with clear, +unsuspecting eyes,--if it was only a little boy in a black velvet +suit. + +So the old man leaned back in his chair, and led his young +companion on to telling him still more of himself, and with that +odd gleam in his eyes watched the little fellow as he talked. +Lord Fauntleroy was quite willing to answer all his questions and +chatted on in his genial little way quite composedly. He told +him all about Dick and Jake, and the apple-woman, and Mr. Hobbs; +he described the Republican Rally in all the glory of its banners +and transparencies, torches and rockets. In the course of the +conversation, he reached the Fourth of July and the Revolution, +and was just becoming enthusiastic, when he suddenly recollected +something and stopped very abruptly. + +"What is the matter?" demanded his grandfather. "Why don't +you go on?" + +Lord Fauntleroy moved rather uneasily in his chair. It was +evident to the Earl that he was embarrassed by the thought which +had just occurred to him. + +"I was just thinking that perhaps you mightn't like it," he +replied. "Perhaps some one belonging to you might have been +there. I forgot you were an Englishman." + +"You can go on," said my lord. "No one belonging to me was +there. You forgot you were an Englishman, too." + +"Oh! no," said Cedric quickly. "I'm an American!" + +"You are an Englishman," said the Earl grimly. "Your father +was an Englishman." + +It amused him a little to say this, but it did not amuse Cedric. +The lad had never thought of such a development as this. He felt +himself grow quite hot up to the roots of his hair. + +"I was born in America," he protested. "You have to be an +American if you are born in America. I beg your pardon," with +serious politeness and delicacy, "for contradicting you. Mr. +Hobbs told me, if there were another war, you know, I should have +to--to be an American." + +The Earl gave a grim half laugh--it was short and grim, but it +was a laugh. + +"You would, would you?" he said. + +He hated America and Americans, but it amused him to see how +serious and interested this small patriot was. He thought that +so good an American might make a rather good Englishman when he +was a man. + +They had not time to go very deep into the Revolution again--and +indeed Lord Fauntleroy felt some delicacy about returning to the +subject--before dinner was announced. + +Cedric left his chair and went to his noble kinsman. He looked +down at his gouty foot. + +"Would you like me to help you?" he said politely. "You could +lean on me, you know. Once when Mr. Hobbs hurt his foot with a +potato-barrel rolling on it, he used to lean on me." + +The big footman almost periled his reputation and his situation +by smiling. He was an aristocratic footman who had always lived +in the best of noble families, and he had never smiled; indeed, +he would have felt himself a disgraced and vulgar footman if he +had allowed himself to be led by any circumstance whatever into +such an indiscretion as a smile. But he had a very narrow +escape. He only just saved himself by staring straight over the +Earl's head at a very ugly picture. + +The Earl looked his valiant young relative over from head to +foot. + +"Do you think you could do it?" he asked gruffly. + +"I THINK I could," said Cedric. "I'm strong. I'm seven, you +know. You could lean on your stick on one side, and on me on the +other. Dick says I've a good deal of muscle for a boy that's +only seven." + +He shut his hand and moved it upward to his shoulder, so that the +Earl might see the muscle Dick had kindly approved of, and his +face was so grave and earnest that the footman found it necessary +to look very hard indeed at the ugly picture. + +"Well," said the Earl, "you may try." + +Cedric gave him his stick and began to assist him to rise. +Usually, the footman did this, and was violently sworn at when +his lordship had an extra twinge of gout. The Earl was not a +very polite person as a rule, and many a time the huge footmen +about him quaked inside their imposing liveries. + +But this evening he did not swear, though his gouty foot gave him +more twinges than one. He chose to try an experiment. He got up +slowly and put his hand on the small shoulder presented to him +with so much courage. Little Lord Fauntleroy made a careful step +forward, looking down at the gouty foot. + +"Just lean on me," he said, with encouraging good cheer. +"I'll walk very slowly." + +If the Earl had been supported by the footman he would have +rested less on his stick and more on his assistant's arm. And +yet it was part of his experiment to let his grandson feel his +burden as no light weight. It was quite a heavy weight indeed, +and after a few steps his young lordship's face grew quite hot, +and his heart beat rather fast, but he braced himself sturdily, +remembering his muscle and Dick's approval of it. + +"Don't be afraid of leaning on me," he panted. "I'm all +right--if--if it isn't a very long way." + +It was not really very far to the dining-room, but it seemed +rather a long way to Cedric, before they reached the chair at the +head of the table. The hand on his shoulder seemed to grow +heavier at every step, and his face grew redder and hotter, and +his breath shorter, but he never thought of giving up; he +stiffened his childish muscles, held his head erect, and +encouraged the Earl as he limped along. + +"Does your foot hurt you very much when you stand on it?" he +asked. "Did you ever put it in hot water and mustard? Mr. +Hobbs used to put his in hot water. Arnica is a very nice thing, +they tell me." + +The big dog stalked slowly beside them, and the big footman +followed; several times he looked very queer as he watched the +little figure making the very most of all its strength, and +bearing its burden with such good-will. The Earl, too, looked +rather queer, once, as he glanced sidewise down at the flushed +little face. When they entered the room where they were to dine, +Cedric saw it was a very large and imposing one, and that the +footman who stood behind the chair at the head of the table +stared very hard as they came in. + +But they reached the chair at last. The hand was removed from +his shoulder, and the Earl was fairly seated. + +Cedric took out Dick's handkerchief and wiped his forehead. + +"It's a warm night, isn't it?" he said. "Perhaps you need a +fire because--because of your foot, but it seems just a little +warm to me." + +His delicate consideration for his noble relative's feelings was +such that he did not wish to seem to intimate that any of his +surroundings were unnecessary. + +"You have been doing some rather hard work," said the Earl. + +"Oh, no!" said Lord Fauntleroy, "it wasn't exactly hard, but I +got a little warm. A person will get warm in summer time." + +And he rubbed his damp curls rather vigorously with the gorgeous +handkerchief. His own chair was placed at the other end of the +table, opposite his grandfather's. It was a chair with arms, and +intended for a much larger individual than himself; indeed, +everything he had seen so far,--the great rooms, with their high +ceilings, the massive furniture, the big footman, the big dog, +the Earl himself,--were all of proportions calculated to make +this little lad feel that he was very small, indeed. But that +did not trouble him; he had never thought himself very large or +important, and he was quite willing to accommodate himself even +to circumstances which rather overpowered him. + +Perhaps he had never looked so little a fellow as when seated now +in his great chair, at the end of the table. Notwithstanding his +solitary existence, the Earl chose to live in some state. He was +fond of his dinner, and he dined in a formal style. Cedric +looked at him across a glitter of splendid glass and plate, which +to his unaccustomed eyes seemed quite dazzling. A stranger +looking on might well have smiled at the picture,--the great +stately room, the big liveried servants, the bright lights, the +glittering silver and glass, the fierce-looking old nobleman at +the head of the table and the very small boy at the foot. Dinner +was usually a very serious matter with the Earl--and it was a +very serious matter with the cook, if his lordship was not +pleased or had an indifferent appetite. To-day, however, his +appetite seemed a trifle better than usual, perhaps because he +had something to think of beside the flavor of the entrees and +the management of the gravies. His grandson gave him something +to think of. He kept looking at him across the table. He did +not say very much himself, but he managed to make the boy talk. +He had never imagined that he could be entertained by hearing a +child talk, but Lord Fauntleroy at once puzzled and amused him, +and he kept remembering how he had let the childish shoulder feel +his weight just for the sake of trying how far the boy's courage +and endurance would go, and it pleased him to know that his +grandson had not quailed and had not seemed to think even for a +moment of giving up what he had undertaken to do. + +"You don't wear your coronet all the time?" remarked Lord +Fauntleroy respectfully. + +"No," replied the Earl, with his grim smile; "it is not +becoming to me." + +"Mr. Hobbs said you always wore it," said Cedric; "but after +he thought it over, he said he supposed you must sometimes take +it off to put your hat on." + +"Yes," said the Earl, "I take it off occasionally." + +And one of the footmen suddenly turned aside and gave a singular +little cough behind his hand. + +Cedric finished his dinner first, and then he leaned back in his +chair and took a survey of the room. + +"You must be very proud of your house," he said, "it's such a +beautiful house. I never saw anything so beautiful; but, of +course, as I'm only seven, I haven't seen much." + +"And you think I must be proud of it, do you?" said the Earl. + +"I should think any one would be proud of it," replied Lord +Fauntleroy. "I should be proud of it if it were my house. +Everything about it is beautiful. And the park, and those +trees,--how beautiful they are, and how the leaves rustle!" + +Then he paused an instant and looked across the table rather +wistfully. + +"It's a very big house for just two people to live in, isn't +it?" he said. + +"It is quite large enough for two," answered the Earl. "Do +you find it too large?" + +His little lordship hesitated a moment. + +"I was only thinking," he said, "that if two people lived in +it who were not very good companions, they might feel lonely +sometimes." + +"Do you think I shall make a good companion?" inquired the +Earl. + +"Yes," replied Cedric, "I think you will. Mr. Hobbs and I +were great friends. He was the best friend I had except +Dearest." + +The Earl made a quick movement of his bushy eyebrows. + +"Who is Dearest?" + +"She is my mother," said Lord Fauntleroy, in a rather low, +quiet little voice. + +Perhaps he was a trifle tired, as his bed-time was nearing, and +perhaps after the excitement of the last few days it was natural +he should be tired, so perhaps, too, the feeling of weariness +brought to him a vague sense of loneliness in the remembrance +that to-night he was not to sleep at home, watched over by the +loving eyes of that "best friend" of his. They had always been +"best friends," this boy and his young mother. He could not +help thinking of her, and the more he thought of her the less was +he inclined to talk, and by the time the dinner was at an end the +Earl saw that there was a faint shadow on his face. But Cedric +bore himself with excellent courage, and when they went back to +the library, though the tall footman walked on one side of his +master, the Earl's hand rested on his grandson's shoulder, though +not so heavily as before. + +When the footman left them alone, Cedric sat down upon the +hearth-rug near Dougal. For a few minutes he stroked the dog's +ears in silence and looked at the fire. + +The Earl watched him. The boy's eyes looked wistful and +thoughtful, and once or twice he gave a little sigh. The Earl +sat still, and kept his eyes fixed on his grandson. + +"Fauntleroy," he said at last, "what are you thinking of?" + +Fauntleroy looked up with a manful effort at a smile. + +"I was thinking about Dearest," he said; "and--and I think I'd +better get up and walk up and down the room." + +He rose up, and put his hands in his small pockets, and began to +walk to and fro. His eyes were very bright, and his lips were +pressed together, but he kept his head up and walked firmly. +Dougal moved lazily and looked at him, and then stood up. He +walked over to the child, and began to follow him uneasily. +Fauntleroy drew one hand from his pocket and laid it on the dog's +head. + +"He's a very nice dog," he said. "He's my friend. He knows +how I feel." + +"How do you feel?" asked the Earl. + +It disturbed him to see the struggle the little fellow was having +with his first feeling of homesickness, but it pleased him to see +that he was making so brave an effort to bear it well. He liked +this childish courage. + +"Come here," he said. + +Fauntleroy went to him. + +"I never was away from my own house before," said the boy, with +a troubled look in his brown eyes. "It makes a person feel a +strange feeling when he has to stay all night in another person's +castle instead of in his own house. But Dearest is not very far +away from me. She told me to remember that--and--and I'm +seven--and I can look at the picture she gave me." + +He put his hand in his pocket, and brought out a small violet +velvet-covered case. + +"This is it," he said. "You see, you press this spring and it +opens, and she is in there!" + +He had come close to the Earl's chair, and, as he drew forth the +little case, he leaned against the arm of it, and against the old +man's arm, too, as confidingly as if children had always leaned +there. + +"There she is," he said, as the case opened; and he looked up +with a smile. + +The Earl knitted his brows; he did not wish to see the picture, +but he looked at it in spite of himself; and there looked up at +him from it such a pretty young face--a face so like the child's +at his side--that it quite startled him. + +"I suppose you think you are very fond of her," he said. + +"Yes," answered Lord Fauntleroy, in a gentle tone, and with +simple directness; "I do think so, and I think it's true. You +see, Mr. Hobbs was my friend, and Dick and Bridget and Mary and +Michael, they were my friends, too; but Dearest--well, she is my +CLOSE friend, and we always tell each other everything. My +father left her to me to take care of, and when I am a man I am +going to work and earn money for her." + +"What do you think of doing?" inquired his grandfather. + +His young lordship slipped down upon the hearth-rug, and sat +there with the picture still in his hand. He seemed to be +reflecting seriously, before he answered. + +"I did think perhaps I might go into business with Mr. Hobbs," +he said; "but I should LIKE to be a President." + +"We'll send you to the House of Lords instead," said his +grandfather. + +"Well," remarked Lord Fauntleroy, "if I COULDN'T be a +President, and if that is a good business, I shouldn't mind. The +grocery business is dull sometimes." + +Perhaps he was weighing the matter in his mind, for he sat very +quiet after this, and looked at the fire for some time. + +The Earl did not speak again. He leaned back in his chair and +watched him. A great many strange new thoughts passed through +the old nobleman's mind. Dougal had stretched himself out and +gone to sleep with his head on his huge paws. There was a long +silence. + + +In about half an hour's time Mr. Havisham was ushered in. The +great room was very still when he entered. The Earl was still +leaning back in his chair. He moved as Mr. Havisham approached, +and held up his hand in a gesture of warning--it seemed as if he +had scarcely intended to make the gesture--as if it were almost +involuntary. Dougal was still asleep, and close beside the great +dog, sleeping also, with his curly head upon his arm, lay little +Lord Fauntleroy. + + + +VI + +When Lord Fauntleroy wakened in the morning,--he had not wakened +at all when he had been carried to bed the night before,--the +first sounds he was conscious of were the crackling of a wood +fire and the murmur of voices. + +"You will be careful, Dawson, not to say anything about it," he +heard some one say. "He does not know why she is not to be with +him, and the reason is to be kept from him." + +"If them's his lordship's orders, mem," another voice answered, +they'll have to be kep', I suppose. But, if you'll excuse the +liberty, mem, as it's between ourselves, servant or no servant, +all I have to say is, it's a cruel thing,--parting that poor, +pretty, young widdered cre'tur' from her own flesh and blood, and +him such a little beauty and a nobleman born. James and Thomas, +mem, last night in the servants' hall, they both of 'em say as +they never see anythink in their two lives--nor yet no other +gentleman in livery--like that little fellow's ways, as innercent +an' polite an' interested as if he'd been sitting there dining +with his best friend,--and the temper of a' angel, instead of one +(if you'll excuse me, mem), as it's well known, is enough to +curdle your blood in your veins at times. And as to looks, mem, +when we was rung for, James and me, to go into the library and +bring him upstairs, and James lifted him up in his arms, what +with his little innercent face all red and rosy, and his little +head on James's shoulder and his hair hanging down, all curly an' +shinin', a prettier, takiner sight you'd never wish to see. An' +it's my opinion, my lord wasn't blind to it neither, for he +looked at him, and he says to James, `See you don't wake him!' he +says." + +Cedric moved on his pillow, and turned over, opening his eyes. + +There were two women in the room. Everything was bright and +cheerful with gay-flowered chintz. There was a fire on the +hearth, and the sunshine was streaming in through the +ivy-entwined windows. Both women came toward him, and he saw +that one of them was Mrs. Mellon, the housekeeper, and the other +a comfortable, middle-aged woman, with a face as kind and +good-humored as a face could be. + +"Good-morning, my lord," said Mrs. Mellon. "Did you sleep +well?" + +His lordship rubbed his eyes and smiled. + +"Good-morning," he said. "I didn't know I was here." + +"You were carried upstairs when you were asleep," said the +housekeeper. "This is your bedroom, and this is Dawson, who is +to take care of you." + +Fauntleroy sat up in bed and held out his hand to Dawson, as he +had held it out to the Earl. + +"How do you do, ma'am?" he said. "I'm much obliged to you for +coming to take care of me." + +"You can call her Dawson, my lord," said the housekeeper with a +smile. "She is used to being called Dawson." + +"MISS Dawson, or MRS. Dawson?" inquired his lordship. + +"Just Dawson, my lord," said Dawson herself, beaming all over. +"Neither Miss nor Missis, bless your little heart ! Will you +get up now, and let Dawson dress you, and then have your +breakfast in the nursery?" + +"I learned to dress myself many years ago, thank you," answered +Fauntleroy. "Dearest taught me. `Dearest' is my mamma. We had +only Mary to do all the work,--washing and all,--and so of course +it wouldn't do to give her so much trouble. I can take my bath, +too, pretty well if you'll just be kind enough to 'zamine the +corners after I'm done." + +Dawson and the housekeeper exchanged glances. + +"Dawson will do anything you ask her to," said Mrs. Mellon. + +"That I will, bless him," said Dawson, in her comforting, +good-humored voice. "He shall dress himself if he likes, and +I'll stand by, ready to help him if he wants me." + +"Thank you," responded Lord Fauntleroy; "it's a little hard +sometimes about the buttons, you know, and then I have to ask +somebody." + +He thought Dawson a very kind woman, and before the bath and the +dressing were finished they were excellent friends, and he had +found out a great deal about her. He had discovered that her +husband had been a soldier and had been killed in a real battle, +and that her son was a sailor, and was away on a long cruise, and +that he had seen pirates and cannibals and Chinese people and +Turks, and that he brought home strange shells and pieces of +coral which Dawson was ready to show at any moment, some of them +being in her trunk. All this was very interesting. He also +found out that she had taken care of little children all her +life, and that she had just come from a great house in another +part of England, where she had been taking care of a beautiful +little girl whose name was Lady Gwyneth Vaughn. + +"And she is a sort of relation of your lordship's," said +Dawson. "And perhaps sometime you may see her." + +"Do you think I shall?" said Fauntleroy. "I should like that. +I never knew any little girls, but I always like to look at +them." + +When he went into the adjoining room to take his breakfast, and +saw what a great room it was, and found there was another +adjoining it which Dawson told him was his also, the feeling that +he was very small indeed came over him again so strongly that he +confided it to Dawson, as he sat down to the table on which the +pretty breakfast service was arranged. + +"I am a very little boy," he said rather wistfully, "to live +in such a large castle, and have so many big rooms,--don't you +think so?" + +"Oh! come!" said Dawson, "you feel just a little strange at +first, that's all; but you'll get over that very soon, and then +you'll like it here. It's such a beautiful place, you know." + +"It's a very beautiful place, of course," said Fauntleroy, with +a little sigh; "but I should like it better if I didn't miss +Dearest so. I always had my breakfast with her in the morning, +and put the sugar and cream in her tea for her, and handed her +the toast. That made it very sociable, of course." + +"Oh, well!" answered Dawson, comfortingly, "you know you can +see her every day, and there's no knowing how much you'll have to +tell her. Bless you! wait till you've walked about a bit and +seen things,--the dogs, and the stables with all the horses in +them. There's one of them I know you'll like to see----" + +"Is there?" exclaimed Fauntleroy; "I'm very fond of horses. I +was very fond of Jim. He was the horse that belonged to Mr. +Hobbs' grocery wagon. He was a beautiful horse when he wasn't +balky." + +"Well," said Dawson, "you just wait till you've seen what's in +the stables. And, deary me, you haven't looked even into the +very next room yet!" + +"What is there?" asked Fauntleroy. + +"Wait until you've had your breakfast, and then you shall see," +said Dawson. + +At this he naturally began to grow curious, and he applied +himself assiduously to his breakfast. It seemed to him that +there must be something worth looking at, in the next room; +Dawson had such a consequential, mysterious air. + +"Now, then," he said, slipping off his seat a few minutes +later; "I've had enough. Can I go and look at it?" + +Dawson nodded and led the way, looking more mysterious and +important than ever. He began to be very much interested indeed. + +When she opened the door of the room, he stood upon the threshold +and looked about him in amazement. He did not speak; he only put +his hands in his pockets and stood there flushing up to his +forehead and looking in. + +He flushed up because he was so surprised and, for the moment, +excited. To see such a place was enough to surprise any ordinary +boy. + +The room was a large one, too, as all the rooms seemed to be, and +it appeared to him more beautiful than the rest, only in a +different way. The furniture was not so massive and antique as +was that in the rooms he had seen downstairs; the draperies and +rugs and walls were brighter; there were shelves full of books, +and on the tables were numbers of toys,--beautiful, ingenious +things,--such as he had looked at with wonder and delight through +the shop windows in New York. + +"It looks like a boy's room," he said at last, catching his +breath a little. "Whom do they belong to?" + +"Go and look at them," said Dawson. "They belong to you!" + +"To me!" he cried; "to me? Why do they belong to me? Who +gave them to me?" And he sprang forward with a gay little shout. +It seemed almost too much to be believed. "It was Grandpapa!" +he said, with his eyes as bright as stars. "I know it was +Grandpapa!" + +"Yes, it was his lordship," said Dawson; "and if you will be a +nice little gentleman, and not fret about things, and will enjoy +yourself, and be happy all the day, he will give you anything you +ask for." + +It was a tremendously exciting morning. There were so many +things to be examined, so many experiments to be tried; each +novelty was so absorbing that he could scarcely turn from it to +look at the next. And it was so curious to know that all this +had been prepared for himself alone; that, even before he had +left New York, people had come down from London to arrange the +rooms he was to occupy, and had provided the books and playthings +most likely to interest him. + +"Did you ever know any one," he said to Dawson, "who had such +a kind grandfather!" + +Dawson's face wore an uncertain expression for a moment. She had +not a very high opinion of his lordship the Earl. She had not +been in the house many days, but she had been there long enough +to hear the old nobleman's peculiarities discussed very freely in +the servants' hall. + +"An' of all the wicious, savage, hill-tempered hold fellows it +was ever my hill-luck to wear livery hunder," the tallest +footman had said, "he's the wiolentest and wust by a long +shot." + +And this particular footman, whose name was Thomas, had also +repeated to his companions below stairs some of the Earl's +remarks to Mr. Havisham, when they had been discussing these very +preparations. + +"Give him his own way, and fill his rooms with toys," my lord +had said. "Give him what will amuse him, and he'll forget about +his mother quickly enough. Amuse him, and fill his mind with +other things, and we shall have no trouble. That's boy nature." + +So, perhaps, having had this truly amiable object in view, it did +not please him so very much to find it did not seem to be exactly +this particular boy's nature. The Earl had passed a bad night +and had spent the morning in his room; but at noon, after he had +lunched, he sent for his grandson. + +Fauntleroy answered the summons at once. He came down the broad +staircase with a bounding step; the Earl heard him run across the +hall, and then the door opened and he came in with red cheeks and +sparkling eyes. + +"I was waiting for you to send for me," he said. "I was ready +a long time ago. I'm EVER so much obliged to you for all those +things! I'm EVER so much obliged to you! I have been playing +with them all the morning." + +"Oh!" said the Earl, "you like them, do you?" + +"I like them so much--well, I couldn't tell you how much!" said +Fauntleroy, his face glowing with delight. "There's one that's +like baseball, only you play it on a board with black and white +pegs, and you keep your score with some counters on a wire. I +tried to teach Dawson, but she couldn't quite understand it just +at first--you see, she never played baseball, being a lady; and +I'm afraid I wasn't very good at explaining it to her. But you +know all about it, don't you?" + +"I'm afraid I don't," replied the Earl. "It's an American +game, isn't it? Is it something like cricket?" + +"I never saw cricket," said Fauntleroy; "but Mr. Hobbs took me +several times to see baseball. It's a splendid game. You get so +excited! Would you like me to go and get my game and show it to +you? Perhaps it would amuse you and make you forget about your +foot. Does your foot hurt you very much this morning?" + +"More than I enjoy," was the answer. + +"Then perhaps you couldn't forget it," said the little fellow +anxiously. "Perhaps it would bother you to be told about the +game. Do you think it would amuse you, or do you think it would +bother you?" + +"Go and get it," said the Earl. + +It certainly was a novel entertainment this,--making a companion +of a child who offered to teach him to play games,--but the very +novelty of it amused him. There was a smile lurking about the +Earl's mouth when Cedric came back with the box containing the +game, in his arms, and an expression of the most eager interest +on his face. + +"May I pull that little table over here to your chair?" he +asked. + +"Ring for Thomas," said the Earl. "He will place it for +you." + +"Oh, I can do it myself," answered Fauntleroy. "It's not very +heavy." + +"Very well," replied his grandfather. The lurking smile +deepened on the old man's face as he watched the little fellow's +preparations; there was such an absorbed interest in them. The +small table was dragged forward and placed by his chair, and the +game taken from its box and arranged upon it. + +"It's very interesting when you once begin," said Fauntleroy. +"You see, the black pegs can be your side and the white ones +mine. They're men, you know, and once round the field is a home +run and counts one--and these are the outs--and here is the first +base and that's the second and that's the third and that's the +home base." + +He entered into the details of explanation with the greatest +animation. He showed all the attitudes of pitcher and catcher +and batter in the real game, and gave a dramatic description of a +wonderful "hot ball" he had seen caught on the glorious +occasion on which he had witnessed a match in company with Mr. +Hobbs. His vigorous, graceful little body, his eager gestures, +his simple enjoyment of it all, were pleasant to behold. + +When at last the explanations and illustrations were at an end +and the game began in good earnest, the Earl still found himself +entertained. His young companion was wholly absorbed; he played +with all his childish heart; his gay little laughs when he made a +good throw, his enthusiasm over a "home run," his impartial +delight over his own good luck and his opponent's, would have +given a flavor to any game. + +If, a week before, any one had told the Earl of Dorincourt that +on that particular morning he would be forgetting his gout and +his bad temper in a child's game, played with black and white +wooden pegs, on a gayly painted board, with a curly-headed small +boy for a companion, he would without doubt have made himself +very unpleasant; and yet he certainly had forgotten himself when +the door opened and Thomas announced a visitor. + +The visitor in question, who was an elderly gentleman in black, +and no less a person than the clergyman of the parish, was so +startled by the amazing scene which met his eye, that he almost +fell back a pace, and ran some risk of colliding with Thomas. + +There was, in fact, no part of his duty that the Reverend Mr. +Mordaunt found so decidedly unpleasant as that part which +compelled him to call upon his noble patron at the Castle. His +noble patron, indeed, usually made these visits as disagreeable +as it lay in his lordly power to make them. He abhorred churches +and charities, and flew into violent rages when any of his +tenantry took the liberty of being poor and ill and needing +assistance. When his gout was at its worst, he did not hesitate +to announce that he would not be bored and irritated by being +told stories of their miserable misfortunes; when his gout +troubled him less and he was in a somewhat more humane frame of +mind, he would perhaps give the rector some money, after having +bullied him in the most painful manner, and berated the whole +parish for its shiftlessness and imbecility. But, whatsoever his +mood, he never failed to make as many sarcastic and embarrassing +speeches as possible, and to cause the Reverend Mr. Mordaunt to +wish it were proper and Christian-like to throw something heavy +at him. During all the years in which Mr. Mordaunt had been in +charge of Dorincourt parish, the rector certainly did not +remember having seen his lordship, of his own free will, do any +one a kindness, or, under any circumstances whatever, show that +he thought of any one but himself. + +He had called to-day to speak to him of a specially pressing +case, and as he had walked up the avenue, he had, for two +reasons, dreaded his visit more than usual. In the first place, +he knew that his lordship had for several days been suffering +with the gout, and had been in so villainous a humor that rumors +of it had even reached the village--carried there by one of the +young women servants, to her sister, who kept a little shop and +retailed darning-needles and cotton and peppermints and gossip, +as a means of earning an honest living. What Mrs. Dibble did not +know about the Castle and its inmates, and the farm-houses and +their inmates, and the village and its population, was really not +worth being talked about. And of course she knew everything +about the Castle, because her sister, Jane Shorts, was one of the +upper housemaids, and was very friendly and intimate with Thomas. + +"And the way his lordship do go on!" said Mrs. Dibble, over the +counter, "and the way he do use language, Mr. Thomas told Jane +herself, no flesh and blood as is in livery could stand--for +throw a plate of toast at Mr. Thomas, hisself, he did, not more +than two days since, and if it weren't for other things being +agreeable and the society below stairs most genteel, warning +would have been gave within a' hour!" + +And the rector had heard all this, for somehow the Earl was a +favorite black sheep in the cottages and farm-houses, and his bad +behavior gave many a good woman something to talk about when she +had company to tea. + +And the second reason was even worse, because it was a new one +and had been talked about with the most excited interest. + +Who did not know of the old nobleman's fury when his handsome son +the Captain had married the American lady? Who did not know how +cruelly he had treated the Captain, and how the big, gay, +sweet-smiling young man, who was the only member of the grand +family any one liked, had died in a foreign land, poor and +unforgiven? Who did not know how fiercely his lordship had hated +the poor young creature who had been this son's wife, and how he +had hated the thought of her child and never meant to see the +boy--until his two sons died and left him without an heir? And +then, who did not know that he had looked forward without any +affection or pleasure to his grandson's coming, and that he had +made up his mind that he should find the boy a vulgar, awkward, +pert American lad, more likely to disgrace his noble name than to +honor it? + +The proud, angry old man thought he had kept all his thoughts +secret. He did not suppose any one had dared to guess at, much +less talk over what he felt, and dreaded; but his servants +watched him, and read his face and his ill-humors and fits of +gloom, and discussed them in the servants' hall. And while he +thought himself quite secure from the common herd, Thomas was +telling Jane and the cook, and the butler, and the housemaids and +the other footmen that it was his opinion that "the hold man was +wuss than usual a-thinkin' hover the Capting's boy, an' +hanticipatin' as he won't be no credit to the fambly. An' serve +him right," added Thomas; "hit's 'is hown fault. Wot can he +iggspect from a child brought up in pore circumstances in that +there low Hamerica?" + +And as the Reverend Mr. Mordaunt walked under the great trees, he +remembered that this questionable little boy had arrived at the +Castle only the evening before, and that there were nine chances +to one that his lordship's worst fears were realized, and +twenty-two chances to one that if the poor little fellow had +disappointed him, the Earl was even now in a tearing rage, and +ready to vent all his rancor on the first person who +called--which it appeared probable would be his reverend self. + +Judge then of his amazement when, as Thomas opened the library +door, his ears were greeted by a delighted ring of childish +laughter. + +"That's two out!" shouted an excited, clear little voice. +"You see it's two out!" + +And there was the Earl's chair, and the gout-stool, and his foot +on it; and by him a small table and a game on it; and quite close +to him, actually leaning against his arm and his ungouty knee, +was a little boy with face glowing, and eyes dancing with +excitement. "It's two out!" the little stranger cried. "You +hadn't any luck that time, had you?"--And then they both +recognized at once that some one had come in. + +The Earl glanced around, knitting his shaggy eyebrows as he had a +trick of doing, and when he saw who it was, Mr. Mordaunt was +still more surprised to see that he looked even less disagreeable +than usual instead of more so. In fact, he looked almost as if +he had forgotten for the moment how disagreeable he was, and how +unpleasant he really could make himself when he tried. + +"Ah!" he said, in his harsh voice, but giving his hand rather +graciously. "Good-morning, Mordaunt. I've found a new +employment, you see." + +He put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder,--perhaps deep down in +his heart there was a stir of gratified pride that it was such an +heir he had to present; there was a spark of something like +pleasure in his eyes as he moved the boy slightly forward. + +"This is the new Lord Fauntleroy," he said. "Fauntleroy, this +is Mr. Mordaunt, the rector of the parish." + +Fauntleroy looked up at the gentleman in the clerical garments, +and gave him his hand. + +"I am very glad to make your acquaintance, sir," he said, +remembering the words he had heard Mr. Hobbs use on one or two +occasions when he had been greeting a new customer with ceremony. + +Cedric felt quite sure that one ought to be more than usually +polite to a minister. + +Mr. Mordaunt held the small hand in his a moment as he looked +down at the child's face, smiling involuntarily. He liked the +little fellow from that instant--as in fact people always did +like him. And it was not the boy's beauty and grace which most +appealed to him; it was the simple, natural kindliness in the +little lad which made any words he uttered, however quaint and +unexpected, sound pleasant and sincere. As the rector looked at +Cedric, he forgot to think of the Earl at all. Nothing in the +world is so strong as a kind heart, and somehow this kind little +heart, though it was only the heart of a child, seemed to clear +all the atmosphere of the big gloomy room and make it brighter. + +"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lord Fauntleroy," +said the rector. "You made a long journey to come to us. A +great many people will be glad to know you made it safely." + +"It WAS a long way," answered Fauntleroy, "but Dearest, my +mother, was with me and I wasn't lonely. Of course you are never +lonely if your mother is with you; and the ship was beautiful." + +"Take a chair, Mordaunt," said the Earl. Mr. Mordaunt sat +down. He glanced from Fauntleroy to the Earl. + +"Your lordship is greatly to be congratulated," he said warmly. + +But the Earl plainly had no intention of showing his feelings on +the subject. + +"He is like his father," he said rather gruffly. "Let us hope +he'll conduct himself more creditably." And then he added: +"Well, what is it this morning, Mordaunt? Who is in trouble +now?" + +This was not as bad as Mr. Mordaunt had expected, but he +hesitated a second before he began. + +"It is Higgins," he said; "Higgins of Edge Farm. He has been +very unfortunate. He was ill himself last autumn, and his +children had scarlet fever. I can't say that he is a very good +manager, but he has had ill-luck, and of course he is behindhand +in many ways. He is in trouble about his rent now. Newick tells +him if he doesn't pay it, he must leave the place; and of course +that would be a very serious matter. His wife is ill, and he +came to me yesterday to beg me to see about it, and ask you for +time. He thinks if you would give him time he could catch up +again." + +"They all think that," said the Earl, looking rather black. + +Fauntleroy made a movement forward. He had been standing between +his grandfather and the visitor, listening with all his might. +He had begun to be interested in Higgins at once. He wondered +how many children there were, and if the scarlet fever had hurt +them very much. His eyes were wide open and were fixed upon Mr. +Mordaunt with intent interest as that gentleman went on with the +conversation. + +"Higgins is a well-meaning man," said the rector, making an +effort to strengthen his plea. + +"He is a bad enough tenant," replied his lordship. "And he is +always behindhand, Newick tells me." + +"He is in great trouble now," said the rector. + +"He is very fond of his wife and children, and if the farm is +taken from him they may literally starve. He can not give them +the nourishing things they need. Two of the children were left +very low after the fever, and the doctor orders for them wine and +luxuries that Higgins can not afford." + +At this Fauntleroy moved a step nearer. + +"That was the way with Michael," he said. + +The Earl slightly started. + +"I forgot YOU!" he said. "I forgot we had a philanthropist in +the room. Who was Michael?" And the gleam of queer amusement +came back into the old man's deep-set eyes. + +"He was Bridget's husband, who had the fever," answered +Fauntleroy; "and he couldn't pay the rent or buy wine and +things. And you gave me that money to help him." + +The Earl drew his brows together into a curious frown, which +somehow was scarcely grim at all. He glanced across at Mr. +Mordaunt. + +"I don't know what sort of landed proprietor he will make," he +said. "I told Havisham the boy was to have what he +wanted--anything he wanted--and what he wanted, it seems, was +money to give to beggars." + +"Oh! but they weren't beggars," said Fauntleroy eagerly. +"Michael was a splendid bricklayer! They all worked." + +"Oh!" said the Earl, "they were not beggars. They were +splendid bricklayers, and bootblacks, and apple-women." + +He bent his gaze on the boy for a few seconds in silence. The +fact was that a new thought was coming to him, and though, +perhaps, it was not prompted by the noblest emotions, it was not +a bad thought. "Come here," he said, at last. + +Fauntleroy went and stood as near to him as possible without +encroaching on the gouty foot. + +"What would YOU do in this case?" his lordship asked. + +It must be confessed that Mr. Mordaunt experienced for the moment +a curious sensation. Being a man of great thoughtfulness, and +having spent so many years on the estate of Dorincourt, knowing +the tenantry, rich and poor, the people of the village, honest +and industrious, dishonest and lazy, he realized very strongly +what power for good or evil would be given in the future to this +one small boy standing there, his brown eyes wide open, his hands +deep in his pockets; and the thought came to him also that a +great deal of power might, perhaps, through the caprice of a +proud, self-indulgent old man, be given to him now, and that if +his young nature were not a simple and generous one, it might be +the worst thing that could happen, not only for others, but for +himself. + +"And what would YOU do in such a case?" demanded the Earl. + +Fauntleroy drew a little nearer, and laid one hand on his knee, +with the most confiding air of good comradeship. + +"If I were very rich," he said, "and not only just a little +boy, I should let him stay, and give him the things for his +children; but then, I am only a boy." Then, after a second's +pause, in which his face brightened visibly, "YOU can do +anything, can't you?" he said. + +"Humph!" said my lord, staring at him. "That's your opinion, +is it?" And he was not displeased either. + +"I mean you can give any one anything," said Fauntleroy. +"Who's Newick?" + +"He is my agent," answered the earl, "and some of my tenants +are not over-fond of him." + +"Are you going to write him a letter now?" inquired Fauntleroy. +"Shall I bring you the pen and ink? I can take the game off +this table." + +It plainly had not for an instant occurred to him that Newick +would be allowed to do his worst. + +The Earl paused a moment, still looking at him. "Can you +write?" he asked. + +"Yes," answered Cedric, "but not very well." + +"Move the things from the table," commanded my lord, "and +bring the pen and ink, and a sheet of paper from my desk." + +Mr. Mordaunt's interest began to increase. Fauntleroy did as he +was told very deftly. In a few moments, the sheet of paper, the +big inkstand, and the pen were ready. + +"There!" he said gayly, "now you can write it." + +"You are to write it," said the Earl. + +"I!" exclaimed Fauntleroy, and a flush overspread his forehead. +"Will it do if I write it? I don't always spell quite right +when I haven't a dictionary, and nobody tells me." + +"It will do," answered the Earl. "Higgins will not complain +of the spelling. I'm not the philanthropist; you are. Dip your +pen in the ink." + +Fauntleroy took up the pen and dipped it in the ink-bottle, then +he arranged himself in position, leaning on the table. + +"Now," he inquired, "what must I say?" + +"You may say, `Higgins is not to be interfered with, for the +present,' and sign it, `Fauntleroy,'" said the Earl. + +Fauntleroy dipped his pen in the ink again, and resting his arm, +began to write. It was rather a slow and serious process, but he +gave his whole soul to it. After a while, however, the +manuscript was complete, and he handed it to his grandfather with +a smile slightly tinged with anxiety. + +"Do you think it will do?" he asked. + +The Earl looked at it, and the corners of his mouth twitched a +little. + +"Yes," he answered; "Higgins will find it entirely +satisfactory." And he handed it to Mr. Mordaunt. + +What Mr. Mordaunt found written was this: + + +"Dear mr. Newik if you pleas mr. higins is not to be intur +feared with for the present and oblige. + Yours rispecferly + + "FAUNTLEROY." + + +"Mr. Hobbs always signed his letters that way," said +Fauntleroy; "and I thought I'd better say `please.' Is that +exactly the right way to spell `interfered'?" + +"It's not exactly the way it is spelled in the dictionary," +answered the Earl. + +"I was afraid of that," said Fauntleroy. "I ought to have +asked. You see, that's the way with words of more than one +syllable; you have to look in the dictionary. It's always +safest. I'll write it over again." + +And write it over again he did, making quite an imposing copy, +and taking precautions in the matter of spelling by consulting +the Earl himself. + +"Spelling is a curious thing," he said. "It's so often +different from what you expect it to be. I used to think +`please' was spelled p-l-e-e-s, but it isn't, you know; and you'd +think `dear' was spelled d-e-r-e, if you didn't inquire. +Sometimes it almost discourages you." + +When Mr. Mordaunt went away, he took the letter with him, and he +took something else with him also--namely, a pleasanter feeling +and a more hopeful one than he had ever carried home with him +down that avenue on any previous visit he had made at Dorincourt +Castle. + +When he was gone, Fauntleroy, who had accompanied him to the +door, went back to his grandfather. + +"May I go to Dearest now?" he asked. "I think she will be +waiting for me." + +The Earl was silent a moment. + +"There is something in the stable for you to see first," he +said. "Ring the bell." + +"If you please," said Fauntleroy, with his quick little flush. +"I'm very much obliged; but I think I'd better see it to-morrow. + +She will be expecting me all the time." + +"Very well," answered the Earl. "We will order the +carriage." Then he added dryly, "It's a pony." + +Fauntleroy drew a long breath. + +"A pony!" he exclaimed. "Whose pony is it?" + +"Yours," replied the Earl. + +"Mine?" cried the little fellow. "Mine--like the things +upstairs?" + +"Yes," said his grandfather. "Would you like to see it? +Shall I order it to be brought around?" + +Fauntleroy's cheeks grew redder and redder. + +"I never thought I should have a pony!" he said. "I never +thought that! How glad Dearest will be. You give me EVERYthing, +don't you?" + +"Do you wish to see it?" inquired the Earl. + +Fauntleroy drew a long breath. "I WANT to see it," he said. +"I want to see it so much I can hardly wait. But I'm afraid +there isn't time." + +"You MUST go and see your mother this afternoon?" asked the +Earl. "You think you can't put it off?" + +"Why," said Fauntleroy, "she has been thinking about me all +the morning, and I have been thinking about her!" + +"Oh!" said the Earl. "You have, have you? Ring the bell." + +As they drove down the avenue, under the arching trees, he was +rather silent. But Fauntleroy was not. He talked about the +pony. What color was it? How big was it? What was its name? +What did it like to eat best? How old was it? How early in the +morning might he get up and see it? + +"Dearest will be so glad!" he kept saying. "She will be so +much obliged to you for being so kind to me! She knows I always +liked ponies so much, but we never thought I should have one. +There was a little boy on Fifth Avenue who had one, and he used +to ride out every morning and we used to take a walk past his +house to see him." + +He leaned back against the cushions and regarded the Earl with +rapt interest for a few minutes and in entire silence. + +"I think you must be the best person in the world," he burst +forth at last. "You are always doing good, aren't you?--and +thinking about other people. Dearest says that is the best kind +of goodness; not to think about yourself, but to think about +other people. That is just the way you are, isn't it?" + +His lordship was so dumfounded to find himself presented in such +agreeable colors, that he did not know exactly what to say. He +felt that he needed time for reflection. To see each of his +ugly, selfish motives changed into a good and generous one by the +simplicity of a child was a singular experience. + +Fauntleroy went on, still regarding him with admiring eyes--those +great, clear, innocent eyes! + +"You make so many people happy," he said. "There's Michael +and Bridget and their ten children, and the apple-woman, and +Dick, and Mr. Hobbs, and Mr. Higgins and Mrs. Higgins and their +children, and Mr. Mordaunt,--because of course he was glad,--and +Dearest and me, about the pony and all the other things. Do you +know, I've counted it up on my fingers and in my mind, and it's +twenty-seven people you've been kind to. That's a good +many--twenty-seven!" + +"And I was the person who was kind to them--was I?" said the +Earl. + +"Why, yes, you know," answered Fauntleroy. "You made them all +happy. Do you know," with some delicate hesitation, "that +people are sometimes mistaken about earls when they don't know +them. Mr. Hobbs was. I am going to write him, and tell him +about it." + +"What was Mr. Hobbs's opinion of earls?" asked his lordship. + +"Well, you see, the difficulty was," replied his young +companion, "that he didn't know any, and he'd only read about +them in books. He thought--you mustn't mind it--that they were +gory tyrants; and he said he wouldn't have them hanging around +his store. But if he'd known YOU, I'm sure he would have felt +quite different. I shall tell him about you." + +"What shall you tell him?" + +"I shall tell him," said Fauntleroy, glowing with enthusiasm, +"that you are the kindest man I ever heard of. And you are +always thinking of other people, and making them happy and--and I +hope when I grow up, I shall be just like you." + +"Just like me!" repeated his lordship, looking at the little +kindling face. And a dull red crept up under his withered skin, +and he suddenly turned his eyes away and looked out of the +carriage window at the great beech-trees, with the sun shining on +their glossy, red-brown leaves. + +"JUST like you," said Fauntleroy, adding modestly, "if I can. +Perhaps I'm not good enough, but I'm going to try." + +The carriage rolled on down the stately avenue under the +beautiful, broad-branched trees, through the spaces of green +shade and lanes of golden sunlight. Fauntleroy saw again the +lovely places where the ferns grew high and the bluebells swayed +in the breeze; he saw the deer, standing or lying in the deep +grass, turn their large, startled eyes as the carriage passed, +and caught glimpses of the brown rabbits as they scurried away. +He heard the whir of the partridges and the calls and songs of +the birds, and it all seemed even more beautiful to him than +before. All his heart was filled with pleasure and happiness in +the beauty that was on every side. But the old Earl saw and +heard very different things, though he was apparently looking out +too. He saw a long life, in which there had been neither +generous deeds nor kind thoughts; he saw years in which a man who +had been young and strong and rich and powerful had used his +youth and strength and wealth and power only to please himself +and kill time as the days and years succeeded each other; he saw +this man, when the time had been killed and old age had come, +solitary and without real friends in the midst of all his +splendid wealth; he saw people who disliked or feared him, and +people who would flatter and cringe to him, but no one who really +cared whether he lived or died, unless they had something to gain +or lose by it. He looked out on the broad acres which belonged +to him, and he knew what Fauntleroy did not--how far they +extended, what wealth they represented, and how many people had +homes on their soil. And he knew, too,--another thing Fauntleroy +did not,--that in all those homes, humble or well-to-do, there +was probably not one person, however much he envied the wealth +and stately name and power, and however willing he would have +been to possess them, who would for an instant have thought of +calling the noble owner "good," or wishing, as this +simple-souled little boy had, to be like him. + +And it was not exactly pleasant to reflect upon, even for a +cynical, worldly old man, who had been sufficient unto himself +for seventy years and who had never deigned to care what opinion +the world held of him so long as it did not interfere with his +comfort or entertainment. And the fact was, indeed, that he had +never before condescended to reflect upon it at all; and he only +did so now because a child had believed him better than he was, +and by wishing to follow in his illustrious footsteps and imitate +his example, had suggested to him the curious question whether he +was exactly the person to take as a model. + +Fauntleroy thought the Earl's foot must be hurting him, his brows +knitted themselves together so, as he looked out at the park; and +thinking this, the considerate little fellow tried not to disturb +him, and enjoyed the trees and the ferns and the deer in silence. + +But at last the carriage, having passed the gates and bowled +through the green lanes for a short distance, stopped. They had +reached Court Lodge; and Fauntleroy was out upon the ground +almost before the big footman had time to open the carriage door. + +The Earl wakened from his reverie with a start. + +"What!" he said. "Are we here?" + +"Yes," said Fauntleroy. "Let me give you your stick. Just +lean on me when you get out." + +"I am not going to get out," replied his lordship brusquely. + +"Not--not to see Dearest?" exclaimed Fauntleroy with astonished +face. + +"`Dearest' will excuse me," said the Earl dryly. "Go to her +and tell her that not even a new pony would keep you away." + +"She will be disappointed," said Fauntleroy. "She will want +to see you very much." + +"I am afraid not," was the answer. "The carriage will call +for you as we come back.--Tell Jeffries to drive on, Thomas." + +Thomas closed the carriage door; and, after a puzzled look, +Fauntleroy ran up the drive. The Earl had the opportunity--as +Mr. Havisham once had--of seeing a pair of handsome, strong +little legs flash over the ground with astonishing rapidity. +Evidently their owner had no intention of losing any time. The +carriage rolled slowly away, but his lordship did not at once +lean back; he still looked out. Through a space in the trees he +could see the house door; it was wide open. The little figure +dashed up the steps; another figure--a little figure, too, +slender and young, in its black gown--ran to meet it. It seemed +as if they flew together, as Fauntleroy leaped into his mother's +arms, hanging about her neck and covering her sweet young face +with kisses. + + + +VII + +On the following Sunday morning, Mr. Mordaunt had a large +congregation. Indeed, he could scarcely remember any Sunday on +which the church had been so crowded. People appeared upon the +scene who seldom did him the honor of coming to hear his sermons. + +There were even people from Hazelton, which was the next parish. +There were hearty, sunburned farmers, stout, comfortable, +apple-cheeked wives in their best bonnets and most gorgeous +shawls, and half a dozen children or so to each family. The +doctor's wife was there, with her four daughters. Mrs. Kimsey +and Mr. Kimsey, who kept the druggist's shop, and made pills, and +did up powders for everybody within ten miles, sat in their pew; +Mrs. Dibble in hers; Miss Smiff, the village dressmaker, and her +friend Miss Perkins, the milliner, sat in theirs; the doctor's +young man was present, and the druggist's apprentice; in fact, +almost every family on the county side was represented, in one +way or another. + +In the course of the preceding week, many wonderful stories had +been told of little Lord Fauntleroy. Mrs. Dibble had been kept +so busy attending to customers who came in to buy a pennyworth of +needles or a ha'porth of tape and to hear what she had to relate, +that the little shop bell over the door had nearly tinkled itself +to death over the coming and going. Mrs. Dibble knew exactly how +his small lordship's rooms had been furnished for him, what +expensive toys had been bought, how there was a beautiful brown +pony awaiting him, and a small groom to attend it, and a little +dog-cart, with silver-mounted harness. And she could tell, too, +what all the servants had said when they had caught glimpses of +the child on the night of his arrival; and how every female below +stairs had said it was a shame, so it was, to part the poor +pretty dear from his mother; and had all declared their hearts +came into their mouths when he went alone into the library to see +his grandfather, for "there was no knowing how he'd be treated, +and his lordship's temper was enough to fluster them with old +heads on their shoulders, let alone a child." + +"But if you'll believe me, Mrs. Jennifer, mum," Mrs. Dibble had +said, "fear that child does not know--so Mr. Thomas hisself +says; an' set an' smile he did, an' talked to his lordship as if +they'd been friends ever since his first hour. An' the Earl so +took aback, Mr. Thomas says, that he couldn't do nothing but +listen and stare from under his eyebrows. An' it's Mr. Thomas's +opinion, Mrs. Bates, mum, that bad as he is, he was pleased in +his secret soul, an' proud, too; for a handsomer little fellow, +or with better manners, though so old-fashioned, Mr. Thomas says +he'd never wish to see." + +And then there had come the story of Higgins. The Reverend Mr. +Mordaunt had told it at his own dinner table, and the servants +who had heard it had told it in the kitchen, and from there it +had spread like wildfire. + +And on market-day, when Higgins had appeared in town, he had been +questioned on every side, and Newick had been questioned too, and +in response had shown to two or three people the note signed +"Fauntleroy." + +And so the farmers' wives had found plenty to talk of over their +tea and their shopping, and they had done the subject full +justice and made the most of it. And on Sunday they had either +walked to church or had been driven in their gigs by their +husbands, who were perhaps a trifle curious themselves about the +new little lord who was to be in time the owner of the soil. + +It was by no means the Earl's habit to attend church, but he +chose to appear on this first Sunday--it was his whim to present +himself in the huge family pew, with Fauntleroy at his side. + +There were many loiterers in the churchyard, and many lingerers +in the lane that morning. There were groups at the gates and in +the porch, and there had been much discussion as to whether my +lord would really appear or not. When this discussion was at its +height, one good woman suddenly uttered an exclamation. + +"Eh," she said, "that must be the mother, pretty young +thing." All who heard turned and looked at the slender figure in +black coming up the path. The veil was thrown back from her face +and they could see how fair and sweet it was, and how the bright +hair curled as softly as a child's under the little widow's cap. + +She was not thinking of the people about; she was thinking of +Cedric, and of his visits to her, and his joy over his new pony, +on which he had actually ridden to her door the day before, +sitting very straight and looking very proud and happy. But soon +she could not help being attracted by the fact that she was being +looked at and that her arrival had created some sort of +sensation. She first noticed it because an old woman in a red +cloak made a bobbing courtesy to her, and then another did the +same thing and said, "God bless you, my lady!" and one man +after another took off his hat as she passed. For a moment she +did not understand, and then she realized that it was because she +was little Lord Fauntleroy's mother that they did so, and she +flushed rather shyly and smiled and bowed too, and said, "Thank +you," in a gentle voice to the old woman who had blessed her. +To a person who had always lived in a bustling, crowded American +city this simple deference was very novel, and at first just a +little embarrassing; but after all, she could not help liking and +being touched by the friendly warm-heartedness of which it seemed +to speak. She had scarcely passed through the stone porch into +the church before the great event of the day happened. The +carriage from the Castle, with its handsome horses and tall +liveried servants, bowled around the corner and down the green +lane. + +"Here they come!" went from one looker-on to another. + +And then the carriage drew up, and Thomas stepped down and opened +the door, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with a +splendid mop of bright waving hair, jumped out. + +Every man, woman, and child looked curiously upon him. + +"He's the Captain over again!" said those of the on-lookers who +remembered his father. "He's the Captain's self, to the life!" + +He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as Thomas +helped that nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest +that could be imagined. The instant he could help, he put out +his hand and offered his shoulder as if he had been seven feet +high. It was plain enough to every one that however it might be +with other people, the Earl of Dorincourt struck no terror into +the breast of his grandson. + +"Just lean on me," they heard him say. "How glad the people +are to see you, and how well they all seem to know you!" + +"Take off your cap, Fauntleroy," said the Earl. "They are +bowing to you." + +"To me!" cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, +baring his bright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled +eyes on them as he tried to bow to every one at once. + +"God bless your lordship!" said the courtesying, red-cloaked +old woman who had spoken to his mother; "long life to you!" + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Fauntleroy. And then they went into +the church, and were looked at there, on their way up the aisle +to the square, red-cushioned and curtained pew. When Fauntleroy +was fairly seated, he made two discoveries which pleased him: the +first that, across the church where he could look at her, his +mother sat and smiled at him; the second, that at one end of the +pew, against the wall, knelt two quaint figures carven in stone, +facing each other as they kneeled on either side of a pillar +supporting two stone missals, their pointed hands folded as if in +prayer, their dress very antique and strange. On the tablet by +them was written something of which he could only read the +curious words: + +"Here lyeth ye bodye of Gregorye Arthure Fyrst Earle of +Dorincourt Allsoe of Alisone Hildegarde hys wyfe." + +"May I whisper?" inquired his lordship, devoured by curiousity. + +"What is it?" said his grandfather. + +"Who are they?" + +"Some of your ancestors," answered the Earl, "who lived a few +hundred years ago." + +"Perhaps," said Lord Fauntleroy, regarding them with respect, +"perhaps I got my spelling from them." And then he proceeded to +find his place in the church service. When the music began, he +stood up and looked across at his mother, smiling. He was very +fond of music, and his mother and he often sang together, so he +joined in with the rest, his pure, sweet, high voice rising as +clear as the song of a bird. He quite forgot himself in his +pleasure in it. The Earl forgot himself a little too, as he sat +in his curtain-shielded corner of the pew and watched the boy. +Cedric stood with the big psalter open in his hands, singing with +all his childish might, his face a little uplifted, happily; and +as he sang, a long ray of sunshine crept in and, slanting through +a golden pane of a stained glass window, brightened the falling +hair about his young head. His mother, as she looked at him +across the church, felt a thrill pass through her heart, and a +prayer rose in it too,--a prayer that the pure, simple happiness +of his childish soul might last, and that the strange, great +fortune which had fallen to him might bring no wrong or evil with +it. There were many soft, anxious thoughts in her tender heart +in those new days. + +"Oh, Ceddie!" she had said to him the evening before, as she +hung over him in saying good-night, before he went away; "oh, +Ceddie, dear, I wish for your sake I was very clever and could +say a great many wise things! But only be good, dear, only be +brave, only be kind and true always, and then you will never hurt +any one, so long as you live, and you may help many, and the big +world may be better because my little child was born. And that +is best of all, Ceddie,--it is better than everything else, that +the world should be a little better because a man has lived--even +ever so little better, dearest." + +And on his return to the Castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her +words to his grandfather. + +"And I thought about you when she said that," he ended; "and I +told her that was the way the world was because you had lived, +and I was going to try if I could be like you." + +"And what did she say to that?" asked his lordship, a trifle +uneasily. + +"She said that was right, and we must always look for good in +people and try to be like it." + +Perhaps it was this the old man remembered as he glanced through +the divided folds of the red curtain of his pew. Many times he +looked over the people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, +and he saw the fair face the unforgiven dead had loved, and the +eyes which were so like those of the child at his side; but what +his thoughts were, and whether they were hard and bitter, or +softened a little, it would have been hard to discover. + +As they came out of church, many of those who had attended the +service stood waiting to see them pass. As they neared the gate, +a man who stood with his hat in his hand made a step forward and +then hesitated. He was a middle-aged farmer, with a careworn +face. + +"Well, Higgins," said the Earl. + +Fauntleroy turned quickly to look at him. + +"Oh!" he exclaimed, "is it Mr. Higgins?" + +"Yes," answered the Earl dryly; "and I suppose he came to take +a look at his new landlord." + +"Yes, my lord," said the man, his sunburned face reddening. +"Mr. Newick told me his young lordship was kind enough to speak +for me, and I thought I'd like to say a word of thanks, if I +might be allowed." + +Perhaps he felt some wonder when he saw what a little fellow it +was who had innocently done so much for him, and who stood there +looking up just as one of his own less fortunate children might +have done--apparently not realizing his own importance in the +least. + +"I've a great deal to thank your lordship for," he said; "a +great deal. I----" + +"Oh," said Fauntleroy; "I only wrote the letter. It was my +grandfather who did it. But you know how he is about always +being good to everybody. Is Mrs. Higgins well now?" + +Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat +startled at hearing his noble landlord presented in the character +of a benevolent being, full of engaging qualities. + +"I--well, yes, your lordship," he stammered, "the missus is +better since the trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying +broke her down." + +"I'm glad of that," said Fauntleroy. "My grandfather was very +sorry about your children having the scarlet fever, and so was I. + +He has had children himself. I'm his son's little boy, you +know." + +Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it +would be the safer and more discreet plan not to look at the +Earl, as it had been well known that his fatherly affection for +his sons had been such that he had seen them about twice a year, +and that when they had been ill, he had promptly departed for +London, because he would not be bored with doctors and nurses. +It was a little trying, therefore, to his lordship's nerves to be +told, while he looked on, his eyes gleaming from under his shaggy +eyebrows, that he felt an interest in scarlet fever. + +"You see, Higgins," broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile, +"you people have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy +understands me. When you want reliable information on the +subject of my character, apply to him. Get into the carriage, +Fauntleroy." + +And Fauntleroy jumped in, and the carriage rolled away down the +green lane, and even when it turned the corner into the high +road, the Earl was still grimly smiling. + + + +VIII + +Lord Dorincourt had occasion to wear his grim smile many a time +as the days passed by. Indeed, as his acquaintance with his +grandson progressed, he wore the smile so often that there were +moments when it almost lost its grimness. There is no denying +that before Lord Fauntleroy had appeared on the scene, the old +man had been growing very tired of his loneliness and his gout +and his seventy years. After so long a life of excitement and +amusement, it was not agreeable to sit alone even in the most +splendid room, with one foot on a gout-stool, and with no other +diversion than flying into a rage, and shouting at a frightened +footman who hated the sight of him. The old Earl was too clever +a man not to know perfectly well that his servants detested him, +and that even if he had visitors, they did not come for love of +him--though some found a sort of amusement in his sharp, +sarcastic talk, which spared no one. So long as he had been +strong and well, he had gone from one place to another, +pretending to amuse himself, though he had not really enjoyed it; +and when his health began to fail, he felt tired of everything +and shut himself up at Dorincourt, with his gout and his +newspapers and his books. But he could not read all the time, +and he became more and more "bored," as he called it. He hated +the long nights and days, and he grew more and more savage and +irritable. And then Fauntleroy came; and when the Earl saw him, +fortunately for the little fellow, the secret pride of the +grandfather was gratified at the outset. If Cedric had been a +less handsome little fellow, the old man might have taken so +strong a dislike to him that he would not have given himself the +chance to see his grandson's finer qualities. But he chose to +think that Cedric's beauty and fearless spirit were the results +of the Dorincourt blood and a credit to the Dorincourt rank. And +then when he heard the lad talk, and saw what a well-bred little +fellow he was, notwithstanding his boyish ignorance of all that +his new position meant, the old Earl liked his grandson more, and +actually began to find himself rather entertained. It had amused +him to give into those childish hands the power to bestow a +benefit on poor Higgins. My lord cared nothing for poor Higgins, +but it pleased him a little to think that his grandson would be +talked about by the country people and would begin to be popular +with the tenantry, even in his childhood. Then it had gratified +him to drive to church with Cedric and to see the excitement and +interest caused by the arrival. He knew how the people would +speak of the beauty of the little lad; of his fine, strong, +straight body; of his erect bearing, his handsome face, and his +bright hair, and how they would say (as the Earl had heard one +woman exclaim to another) that the boy was "every inch a lord." +My lord of Dorincourt was an arrogant old man, proud of his name, +proud of his rank, and therefore proud to show the world that at +last the House of Dorincourt had an heir who was worthy of the +position he was to fill. + +The morning the new pony had been tried, the Earl had been so +pleased that he had almost forgotten his gout. When the groom +had brought out the pretty creature, which arched its brown, +glossy neck and tossed its fine head in the sun, the Earl had sat +at the open window of the library and had looked on while +Fauntleroy took his first riding lesson. He wondered if the boy +would show signs of timidity. It was not a very small pony, and +he had often seen children lose courage in making their first +essay at riding. + +Fauntleroy mounted in great delight. He had never been on a pony +before, and he was in the highest spirits. Wilkins, the groom, +led the animal by the bridle up and down before the library +window. + +"He's a well plucked un, he is," Wilkins remarked in the stable +afterward with many grins. "It weren't no trouble to put HIM +up. An' a old un wouldn't ha' sat any straighter when he WERE +up. He ses--ses he to me, `Wilkins,' he ses, `am I sitting up +straight? They sit up straight at the circus,' ses he. An' I +ses, `As straight as a arrer, your lordship!'--an' he laughs, as +pleased as could be, an' he ses, `That's right,' he ses, `you +tell me if I don't sit up straight, Wilkins!'" + +But sitting up straight and being led at a walk were not +altogether and completely satisfactory. After a few minutes, +Fauntleroy spoke to his grandfather--watching him from the +window: + +"Can't I go by myself?" he asked; "and can't I go faster? The +boy on Fifth Avenue used to trot and canter!" + +"Do you think you could trot and canter?" said the Earl. + +"I should like to try," answered Fauntleroy. + +His lordship made a sign to Wilkins, who at the signal brought up +his own horse and mounted it and took Fauntleroy's pony by the +leading-rein. + +"Now," said the Earl, "let him trot." + +The next few minutes were rather exciting to the small +equestrian. He found that trotting was not so easy as walking, +and the faster the pony trotted, the less easy it was. + +"It j-jolts a g-goo-good deal--do-doesn't it?" he said to +Wilkins. "D-does it j-jolt y-you?" + +"No, my lord," answered Wilkins. "You'll get used to it in +time. Rise in your stirrups." + +"I'm ri-rising all the t-time," said Fauntleroy. + +He was both rising and falling rather uncomfortably and with many +shakes and bounces. He was out of breath and his face grew red, +but he held on with all his might, and sat as straight as he +could. The Earl could see that from his window. When the riders +came back within speaking distance, after they had been hidden by +the trees a few minutes, Fauntleroy's hat was off, his cheeks +were like poppies, and his lips were set, but he was still +trotting manfully. + +"Stop a minute!" said his grandfather. "Where's your hat?" + +Wilkins touched his. "It fell off, your lordship," he said, +with evident enjoyment. "Wouldn't let me stop to pick it up, my +lord." + +"Not much afraid, is he?" asked the Earl dryly. + +"Him, your lordship!" exclaimed Wilkins. "I shouldn't say as +he knowed what it meant. I've taught young gen'lemen to ride +afore, an' I never see one stick on more determinder." + +"Tired?" said the Earl to Fauntleroy. "Want to get off?" + +"It jolts you more than you think it will," admitted his young +lordship frankly. "And it tires you a little, too; but I don't +want to get off. I want to learn how. As soon as I've got my +breath I want to go back for the hat." + +The cleverest person in the world, if he had undertaken to teach +Fauntleroy how to please the old man who watched him, could not +have taught him anything which would have succeeded better. As +the pony trotted off again toward the avenue, a faint color crept +up in the fierce old face, and the eyes, under the shaggy brows, +gleamed with a pleasure such as his lordship had scarcely +expected to know again. And he sat and watched quite eagerly +until the sound of the horses' hoofs returned. When they did +come, which was after some time, they came at a faster pace. +Fauntleroy's hat was still off; Wilkins was carrying it for him; +his cheeks were redder than before, and his hair was flying about +his ears, but he came at quite a brisk canter. + +"There!" he panted, as they drew up, "I c-cantered. I didn't +do it as well as the boy on Fifth Avenue, but I did it, and I +staid on!" + +He and Wilkins and the pony were close friends after that. +Scarcely a day passed in which the country people did not see +them out together, cantering gayly on the highroad or through the +green lanes. The children in the cottages would run to the door +to look at the proud little brown pony with the gallant little +figure sitting so straight in the saddle, and the young lord +would snatch off his cap and swing it at them, and shout, +"Hullo! Good-morning!" in a very unlordly manner, though with +great heartiness. Sometimes he would stop and talk with the +children, and once Wilkins came back to the castle with a story +of how Fauntleroy had insisted on dismounting near the village +school, so that a boy who was lame and tired might ride home on +his pony. + +"An' I'm blessed," said Wilkins, in telling the story at the +stables,--"I'm blessed if he'd hear of anything else! He would +n't let me get down, because he said the boy mightn't feel +comfortable on a big horse. An' ses he, `Wilkins,' ses he, `that +boy's lame and I'm not, and I want to talk to him, too.' And up +the lad has to get, and my lord trudges alongside of him with his +hands in his pockets, and his cap on the back of his head, +a-whistling and talking as easy as you please! And when we come +to the cottage, an' the boy's mother come out all in a taking to +see what's up, he whips off his cap an' ses he, `I've brought +your son home, ma'am,' ses he, `because his leg hurt him, and I +don't think that stick is enough for him to lean on; and I'm +going to ask my grandfather to have a pair of crutches made for +him.' An' I'm blessed if the woman wasn't struck all of a heap, +as well she might be! I thought I should 'a' hex-plodid, +myself!" + +When the Earl heard the story he was not angry, as Wilkins had +been half afraid that he would be; on the contrary, he laughed +outright, and called Fauntleroy up to him, and made him tell all +about the matter from beginning to end, and then he laughed +again. And actually, a few days later, the Dorincourt carriage +stopped in the green lane before the cottage where the lame boy +lived, and Fauntleroy jumped out and walked up to the door, +carrying a pair of strong, light, new crutches shouldered like a +gun, and presented them to Mrs. Hartle (the lame boy's name was +Hartle) with these words: "My grandfather's compliments, and if +you please, these are for your boy, and we hope he will get +better." + +"I said your compliments," he explained to the Earl when he +returned to the carriage. "You didn't tell me to, but I thought +perhaps you forgot. That was right, wasn't it?" + +And the Earl laughed again, and did not say it was not. In fact, +the two were becoming more intimate every day, and every day +Fauntleroy's faith in his lordship's benevolence and virtue +increased. He had no doubt whatever that his grandfather was the +most amiable and generous of elderly gentlemen. Certainly, he +himself found his wishes gratified almost before they were +uttered; and such gifts and pleasures were lavished upon him, +that he was sometimes almost bewildered by his own possessions. +Apparently, he was to have everything he wanted, and to do +everything he wished to do. And though this would certainly not +have been a very wise plan to pursue with all small boys, his +young lordship bore it amazingly well. Perhaps, notwithstanding +his sweet nature, he might have been somewhat spoiled by it, if +it had not been for the hours he spent with his mother at Court +Lodge. That "best friend" of his watched over him over closely +and tenderly. The two had many long talks together, and he never +went back to the Castle with her kisses on his cheeks without +carrying in his heart some simple, pure words worth remembering. + +There was one thing, it is true, which puzzled the little fellow +very much. He thought over the mystery of it much oftener than +any one supposed; even his mother did not know how often he +pondered on it; the Earl for a long time never suspected that he +did so at all. But, being quick to observe, the little boy could +not help wondering why it was that his mother and grandfather +never seemed to meet. He had noticed that they never did meet. +When the Dorincourt carriage stopped at Court Lodge, the Earl +never alighted, and on the rare occasions of his lordship's going +to church, Fauntleroy was always left to speak to his mother in +the porch alone, or perhaps to go home with her. And yet, every +day, fruit and flowers were sent to Court Lodge from the +hot-houses at the Castle. But the one virtuous action of the +Earl's which had set him upon the pinnacle of perfection in +Cedric's eyes, was what he had done soon after that first Sunday +when Mrs. Errol had walked home from church unattended. About a +week later, when Cedric was going one day to visit his mother, he +found at the door, instead of the large carriage and prancing +pair, a pretty little brougham and a handsome bay horse. + +"That is a present from you to your mother," the Earl said +abruptly. "She can not go walking about the country. She needs +a carriage. The man who drives will take charge of it. It is a +present from YOU." + +Fauntleroy's delight could but feebly express itself. He could +scarcely contain himself until he reached the lodge. His mother +was gathering roses in the garden. He flung himself out of the +little brougham and flew to her. + +"Dearest!" he cried, "could you believe it? This is yours! +He says it is a present from me. It is your own carriage to +drive everywhere in!" + +He was so happy that she did not know what to say. She could not +have borne to spoil his pleasure by refusing to accept the gift +even though it came from the man who chose to consider himself +her enemy. She was obliged to step into the carriage, roses and +all, and let herself be taken to drive, while Fauntleroy told her +stories of his grandfather's goodness and amiability. They were +such innocent stories that sometimes she could not help laughing +a little, and then she would draw her little boy closer to her +side and kiss him, feeling glad that he could see only good in +the old man, who had so few friends. + +The very next day after that, Fauntleroy wrote to Mr. Hobbs. He +wrote quite a long letter, and after the first copy was written, +he brought it to his grandfather to be inspected. + +"Because," he said, "it's so uncertain about the spelling. +And if you'll tell me the mistakes, I'll write it out again." + +This was what he had written: + + +"My dear mr hobbs i want to tell you about my granfarther he is +the best earl you ever new it is a mistake about earls being +tirents he is not a tirent at all i wish you new him you would be +good friends i am sure you would he has the gout in his foot and +is a grate sufrer but he is so pashent i love him more every day +becaus no one could help loving an earl like that who is kind to +every one in this world i wish you could talk to him he knows +everything in the world you can ask him any question but he has +never plaid base ball he has given me a pony and a cart and my +mamma a bewtifle cariage and I have three rooms and toys of all +kinds it would serprise you you would like the castle and the +park it is such a large castle you could lose yourself wilkins +tells me wilkins is my groom he says there is a dungon under the +castle it is so pretty everything in the park would serprise you +there are such big trees and there are deers and rabbits and +games flying about in the cover my granfarther is very rich but +he is not proud and orty as you thought earls always were i like +to be with him the people are so polite and kind they take of +their hats to you and the women make curtsies and sometimes say +god bless you i can ride now but at first it shook me when i +troted my granfarther let a poor man stay on his farm when he +could not pay his rent and mrs mellon went to take wine and +things to his sick children i should like to see you and i wish +dearest could live at the castle but i am very happy when i dont +miss her too much and i love my granfarther every one does plees +write soon + "your afechshnet old frend + + "Cedric Errol + +"p s no one is in the dungon my granfarfher never had any one +langwishin in there. + +"p s he is such a good earl he reminds me of you he is a +unerversle favrit" + + +"Do you miss your mother very much?" asked the Earl when he had +finished reading this. + +"Yes," said Fauntleroy, "I miss her all the time." + +He went and stood before the Earl and put his hand on his knee, +looking up at him. + +"YOU don't miss her, do you?" he said. + +"I don't know her," answered his lordship rather crustily. + +"I know that," said Fauntleroy, "and that's what makes me +wonder. She told me not to ask you any questions, and--and I +won't, but sometimes I can't help thinking, you know, and it +makes me all puzzled. But I'm not going to ask any questions. +And when I miss her very much, I go and look out of my window to +where I see her light shine for me every night through an open +place in the trees. It is a long way off, but she puts it in her +window as soon as it is dark, and I can see it twinkle far away, +and I know what it says." + +"What does it say?" asked my lord. + +"It says, `Good-night, God keep you all the night!'--just what +she used to say when we were together. Every night she used to +say that to me, and every morning she said, `God bless you all +the day!' So you see I am quite safe all the time----" + +"Quite, I have no doubt," said his lordship dryly. And he drew +down his beetling eyebrows and looked at the little boy so +fixedly and so long that Fauntleroy wondered what he could be +thinking of. + + + +IX + +The fact was, his lordship the Earl of Dorincourt thought in +those days, of many things of which he had never thought before, +and all his thoughts were in one way or another connected with +his grandson. His pride was the strongest part of his nature, +and the boy gratified it at every point. Through this pride he +began to find a new interest in life. He began to take pleasure +in showing his heir to the world. The world had known of his +disappointment in his sons; so there was an agreeable touch of +triumph in exhibiting this new Lord Fauntleroy, who could +disappoint no one. He wished the child to appreciate his own +power and to understand the splendor of his position; he wished +that others should realize it too. He made plans for his future. + +Sometimes in secret he actually found himself wishing that his +own past life had been a better one, and that there had been less +in it that this pure, childish heart would shrink from if it knew +the truth. It was not agreeable to think how the beautiful, +innocent face would look if its owner should be made by any +chance to understand that his grandfather had been called for +many a year "the wicked Earl of Dorincourt." The thought even +made him feel a trifle nervous. He did not wish the boy to find +it out. Sometimes in this new interest he forgot his gout, and +after a while his doctor was surprised to find his noble +patient's health growing better than he had expected it ever +would be again. Perhaps the Earl grew better because the time +did not pass so slowly for him, and he had something to think of +beside his pains and infirmities. + +One fine morning, people were amazed to see little Lord +Fauntleroy riding his pony with another companion than Wilkins. +This new companion rode a tall, powerful gray horse, and was no +other than the Earl himself. It was, in fact, Fauntleroy who had +suggested this plan. As he had been on the point of mounting his +pony, he had said rather wistfully to his grandfather: + +"I wish you were going with me. When I go away I feel lonely +because you are left all by yourself in such a big castle. I +wish you could ride too." + +And the greatest excitement had been aroused in the stables a few +minutes later by the arrival of an order that Selim was to be +saddled for the Earl. After that, Selim was saddled almost every +day; and the people became accustomed to the sight of the tall +gray horse carrying the tall gray old man, with his handsome, +fierce, eagle face, by the side of the brown pony which bore +little Lord Fauntleroy. And in their rides together through the +green lanes and pretty country roads, the two riders became more +intimate than ever. And gradually the old man heard a great deal +about "Dearest" and her life. As Fauntleroy trotted by the big +horse he chatted gayly. There could not well have been a +brighter little comrade, his nature was so happy. It was he who +talked the most. The Earl often was silent, listening and +watching the joyous, glowing face. Sometimes he would tell his +young companion to set the pony off at a gallop, and when the +little fellow dashed off, sitting so straight and fearless, he +would watch him with a gleam of pride and pleasure in his eyes; +and when, after such a dash, Fauntleroy came back waving his cap +with a laughing shout, he always felt that he and his grandfather +were very good friends indeed. + +One thing that the Earl discovered was that his son's wife did +not lead an idle life. It was not long before he learned that +the poor people knew her very well indeed. When there was +sickness or sorrow or poverty in any house, the little brougham +often stood before the door. + +"Do you know," said Fauntleroy once, "they all say, `God bless +you!' when they see her, and the children are glad. There are +some who go to her house to be taught to sew. She says she feels +so rich now that she wants to help the poor ones." + +It had not displeased the Earl to find that the mother of his +heir had a beautiful young face and looked as much like a lady as +if she had been a duchess; and in one way it did not displease +him to know that she was popular and beloved by the poor. And +yet he was often conscious of a hard, jealous pang when he saw +how she filled her child's heart and how the boy clung to her as +his best beloved. The old man would have desired to stand first +himself and have no rival. + +That same morning he drew up his horse on an elevated point of +the moor over which they rode, and made a gesture with his whip, +over the broad, beautiful landscape spread before them. + +"Do you know that all that land belongs to me?" he said to +Fauntleroy. + +"Does it?" answered Fauntleroy. "How much it is to belong to +one person, and how beautiful!" + +"Do you know that some day it will all belong to you--that and a +great deal more?" + +"To me!" exclaimed Fauntleroy in rather an awe-stricken voice. +"When?" + +"When I am dead," his grandfather answered. + +"Then I don't want it," said Fauntleroy; "I want you to live +always." + +"That's kind," answered the Earl in his dry way; +"nevertheless, some day it will all be yours--some day you will +be the Earl of Dorincourt." + +Little Lord Fauntleroy sat very still in his saddle for a few +moments. He looked over the broad moors, the green farms, the +beautiful copses, the cottages in the lanes, the pretty village, +and over the trees to where the turrets of the great castle rose, +gray and stately. Then he gave a queer little sigh. + +"What are you thinking of?" asked the Earl. + +"I am thinking," replied Fauntleroy, "what a little boy I am! +and of what Dearest said to me." + +"What was it?" inquired the Earl. + +"She said that perhaps it was not so easy to be very rich; that +if any one had so many things always, one might sometimes forget +that every one else was not so fortunate, and that one who is +rich should always be careful and try to remember. I was talking +to her about how good you were, and she said that was such a good +thing, because an earl had so much power, and if he cared only +about his own pleasure and never thought about the people who +lived on his lands, they might have trouble that he could +help--and there were so many people, and it would be such a hard +thing. And I was just looking at all those houses, and thinking +how I should have to find out about the people, when I was an +earl. How did you find out about them?" + +As his lordship's knowledge of his tenantry consisted in finding +out which of them paid their rent promptly, and in turning out +those who did not, this was rather a hard question. "Newick +finds out for me," he said, and he pulled his great gray +mustache, and looked at his small questioner rather uneasily. +"We will go home now," he added; "and when you are an earl, +see to it that you are a better earl than I have been!" + +He was very silent as they rode home. He felt it to be almost +incredible that he who had never really loved any one in his +life, should find himself growing so fond of this little +fellow,--as without doubt he was. At first he had only been +pleased and proud of Cedric's beauty and bravery, but there was +something more than pride in his feeling now. He laughed a grim, +dry laugh all to himself sometimes, when he thought how he liked +to have the boy near him, how he liked to hear his voice, and how +in secret he really wished to be liked and thought well of by his +small grandson. + +"I'm an old fellow in my dotage, and I have nothing else to +think of," he would say to himself; and yet he knew it was not +that altogether. And if he had allowed himself to admit the +truth, he would perhaps have found himself obliged to own that +the very things which attracted him, in spite of himself, were +the qualities he had never possessed--the frank, true, kindly +nature, the affectionate trustfulness which could never think +evil. + +It was only about a week after that ride when, after a visit to +his mother, Fauntleroy came into the library with a troubled, +thoughtful face. He sat down in that high-backed chair in which +he had sat on the evening of his arrival, and for a while he +looked at the embers on the hearth. The Earl watched him in +silence, wondering what was coming. It was evident that Cedric +had something on his mind. At last he looked up. "Does Newick +know all about the people?" he asked. + +"It is his business to know about them," said his lordship. +"Been neglecting it--has he?" + +Contradictory as it may seem, there was nothing which entertained +and edified him more than the little fellow's interest in his +tenantry. He had never taken any interest in them himself, but +it pleased him well enough that, with all his childish habits of +thought and in the midst of all his childish amusements and high +spirits, there should be such a quaint seriousness working in the +curly head. + +"There is a place," said Fauntleroy, looking up at him with +wide-open, horror-stricken eye--"Dearest has seen it; it is at +the other end of the village. The houses are close together, and +almost falling down; you can scarcely breathe; and the people are +so poor, and everything is dreadful! Often they have fever, and +the children die; and it makes them wicked to live like that, and +be so poor and miserable! It is worse than Michael and Bridget! +The rain comes in at the roof! Dearest went to see a poor woman +who lived there. She would not let me come near her until she +had changed all her things. The tears ran down her cheeks when +she told me about it!" + +The tears had come into his own eyes, but he smiled through them. + +"I told her you didn't know, and I would tell you," he said. +He jumped down and came and leaned against the Earl's chair. +"You can make it all right," he said, "just as you made it all +right for Higgins. You always make it all right for everybody. +I told her you would, and that Newick must have forgotten to tell +you." + +The Earl looked down at the hand on his knee. Newick had not +forgotten to tell him; in fact, Newick had spoken to him more +than once of the desperate condition of the end of the village +known as Earl's Court. He knew all about the tumble-down, +miserable cottages, and the bad drainage, and the damp walls and +broken windows and leaking roofs, and all about the poverty, the +fever, and the misery. Mr. Mordaunt had painted it all to him in +the strongest words he could use, and his lordship had used +violent language in response; and, when his gout had been at the +worst, he said that the sooner the people of Earl's Court died +and were buried by the parish the better it would be,--and there +was an end of the matter. And yet, as he looked at the small +hand on his knee, and from the small hand to the honest, earnest, +frank-eyed face, he was actually a little ashamed both of Earl's +Court and himself. + +"What!" he said; "you want to make a builder of model cottages +of me, do you?" And he positively put his own hand upon the +childish one and stroked it. + +"Those must be pulled down," said Fauntleroy, with great +eagerness. "Dearest says so. Let us--let us go and have them +pulled down to-morrow. The people will be so glad when they see +you! They'll know you have come to help them!" And his eyes +shone like stars in his glowing face. + +The Earl rose from his chair and put his hand on the child's +shoulder. "Let us go out and take our walk on the terrace," he +said, with a short laugh; "and we can talk it over." + +And though he laughed two or three times again, as they walked to +and fro on the broad stone terrace, where they walked together +almost every fine evening, he seemed to be thinking of something +which did not displease him, and still he kept his hand on his +small companion's shoulder. + + + +X + +The truth was that Mrs. Errol had found a great many sad things +in the course of her work among the poor of the little village +that appeared so picturesque when it was seen from the +moor-sides. Everything was not as picturesque, when seen near +by, as it looked from a distance. She had found idleness and +poverty and ignorance where there should have been comfort and +industry. And she had discovered, after a while, that Erleboro +was considered to be the worst village in that part of the +country. Mr. Mordaunt had told her a great many of his +difficulties and discouragements, and she had found out a great +deal by herself. The agents who had managed the property had +always been chosen to please the Earl, and had cared nothing for +the degradation and wretchedness of the poor tenants. Many +things, therefore, had been neglected which should have been +attended to, and matters had gone from bad to worse. + +As to Earl's Court, it was a disgrace, with its dilapidated +houses and miserable, careless, sickly people. When first Mrs. +Errol went to the place, it made her shudder. Such ugliness and +slovenliness and want seemed worse in a country place than in a +city. It seemed as if there it might be helped. And as she +looked at the squalid, uncared-for children growing up in the +midst of vice and brutal indifference, she thought of her own +little boy spending his days in the great, splendid castle, +guarded and served like a young prince, having no wish +ungratified, and knowing nothing but luxury and ease and beauty. +And a bold thought came in her wise little mother-heart. +Gradually she had begun to see, as had others, that it had been +her boy's good fortune to please the Earl very much, and that he +would scarcely be likely to be denied anything for which he +expressed a desire. + +"The Earl would give him anything," she said to Mr. Mordaunt. +"He would indulge his every whim. Why should not that +indulgence be used for the good of others? It is for me to see +that this shall come to pass." + +She knew she could trust the kind, childish heart; so she told +the little fellow the story of Earl's Court, feeling sure that he +would speak of it to his grandfather, and hoping that some good +results would follow. + +And strange as it appeared to every one, good results did follow. + +The fact was that the strongest power to influence the Earl was +his grandson's perfect confidence in him--the fact that Cedric +always believed that his grandfather was going to do what was +right and generous. He could not quite make up his mind to let +him discover that he had no inclination to be generous at all, +and that he wanted his own way on all occasions, whether it was +right or wrong. It was such a novelty to be regarded with +admiration as a benefactor of the entire human race, and the soul +of nobility, that he did not enjoy the idea of looking into the +affectionate brown eyes, and saying: "I am a violent, selfish +old rascal; I never did a generous thing in my life, and I don't +care about Earl's Court or the poor people"--or something which +would amount to the same thing. He actually had learned to be +fond enough of that small boy with the mop of yellow love-locks, +to feel that he himself would prefer to be guilty of an amiable +action now and then. And so--though he laughed at himself--after +some reflection, he sent for Newick, and had quite a long +interview with him on the subject of the Court, and it was +decided that the wretched hovels should be pulled down and new +houses should be built. + +"It is Lord Fauntleroy who insists on it," he said dryly; "he +thinks it will improve the property. You can tell the tenants +that it's his idea." And he looked down at his small lordship, +who was lying on the hearth-rug playing with Dougal. The great +dog was the lad's constant companion, and followed him about +everywhere, stalking solemnly after him when he walked, and +trotting majestically behind when he rode or drove. + +Of course, both the country people and the town people heard of +the proposed improvement. At first, many of them would not +believe it; but when a small army of workmen arrived and +commenced pulling down the crazy, squalid cottages, people began +to understand that little Lord Fauntleroy had done them a good +turn again, and that through his innocent interference the +scandal of Earl's Court had at last been removed. If he had only +known how they talked about him and praised him everywhere, and +prophesied great things for him when he grew up, how astonished +he would have been! But he never suspected it. He lived his +simple, happy, child life,--frolicking about in the park; chasing +the rabbits to their burrows; lying under the trees on the grass, +or on the rug in the library, reading wonderful books and talking +to the Earl about them, and then telling the stories again to his +mother; writing long letters to Dick and Mr. Hobbs, who responded +in characteristic fashion; riding out at his grandfather's side, +or with Wilkins as escort. As they rode through the market town, +he used to see the people turn and look, and he noticed that as +they lifted their hats their faces often brightened very much; +but he thought it was all because his grandfather was with him. + +"They are so fond of you," he once said, looking up at his +lordship with a bright smile. "Do you see how glad they are +when they see you? I hope they will some day be as fond of me. +It must be nice to have EVERYbody like you." And he felt quite +proud to be the grandson of so greatly admired and beloved an +individual. + +When the cottages were being built, the lad and his grandfather +used to ride over to Earl's Court together to look at them, and +Fauntleroy was full of interest. He would dismount from his +pony and go and make acquaintance with the workmen, asking them +questions about building and bricklaying, and telling them things +about America. After two or three such conversations, he was +able to enlighten the Earl on the subject of brick-making, as +they rode home. + +"I always like to know about things like those," he said, +"because you never know what you are coming to." + +When he left them, the workmen used to talk him over among +themselves, and laugh at his odd, innocent speeches; but they +liked him, and liked to see him stand among them, talking away, +with his hands in his pockets, his hat pushed back on his curls, +and his small face full of eagerness. "He's a rare un," they +used to say. "An' a noice little outspoken chap, too. Not much +o' th' bad stock in him." And they would go home and tell their +wives about him, and the women would tell each other, and so it +came about that almost every one talked of, or knew some story +of, little Lord Fauntleroy; and gradually almost every one knew +that the "wicked Earl" had found something he cared for at +last--something which had touched and even warmed his hard, +bitter old heart. + +But no one knew quite how much it had been warmed, and how day by +day the old man found himself caring more and more for the child, +who was the only creature that had ever trusted him. He found +himself looking forward to the time when Cedric would be a young +man, strong and beautiful, with life all before him, but having +still that kind heart and the power to make friends everywhere, +and the Earl wondered what the lad would do, and how he would use +his gifts. Often as he watched the little fellow lying upon the +hearth, conning some big book, the light shining on the bright +young head, his old eyes would gleam and his cheek would flush. + +"The boy can do anything," he would say to himself, +"anything!" + +He never spoke to any one else of his feeling for Cedric; when he +spoke of him to others it was always with the same grim smile. +But Fauntleroy soon knew that his grandfather loved him and +always liked him to be near--near to his chair if they were in +the library, opposite to him at table, or by his side when he +rode or drove or took his evening walk on the broad terrace. + +"Do you remember," Cedric said once, looking up from his book +as he lay on the rug, "do you remember what I said to you that +first night about our being good companions? I don't think any +people could be better companions than we are, do you?" + +"We are pretty good companions, I should say," replied his +lordship. "Come here." + +Fauntleroy scrambled up and went to him. + +"Is there anything you want," the Earl asked; "anything you +have not?" + +The little fellow's brown eyes fixed themselves on his +grandfather with a rather wistful look. + +"Only one thing," he answered. + +"What is that?" inquired the Earl. + +Fauntleroy was silent a second. He had not thought matters over +to himself so long for nothing. + +"What is it?" my lord repeated. + +Fauntleroy answered. + +"It is Dearest," he said. + +The old Earl winced a little. + +"But you see her almost every day," he said. "Is not that +enough?" + +"I used to see her all the time," said Fauntleroy. "She used +to kiss me when I went to sleep at night, and in the morning she +was always there, and we could tell each other things without +waiting." + +The old eyes and the young ones looked into each other through a +moment of silence. Then the Earl knitted his brows. + +"Do you NEVER forget about your mother?" he said. + +"No," answered Fauntleroy, "never; and she never forgets about +me. I shouldn't forget about YOU, you know, if I didn't live +with you. I should think about you all the more." + +"Upon my word," said the Earl, after looking at him a moment +longer, "I believe you would!" + +The jealous pang that came when the boy spoke so of his mother +seemed even stronger than it had been before; it was stronger +because of this old man's increasing affection for the boy. + +But it was not long before he had other pangs, so much harder to +face that he almost forgot, for the time, he had ever hated his +son's wife at all. And in a strange and startling way it +happened. One evening, just before the Earl's Court cottages +were completed, there was a grand dinner party at Dorincourt. +There had not been such a party at the Castle for a long time. A +few days before it took place, Sir Harry Lorridaile and Lady +Lorridaile, who was the Earl's only sister, actually came for a +visit--a thing which caused the greatest excitement in the +village and set Mrs. Dibble's shop-bell tinkling madly again, +because it was well known that Lady Lorridaile had only been to +Dorincourt once since her marriage, thirty-five years before. +She was a handsome old lady with white curls and dimpled, peachy +cheeks, and she was as good as gold, but she had never approved +of her brother any more than did the rest of the world, and +having a strong will of her own and not being at all afraid to +speak her mind frankly, she had, after several lively quarrels +with his lordship, seen very little of him since her young days. + +She had heard a great deal of him that was not pleasant through +the years in which they had been separated. She had heard about +his neglect of his wife, and of the poor lady's death; and of his +indifference to his children; and of the two weak, vicious, +unprepossessing elder boys who had been no credit to him or to +any one else. Those two elder sons, Bevis and Maurice, she had +never seen; but once there had come to Lorridaile Park a tall, +stalwart, beautiful young fellow about eighteen years old, who +had told her that he was her nephew Cedric Errol, and that he had +come to see her because he was passing near the place and wished +to look at his Aunt Constantia of whom he had heard his mother +speak. Lady Lorridaile's kind heart had warmed through and +through at the sight of the young man, and she had made him stay +with her a week, and petted him, and made much of him and admired +him immensely. He was so sweet-tempered, light-hearted, spirited +a lad, that when he went away, she had hoped to see him often +again; but she never did, because the Earl had been in a bad +humor when he went back to Dorincourt, and had forbidden him ever +to go to Lorridaile Park again. But Lady Lorridaile had always +remembered him tenderly, and though she feared he had made a rash +marriage in America, she had been very angry when she heard how +he had been cast off by his father and that no one really knew +where or how he lived. At last there came a rumor of his death, +and then Bevis had been thrown from his horse and killed, and +Maurice had died in Rome of the fever; and soon after came the +story of the American child who was to be found and brought home +as Lord Fauntleroy. + +"Probably to be ruined as the others were," she said to her +husband, "unless his mother is good enough and has a will of her +own to help her to take care of him." + +But when she heard that Cedric's mother had been parted from him +she was almost too indignant for words. + +"It is disgraceful, Harry!" she said. "Fancy a child of that +age being taken from his mother, and made the companion of a man +like my brother! He will either be brutal to the boy or indulge +him until he is a little monster. If I thought it would do any +good to write----" + +"It wouldn't, Constantia," said Sir Harry. + +"I know it wouldn't," she answered. "I know his lordship the +Earl of Dorincourt too well;--but it is outrageous." + +Not only the poor people and farmers heard about little Lord +Fauntleroy; others knew him. He was talked about so much and +there were so many stories of him--of his beauty, his sweet +temper, his popularity, and his growing influence over the Earl, +his grandfather--that rumors of him reached the gentry at their +country places and he was heard of in more than one county of +England. People talked about him at the dinner tables, ladies +pitied his young mother, and wondered if the boy were as handsome +as he was said to be, and men who knew the Earl and his habits +laughed heartily at the stories of the little fellow's belief in +his lordship's amiability. Sir Thomas Asshe of Asshawe Hall, +being in Erleboro one day, met the Earl and his grandson riding +together, and stopped to shake hands with my lord and +congratulate him on his change of looks and on his recovery from +the gout. "And, d' ye know," he said, when he spoke of the +incident afterward, "the old man looked as proud as a +turkey-cock; and upon my word I don't wonder, for a handsomer, +finer lad than his grandson I never saw! As straight as a dart, +and sat his pony like a young trooper!" + +And so by degrees Lady Lorridaile, too, heard of the child; she +heard about Higgins and the lame boy, and the cottages at Earl's +Court, and a score of other things,--and she began to wish to see +the little fellow. And just as she was wondering how it might be +brought about, to her utter astonishment, she received a letter +from her brother inviting her to come with her husband to +Dorincourt. + +"It seems incredible!" she exclaimed. "I have heard it said +that the child has worked miracles, and I begin to believe it. +They say my brother adores the boy and can scarcely endure to +have him out of sight. And he is so proud of him! Actually, I +believe he wants to show him to us." And she accepted the +invitation at once. + +When she reached Dorincourt Castle with Sir Harry, it was late in +the afternoon, and she went to her room at once before seeing her +brother. Having dressed for dinner, she entered the +drawing-room. The Earl was there standing near the fire and +looking very tall and imposing; and at his side stood a little +boy in black velvet, and a large Vandyke collar of rich lace--a +little fellow whose round bright face was so handsome, and who +turned upon her such beautiful, candid brown eyes, that she +almost uttered an exclamation of pleasure and surprise at the +sight. + +As she shook hands with the Earl, she called him by the name she +had not used since her girlhood. + +"What, Molyneux!" she said, "is this the child?" + +"Yes, Constantia," answered the Earl, "this is the boy. +Fauntleroy, this is your grand-aunt, Lady Lorridaile." + +"How do you do, Grand-Aunt?" said Fauntleroy. + +Lady Lorridaile put her hand on his shoulders, and after looking +down into his upraised face a few seconds, kissed him warmly. + +"I am your Aunt Constantia," she said, "and I loved your poor +papa, and you are very like him." + +"It makes me glad when I am told I am like him," answered +Fauntleroy, "because it seems as if every one liked him,--just +like Dearest, eszackly,--Aunt Constantia" (adding the two words +after a second's pause). + +Lady Lorridaile was delighted. She bent and kissed him again, +and from that moment they were warm friends. + +"Well, Molyneux," she said aside to the Earl afterward, "it +could not possibly be better than this!" + +"I think not," answered his lordship dryly. "He is a fine +little fellow. We are great friends. He believes me to be the +most charming and sweet-tempered of philanthropists. I will +confess to you, Constantia,--as you would find it out if I did +not,--that I am in some slight danger of becoming rather an old +fool about him." + +"What does his mother think of you?" asked Lady Lorridaile, +with her usual straightforwardness. + +"I have not asked her," answered the Earl, slightly scowling. + +"Well," said Lady Lorridaile, "I will be frank with you at the +outset, Molyneux, and tell you I don't approve of your course, +and that it is my intention to call on Mrs. Errol as soon as +possible; so if you wish to quarrel with me, you had better +mention it at once. What I hear of the young creature makes me +quite sure that her child owes her everything. We were told even +at Lorridaile Park that your poorer tenants adore her already." + +"They adore HIM," said the Earl, nodding toward Fauntleroy. +"As to Mrs. Errol, you'll find her a pretty little woman. I'm +rather in debt to her for giving some of her beauty to the boy, +and you can go to see her if you like. All I ask is that she +will remain at Court Lodge and that you will not ask me to go and +see her," and he scowled a little again. + +"But he doesn't hate her as much as he used to, that is plain +enough to me," her ladyship said to Sir Harry afterward. "And +he is a changed man in a measure, and, incredible as it may seem, +Harry, it is my opinion that he is being made into a human being, +through nothing more nor less than his affection for that +innocent, affectionate little fellow. Why, the child actually +loves him--leans on his chair and against his knee. His own +children would as soon have thought of nestling up to a tiger." + +The very next day she went to call upon Mrs. Errol. When she +returned, she said to her brother: + +"Molyneux, she is the loveliest little woman I ever saw! She +has a voice like a silver bell, and you may thank her for making +the boy what he is. She has given him more than her beauty, and +you make a great mistake in not persuading her to come and take +charge of you. I shall invite her to Lorridaile." + +"She'll not leave the boy," replied the Earl. + +"I must have the boy too," said Lady Lorridaile, laughing. + +But she knew Fauntleroy would not be given up to her, and each +day she saw more clearly how closely those two had grown to each +other, and how all the proud, grim old man's ambition and hope +and love centered themselves in the child, and how the warm, +innocent nature returned his affection with most perfect trust +and good faith. + +She knew, too, that the prime reason for the great dinner party +was the Earl's secret desire to show the world his grandson and +heir, and to let people see that the boy who had been so much +spoken of and described was even a finer little specimen of +boyhood than rumor had made him. + +"Bevis and Maurice were such a bitter humiliation to him," she +said to her husband. "Every one knew it. He actually hated +them. His pride has full sway here." Perhaps there was not one +person who accepted the invitation without feeling some curiosity +about little Lord Fauntleroy, and wondering if he would be on +view. + +And when the time came he was on view. + +"The lad has good manners," said the Earl. "He will be in no +one's way. Children are usually idiots or bores,--mine were +both,--but he can actually answer when he's spoken to, and be +silent when he is not. He is never offensive." + +But he was not allowed to be silent very long. Every one had +something to say to him. The fact was they wished to make him +talk. The ladies petted him and asked him questions, and the men +asked him questions too, and joked with him, as the men on the +steamer had done when he crossed the Atlantic. Fauntleroy did +not quite understand why they laughed so sometimes when he +answered them, but he was so used to seeing people amused when he +was quite serious, that he did not mind. He thought the whole +evening delightful. The magnificent rooms were so brilliant with +lights, there were so many flowers, the gentlemen seemed so gay, +and the ladies wore such beautiful, wonderful dresses, and such +sparkling ornaments in their hair and on their necks. There was +one young lady who, he heard them say, had just come down from +London, where she had spent the "season"; and she was so +charming that he could not keep his eyes from her. She was a +rather tall young lady with a proud little head, and very soft +dark hair, and large eyes the color of purple pansies, and the +color on her cheeks and lips was like that of a rose. She was +dressed in a beautiful white dress, and had pearls around her +throat. There was one strange thing about this young lady. So +many gentlemen stood near her, and seemed anxious to please her, +that Fauntleroy thought she must be something like a princess. +He was so much interested in her that without knowing it he drew +nearer and nearer to her, and at last she turned and spoke to +him. + +"Come here, Lord Fauntleroy," she said, smiling; "and tell me +why you look at me so." + +"I was thinking how beautiful you are," his young lordship +replied. + +Then all the gentlemen laughed outright, and the young lady +laughed a little too, and the rose color in her cheeks +brightened. + +"Ah, Fauntleroy," said one of the gentlemen who had laughed +most heartily, "make the most of your time! When you are older +you will not have the courage to say that." + +"But nobody could help saying it," said Fauntleroy sweetly. +"Could you help it? Don't YOU think she is pretty, too?" + +"We are not allowed to say what we think," said the gentleman, +while the rest laughed more than ever. + +But the beautiful young lady--her name was Miss Vivian +Herbert--put out her hand and drew Cedric to her side, looking +prettier than before, if possible. + +"Lord Fauntleroy shall say what he thinks," she said; "and I +am much obliged to him. I am sure he thinks what he says." And +she kissed him on his cheek. + +"I think you are prettier than any one I ever saw," said +Fauntleroy, looking at her with innocent, admiring eyes, "except +Dearest. Of course, I couldn't think any one QUITE as pretty as +Dearest. I think she is the prettiest person in the world." + +"I am sure she is," said Miss Vivian Herbert. And she laughed +and kissed his cheek again. + +She kept him by her side a great part of the evening, and the +group of which they were the center was very gay. He did not +know how it happened, but before long he was telling them all +about America, and the Republican Rally, and Mr. Hobbs and Dick, +and in the end he proudly produced from his pocket Dick's parting +gift,--the red silk handkerchief. + +"I put it in my pocket to-night because it was a party," he +said. "I thought Dick would like me to wear it at a party." + +And queer as the big, flaming, spotted thing was, there was a +serious, affectionate look in his eyes, which prevented his +audience from laughing very much. + +"You see, I like it," he said, "because Dick is my friend." + +But though he was talked to so much, as the Earl had said, he was +in no one's way. He could be quiet and listen when others +talked, and so no one found him tiresome. A slight smile crossed +more than one face when several times he went and stood near his +grandfather's chair, or sat on a stool close to him, watching him +and absorbing every word he uttered with the most charmed +interest. Once he stood so near the chair's arm that his cheek +touched the Earl's shoulder, and his lordship, detecting the +general smile, smiled a little himself. He knew what the +lookers-on were thinking, and he felt some secret amusement in +their seeing what good friends he was with this youngster, who +might have been expected to share the popular opinion of him. + +Mr. Havisham had been expected to arrive in the afternoon, but, +strange to say, he was late. Such a thing had really never been +known to happen before during all the years in which he had been +a visitor at Dorincourt Castle. He was so late that the guests +were on the point of rising to go in to dinner when he arrived. +When he approached his host, the Earl regarded him with +amazement. He looked as if he had been hurried or agitated; his +dry, keen old face was actually pale. + +"I was detained," he said, in a low voice to the Earl, "by--an +extraordinary event." + +It was as unlike the methodic old lawyer to be agitated by +anything as it was to be late, but it was evident that he had +been disturbed. At dinner he ate scarcely anything, and two or +three times, when he was spoken to, he started as if his thoughts +were far away. At dessert, when Fauntleroy came in, he looked at +him more than once, nervously and uneasily. Fauntleroy noted the +look and wondered at it. He and Mr. Havisham were on friendly +terms, and they usually exchanged smiles. The lawyer seemed to +have forgotten to smile that evening. + +The fact was, he forgot everything but the strange and painful +news he knew he must tell the Earl before the night was over--the +strange news which he knew would be so terrible a shock, and +which would change the face of everything. As he looked about at +the splendid rooms and the brilliant company,--at the people +gathered together, he knew, more that they might see the +bright-haired little fellow near the Earl's chair than for any +other reason,--as he looked at the proud old man and at little +Lord Fauntleroy smiling at his side, he really felt quite shaken, +notwithstanding that he was a hardened old lawyer. What a blow +it was that he must deal them! + +He did not exactly know how the long, superb dinner ended. He +sat through it as if he were in a dream, and several times he saw +the Earl glance at him in surprise. + +But it was over at last, and the gentlemen joined the ladies in +the drawing-room. They found Fauntleroy sitting on the sofa with +Miss Vivian Herbert,--the great beauty of the last London season; +they had been looking at some pictures, and he was thanking his +companion as the door opened. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you for being so kind to me!" he +was saying; "I never was at a party before, and I've enjoyed +myself so much!" + +He had enjoyed himself so much that when the gentlemen gathered +about Miss Herbert again and began to talk to her, as he listened +and tried to understand their laughing speeches, his eyelids +began to droop. They drooped until they covered his eyes two or +three times, and then the sound of Miss Herbert's low, pretty +laugh would bring him back, and he would open them again for +about two seconds. He was quite sure he was not going to sleep, +but there was a large, yellow satin cushion behind him and his +head sank against it, and after a while his eyelids drooped for +the last time. They did not even quite open when, as it seemed a +long time after, some one kissed him lightly on the cheek. It +was Miss Vivian Herbert, who was going away, and she spoke to him +softly. + +"Good-night, little Lord Fauntleroy," she said. "Sleep +well." + +And in the morning he did not know that he had tried to open his +eyes and had murmured sleepily, "Good-night--I'm so--glad --I +saw you--you are so--pretty----" + +He only had a very faint recollection of hearing the gentlemen +laugh again and of wondering why they did it. + +No sooner had the last guest left the room, than Mr. Havisham +turned from his place by the fire, and stepped nearer the sofa, +where he stood looking down at the sleeping occupant. Little +Lord Fauntleroy was taking his ease luxuriously. One leg crossed +the other and swung over the edge of the sofa; one arm was flung +easily above his head; the warm flush of healthful, happy, +childish sleep was on his quiet face; his waving tangle of bright +hair strayed over the yellow satin cushion. He made a picture +well worth looking at. + +As Mr. Havisham looked at it, he put his hand up and rubbed his +shaven chin, with a harassed countenance. + +"Well, Havisham," said the Earl's harsh voice behind him. +"What is it? It is evident something has happened. What was +the extraordinary event, if I may ask?" + +Mr. Havisham turned from the sofa, still rubbing his chin. + +"It was bad news," he answered, "distressing news, my +lord--the worst of news. I am sorry to be the bearer of it." + +The Earl had been uneasy for some time during the evening, as he +glanced at Mr. Havisham, and when he was uneasy he was always +ill-tempered. + +"Why do you look so at the boy!" he exclaimed irritably. "You +have been looking at him all the evening as if--See here now, why +should you look at the boy, Havisham, and hang over him like some +bird of ill-omen! What has your news to do with Lord +Fauntleroy?" + +"My lord," said Mr. Havisham, "I will waste no words. My news +has everything to do with Lord Fauntleroy. And if we are to +believe it--it is not Lord Fauntleroy who lies sleeping before +us, but only the son of Captain Errol. And the present Lord +Fauntleroy is the son of your son Bevis, and is at this moment in +a lodging-house in London." + +The Earl clutched the arms of his chair with both his hands until +the veins stood out upon them; the veins stood out on his +forehead too; his fierce old face was almost livid. + +"What do you mean!" he cried out. "You are mad! Whose lie is +this?" + +"If it is a lie," answered Mr. Havisham, "it is painfully like +the truth. A woman came to my chambers this morning. She said +your son Bevis married her six years ago in London. She showed +me her marriage certificate. They quarrelled a year after the +marriage, and he paid her to keep away from him. She has a son +five years old. She is an American of the lower classes,--an +ignorant person,--and until lately she did not fully understand +what her son could claim. She consulted a lawyer and found out +that the boy was really Lord Fauntleroy and the heir to the +earldom of Dorincourt; and she, of course, insists on his claims +being acknowledged." + +There was a movement of the curly head on the yellow satin +cushion. A soft, long, sleepy sigh came from the parted lips, +and the little boy stirred in his sleep, but not at all +restlessly or uneasily. Not at all as if his slumber were +disturbed by the fact that he was being proved a small impostor +and that he was not Lord Fauntleroy at all and never would be the +Earl of Dorincourt. He only turned his rosy face more on its +side, as if to enable the old man who stared at it so solemnly to +see it better. + +The handsome, grim old face was ghastly. A bitter smile fixed +itself upon it. + +"I should refuse to believe a word of it," he said, "if it +were not such a low, scoundrelly piece of business that it +becomes quite possible in connection with the name of my son +Bevis. It is quite like Bevis. He was always a disgrace to us. +Always a weak, untruthful, vicious young brute with low +tastes--my son and heir, Bevis, Lord Fauntleroy. The woman is an +ignorant, vulgar person, you say?" + +"I am obliged to admit that she can scarcely spell her own +name," answered the lawyer. She is absolutely uneducated and +openly mercenary. She cares for nothing but the money. She is +very handsome in a coarse way, but----" + +The fastidious old lawyer ceased speaking and gave a sort of +shudder. + +The veins on the old Earl's forehead stood out like purple cords. + +Something else stood out upon it too--cold drops of moisture. He +took out his handkerchief and swept them away. His smile grew +even more bitter. + +"And I," he said, "I objected to--to the other woman, the +mother of this child" (pointing to the sleeping form on the +sofa); "I refused to recognize her. And yet she could spell her +own name. I suppose this is retribution." + +Suddenly he sprang up from his chair and began to walk up and +down the room. Fierce and terrible words poured forth from his +lips. His rage and hatred and cruel disappointment shook him as +a storm shakes a tree. His violence was something dreadful to +see, and yet Mr. Havisham noticed that at the very worst of his +wrath he never seemed to forget the little sleeping figure on the +yellow satin cushion, and that he never once spoke loud enough to +awaken it. + +"I might have known it," he said. "They were a disgrace to me +from their first hour! I hated them both; and they hated me! +Bevis was the worse of the two. I will not believe this yet, +though! I will contend against it to the last. But it is like +Bevis--it is like him!" + +And then he raged again and asked questions about the woman, +about her proofs, and pacing the room, turned first white and +then purple in his repressed fury. + +When at last he had learned all there was to be told, and knew +the worst, Mr. Havisham looked at him with a feeling of anxiety. +He looked broken and haggard and changed. His rages had always +been bad for him, but this one had been worse than the rest +because there had been something more than rage in it. + +He came slowly back to the sofa, at last, and stood near it. + +"If any one had told me I could be fond of a child," he said, +his harsh voice low and unsteady, "I should not have believed +them. I always detested children--my own more than the rest. I +am fond of this one; he is fond of me" (with a bitter smile). +"I am not popular; I never was. But he is fond of me. He never +was afraid of me--he always trusted me. He would have filled my +place better than I have filled it. I know that. He would have +been an honor to the name." + +He bent down and stood a minute or so looking at the happy, +sleeping face. His shaggy eyebrows were knitted fiercely, and +yet somehow he did not seem fierce at all. He put up his hand, +pushed the bright hair back from the forehead, and then turned +away and rang the bell. + +When the largest footman appeared, he pointed to the sofa. + +"Take"--he said, and then his voice changed a little--"take +Lord Fauntleroy to his room." + + + +XI + +When Mr. Hobbs's young friend left him to go to Dorincourt Castle +and become Lord Fauntleroy, and the grocery-man had time to +realize that the Atlantic Ocean lay between himself and the small +companion who had spent so many agreeable hours in his society, +he really began to feel very lonely indeed. The fact was, Mr. +Hobbs was not a clever man nor even a bright one; he was, indeed, +rather a slow and heavy person, and he had never made many +acquaintances. He was not mentally energetic enough to know how +to amuse himself, and in truth he never did anything of an +entertaining nature but read the newspapers and add up his +accounts. It was not very easy for him to add up his accounts, +and sometimes it took him a long time to bring them out right; +and in the old days, little Lord Fauntleroy, who had learned how +to add up quite nicely with his fingers and a slate and pencil, +had sometimes even gone to the length of trying to help him; and, +then too, he had been so good a listener and had taken such an +interest in what the newspaper said, and he and Mr. Hobbs had +held such long conversations about the Revolution and the British +and the elections and the Republican party, that it was no wonder +his going left a blank in the grocery store. At first it seemed +to Mr. Hobbs that Cedric was not really far away, and would come +back again; that some day he would look up from his paper and see +the little lad standing in the door-way, in his white suit and +red stockings, and with his straw hat on the back of his head, +and would hear him say in his cheerful little voice: "Hello, Mr. +Hobbs! This is a hot day--isn't it?" But as the days passed on +and this did not happen, Mr. Hobbs felt very dull and uneasy. He +did not even enjoy his newspaper as much as he used to. He would +put the paper down on his knee after reading it, and sit and +stare at the high stool for a long time. There were some marks +on the long legs which made him feel quite dejected and +melancholy. They were marks made by the heels of the next Earl +of Dorincourt, when he kicked and talked at the same time. It +seems that even youthful earls kick the legs of things they sit +on;--noble blood and lofty lineage do not prevent it. After +looking at those marks, Mr. Hobbs would take out his gold watch +and open it and stare at the inscription: "From his oldest +friend, Lord Fauntleroy, to Mr. Hobbs. When this you see, +remember me." And after staring at it awhile, he would shut it +up with a loud snap, and sigh and get up and go and stand in the +door-way--between the box of potatoes and the barrel of +apples--and look up the street. At night, when the store was +closed, he would light his pipe and walk slowly along the +pavement until he reached the house where Cedric had lived, on +which there was a sign that read, "This House to Let"; and he +would stop near it and look up and shake his head, and puff at +his pipe very hard, and after a while walk mournfully back again. + +This went on for two or three weeks before any new idea came to +him. Being slow and ponderous, it always took him a long time to +reach a new idea. As a rule, he did not like new ideas, but +preferred old ones. After two or three weeks, however, during +which, instead of getting better, matters really grew worse, a +novel plan slowly and deliberately dawned upon him. He would go +to see Dick. He smoked a great many pipes before he arrived at +the conclusion, but finally he did arrive at it. He would go to +see Dick. He knew all about Dick. Cedric had told him, and his +idea was that perhaps Dick might be some comfort to him in the +way of talking things over. + +So one day when Dick was very hard at work blacking a customer's +boots, a short, stout man with a heavy face and a bald head +stopped on the pavement and stared for two or three minutes at +the bootblack's sign, which read: + + "PROFESSOR DICK TIPTON + CAN'T BE BEAT." + + +He stared at it so long that Dick began to take a lively interest +in him, and when he had put the finishing touch to his customer's +boots, he said: + +"Want a shine, sir?" + +The stout man came forward deliberately and put his foot on the +rest. + +"Yes," he said. + +Then when Dick fell to work, the stout man looked from Dick to +the sign and from the sign to Dick. + +"Where did you get that?" he asked. + +"From a friend o' mine," said Dick,--"a little feller. He +guv' me the whole outfit. He was the best little feller ye ever +saw. He's in England now. Gone to be one o' them lords." + +"Lord--Lord--" asked Mr. Hobbs, with ponderous slowness, "Lord +Fauntleroy--Goin' to be Earl of Dorincourt?" + +Dick almost dropped his brush. + +"Why, boss!" he exclaimed, "d' ye know him yerself?" + +"I've known him," answered Mr. Hobbs, wiping his warm forehead, +"ever since he was born. We was lifetime acquaintances--that's +what WE was." + +It really made him feel quite agitated to speak of it. He pulled +the splendid gold watch out of his pocket and opened it, and +showed the inside of the case to Dick. + +"`When this you see, remember me,'" he read. "That was his +parting keepsake to me `I don't want you to forget me'--those was +his words--I'd ha' remembered him," he went on, shaking his +head, "if he hadn't given me a thing an' I hadn't seen hide nor +hair on him again. He was a companion as ANY man would +remember." + +"He was the nicest little feller I ever see," said Dick. "An' +as to sand--I never seen so much sand to a little feller. I +thought a heap o' him, I did,--an' we was friends, too--we was +sort o' chums from the fust, that little young un an' me. I +grabbed his ball from under a stage fur him, an' he never forgot +it; an' he'd come down here, he would, with his mother or his +nuss and he'd holler: `Hello, Dick!' at me, as friendly as if he +was six feet high, when he warn't knee high to a grasshopper, and +was dressed in gal's clo'es. He was a gay little chap, and when +you was down on your luck, it did you good to talk to him." + +"That's so," said Mr. Hobbs. "It was a pity to make a earl +out of HIM. He would have SHONE in the grocery business--or dry +goods either; he would have SHONE!" And he shook his head with +deeper regret than ever. + +It proved that they had so much to say to each other that it was +not possible to say it all at one time, and so it was agreed that +the next night Dick should make a visit to the store and keep Mr. +Hobbs company. The plan pleased Dick well enough. He had been a +street waif nearly all his life, but he had never been a bad boy, +and he had always had a private yearning for a more respectable +kind of existence. Since he had been in business for himself, he +had made enough money to enable him to sleep under a roof instead +of out in the streets, and he had begun to hope he might reach +even a higher plane, in time. So, to be invited to call on a +stout, respectable man who owned a corner store, and even had a +horse and wagon, seemed to him quite an event. + +"Do you know anything about earls and castles?" Mr. Hobbs +inquired. "I'd like to know more of the particklars." + +"There's a story about some on 'em in the Penny Story Gazette," +said Dick. "It's called the `Crime of a Coronet; or, The +Revenge of the Countess May.' It's a boss thing, too. Some of us +boys 're takin' it to read." + +"Bring it up when you come," said Mr. Hobbs, "an' I'll pay for +it. Bring all you can find that have any earls in 'em. If there +are n't earls, markises'll do, or dooks--though HE never made +mention of any dooks or markises. We did go over coronets a +little, but I never happened to see any. I guess they don't keep +'em 'round here." + +"Tiffany 'd have 'em if anybody did," said Dick, "but I don't +know as I'd know one if I saw it." + +Mr. Hobbs did not explain that he would not have known one if he +saw it. He merely shook his head ponderously. + +"I s'pose there is very little call for 'em," he said, and that +ended the matter. + +This was the beginning of quite a substantial friendship. When +Dick went up to the store, Mr. Hobbs received him with great +hospitality. He gave him a chair tilted against the door, near a +barrel of apples, and after his young visitor was seated, he made +a jerk at them with the hand in which he held his pipe, saying: + +"Help yerself." + +Then he looked at the story papers, and after that they read and +discussed the British aristocracy; and Mr. Hobbs smoked his pipe +very hard and shook his head a great deal. He shook it most when +he pointed out the high stool with the marks on its legs. + +"There's his very kicks," he said impressively; "his very +kicks. I sit and look at 'em by the hour. This is a world of +ups an' it's a world of downs. Why, he'd set there, an' eat +crackers out of a box, an' apples out of a barrel, an' pitch his +cores into the street; an' now he's a lord a-livin' in a castle. +Them's a lord's kicks; they'll be a earl's kicks some day. +Sometimes I says to myself, says I, `Well, I'll be jiggered!'" + +He seemed to derive a great deal of comfort from his reflections +and Dick's visit. Before Dick went home, they had a supper in +the small back-room; they had crackers and cheese and sardines, +and other canned things out of the store, and Mr. Hobbs solemnly +opened two bottles of ginger ale, and pouring out two glasses, +proposed a toast. + +"Here's to HIM!" he said, lifting his glass, "an' may he teach +'em a lesson--earls an' markises an' dooks an' all!" + +After that night, the two saw each other often, and Mr. Hobbs was +much more comfortable and less desolate. They read the Penny +Story Gazette, and many other interesting things, and gained a +knowledge of the habits of the nobility and gentry which would +have surprised those despised classes if they had realized it. +One day Mr. Hobbs made a pilgrimage to a book store down town, +for the express purpose of adding to their library. He went to +the clerk and leaned over the counter to speak to him. + +"I want," he said, "a book about earls." + +"What!" exclaimed the clerk. + +"A book," repeated the grocery-man, "about earls." + +"I'm afraid," said the clerk, looking rather queer, "that we +haven't what you want." + +"Haven't?" said Mr. Hobbs, anxiously. "Well, say markises +then--or dooks." + +"I know of no such book," answered the clerk. + +Mr. Hobbs was much disturbed. He looked down on the floor,--then +he looked up. + +"None about female earls?" he inquired. + +"I'm afraid not," said the clerk with a smile. + +"Well," exclaimed Mr. Hobbs, "I'll be jiggered!" + +He was just going out of the store, when the clerk called him +back and asked him if a story in which the nobility were chief +characters would do. Mr. Hobbs said it would--if he could not +get an entire volume devoted to earls. So the clerk sold him a +book called "The Tower of London," written by Mr. Harrison +Ainsworth, and he carried it home. + +When Dick came they began to read it. It was a very wonderful +and exciting book, and the scene was laid in the reign of the +famous English queen who is called by some people Bloody Mary. +And as Mr. Hobbs heard of Queen Mary's deeds and the habit she +had of chopping people's heads off, putting them to the torture, +and burning them alive, he became very much excited. He took his +pipe out of his mouth and stared at Dick, and at last he was +obliged to mop the perspiration from his brow with his red pocket +handkerchief. + +"Why, he ain't safe!" he said. "He ain't safe! If the women +folks can sit up on their thrones an' give the word for things +like that to be done, who's to know what's happening to him this +very minute? He's no more safe than nothing! Just let a woman +like that get mad, an' no one's safe!" + +"Well," said Dick, though he looked rather anxious himself; +"ye see this 'ere un isn't the one that's bossin' things now. I +know her name's Victory, an' this un here in the book, her name's +Mary." + +"So it is," said Mr. Hobbs, still mopping his forehead; "so it +is. An' the newspapers are not sayin' anything about any racks, +thumb-screws, or stake-burnin's,--but still it doesn't seem as if +'t was safe for him over there with those queer folks. Why, they +tell me they don't keep the Fourth o' July!" + +He was privately uneasy for several days; and it was not until he +received Fauntleroy's letter and had read it several times, both +to himself and to Dick, and had also read the letter Dick got +about the same time, that he became composed again. + +But they both found great pleasure in their letters. They read +and re-read them, and talked them over and enjoyed every word of +them. And they spent days over the answers they sent and read +them over almost as often as the letters they had received. + +It was rather a labor for Dick to write his. All his knowledge +of reading and writing he had gained during a few months, when he +had lived with his elder brother, and had gone to a night-school; +but, being a sharp boy, he had made the most of that brief +education, and had spelled out things in newspapers since then, +and practiced writing with bits of chalk on pavements or walls or +fences. He told Mr. Hobbs all about his life and about his elder +brother, who had been rather good to him after their mother died, +when Dick was quite a little fellow. Their father had died some +time before. The brother's name was Ben, and he had taken care +of Dick as well as he could, until the boy was old enough to sell +newspapers and run errands. They had lived together, and as he +grew older Ben had managed to get along until he had quite a +decent place in a store. + +"And then," exclaimed Dick with disgust, "blest if he didn't +go an' marry a gal! Just went and got spoony an' hadn't any more +sense left! Married her, an' set up housekeepin' in two back +rooms. An' a hefty un she was,--a regular tiger-cat. She'd tear +things to pieces when she got mad,--and she was mad ALL the time. + +Had a baby just like her,--yell day 'n' night! An' if I didn't +have to 'tend it! an' when it screamed, she'd fire things at me. + +She fired a plate at me one day, an' hit the baby--cut its chin. +Doctor said he'd carry the mark till he died. A nice mother she +was! Crackey! but didn't we have a time--Ben 'n' mehself 'n' +the young un. She was mad at Ben because he didn't make money +faster; 'n' at last he went out West with a man to set up a +cattle ranch. An' hadn't been gone a week'fore one night, I got +home from sellin' my papers, 'n' the rooms wus locked up 'n' +empty, 'n' the woman o' the house. she told me Minna 'd +gone--shown a clean pair o' heels. Some un else said she'd gone +across the water to be nuss to a lady as had a little baby, too. +Never heard a word of her since--nuther has Ben. If I'd ha' bin +him, I wouldn't ha' fretted a bit--'n' I guess he didn't. But he +thought a heap o' her at the start. Tell you, he was spoons on +her. She was a daisy-lookin' gal, too, when she was dressed up +'n' not mad. She'd big black eyes 'n' black hair down to her +knees; she'd make it into a rope as big as your arm, and twist it +'round 'n' 'round her head; 'n' I tell you her eyes 'd snap! +Folks used to say she was part _I_tali-un--said her mother or +father 'd come from there, 'n' it made her queer. I tell ye, she +was one of 'em--she was!" + +He often told Mr. Hobbs stories of her and of his brother Ben, +who, since his going out West, had written once or twice to Dick. + +Ben's luck had not been good, and he had wandered from place to +place; but at last he had settled on a ranch in California, where +he was at work at the time when Dick became acquainted with Mr +Hobbs. + +"That gal," said Dick one day, "she took all the grit out o' +him. I couldn't help feelin' sorry for him sometimes." + +They were sitting in the store door-way together, and Mr. Hobbs +was filling his pipe. + +"He oughtn't to 've married," he said solemnly, as he rose to +get a match. "Women--I never could see any use in 'em myself." + +As he took the match from its box, he stopped and looked down on +the counter. + +"Why!" he said, "if here isn't a letter! I didn't see it +before. The postman must have laid it down when I wasn't +noticin', or the newspaper slipped over it." + +He picked it up and looked at it carefully. + +"It's from HIM!" he exclaimed. "That's the very one it's +from!" + +He forgot his pipe altogether. He went back to his chair quite +excited and took his pocket-knife and opened the envelope. + +"I wonder what news there is this time," he said. + +And then he unfolded the letter and read as follows: + + "DORINCOURT CASTLE" +My dear Mr. Hobbs + +"I write this in a great hury becaus i have something curous to +tell you i know you will be very mutch suprised my dear frend +when i tel you. It is all a mistake and i am not a lord and i +shall not have to be an earl there is a lady whitch was marid to +my uncle bevis who is dead and she has a little boy and he is +lord fauntleroy becaus that is the way it is in England the earls +eldest sons little boy is the earl if every body else is dead i +mean if his farther and grandfarther are dead my grandfarther is +not dead but my uncle bevis is and so his boy is lord Fauntleroy +and i am not becaus my papa was the youngest son and my name is +Cedric Errol like it was when i was in New York and all the +things will belong to the other boy i thought at first i should +have to give him my pony and cart but my grandfarther says i need +not my grandfarther is very sorry and i think he does not like +the lady but preaps he thinks dearest and i are sorry because i +shall not be an earl i would like to be an earl now better than i +thout i would at first becaus this is a beautifle castle and i +like every body so and when you are rich you can do so many +things i am not rich now becaus when your papa is only the +youngest son he is not very rich i am going to learn to work so +that i can take care of dearest i have been asking Wilkins about +grooming horses preaps i might be a groom or a coachman. the +lady brought her little boy to the castle and my grandfarther and +Mr. Havisham talked to her i think she was angry she talked loud +and my grandfarther was angry too i never saw him angry before i +wish it did not make them all mad i thort i would tell you and +Dick right away becaus you would be intrusted so no more at +present with love from + "your old frend + + "CEDRIC ERROL (Not lord Fauntleroy)." + + +Mr. Hobbs fell back in his chair, the letter dropped on his knee, +his pen-knife slipped to the floor, and so did the envelope. + +"Well!" he ejaculated, "I am jiggered!" + +He was so dumfounded that he actually changed his exclamation. +It had always been his habit to say, "I WILL be jiggered," but +this time he said, "I AM jiggered." Perhaps he really WAS +jiggered. There is no knowing. + +"Well," said Dick, "the whole thing's bust up, hasn't it?" + +"Bust!" said Mr. Hobbs. "It's my opinion it's a put-up job o' +the British ristycrats to rob him of his rights because he's an +American. They've had a spite agin us ever since the Revolution, +an' they're takin' it out on him. I told you he wasn't safe, an' +see what's happened! Like as not, the whole gover'ment's got +together to rob him of his lawful ownin's." + +He was very much agitated. He had not approved of the change in +his young friend's circumstances at first, but lately he had +become more reconciled to it, and after the receipt of Cedric's +letter he had perhaps even felt some secret pride in his young +friend's magnificence. He might not have a good opinion of +earls, but he knew that even in America money was considered +rather an agreeable thing, and if all the wealth and grandeur +were to go with the title, it must be rather hard to lose it. + +"They're trying to rob him!" he said, "that's what they're +doing, and folks that have money ought to look after him." + +And he kept Dick with him until quite a late hour to talk it +over, and when that young man left, he went with him to the +corner of the street; and on his way back he stopped opposite the +empty house for some time, staring at the "To Let," and smoking +his pipe, in much disturbance of mind. + + + +XII + +A very few days after the dinner party at the Castle, almost +everybody in England who read the newspapers at all knew the +romantic story of what had happened at Dorincourt. It made a +very interesting story when it was told with all the details. +There was the little American boy who had been brought to England +to be Lord Fauntleroy, and who was said to be so fine and +handsome a little fellow, and to have already made people fond of +him; there was the old Earl, his grandfather, who was so proud of +his heir; there was the pretty young mother who had never been +forgiven for marrying Captain Errol; and there was the strange +marriage of Bevis, the dead Lord Fauntleroy, and the strange +wife, of whom no one knew anything, suddenly appearing with her +son, and saying that he was the real Lord Fauntleroy and must +have his rights. All these things were talked about and written +about, and caused a tremendous sensation. And then there came +the rumor that the Earl of Dorincourt was not satisfied with the +turn affairs had taken, and would perhaps contest the claim by +law, and the matter might end with a wonderful trial. + +There never had been such excitement before in the county in +which Erleboro was situated. On market-days, people stood in +groups and talked and wondered what would be done; the farmers' +wives invited one another to tea that they might tell one another +all they had heard and all they thought and all they thought +other people thought. They related wonderful anecdotes about the +Earl's rage and his determination not to acknowledge the new Lord +Fauntleroy, and his hatred of the woman who was the claimant's +mother. But, of course, it was Mrs. Dibble who could tell the +most, and who was more in demand than ever. + +"An' a bad lookout it is," she said. "An' if you were to ask +me, ma'am, I should say as it was a judgment on him for the way +he's treated that sweet young cre'tur' as he parted from her +child,--for he's got that fond of him an' that set on him an' +that proud of him as he's a'most drove mad by what's happened. +An' what's more, this new one's no lady, as his little lordship's +ma is. She's a bold-faced, black-eyed thing, as Mr. Thomas says +no gentleman in livery 'u'd bemean hisself to be gave orders by; +and let her come into the house, he says, an' he goes out of it. +An' the boy don't no more compare with the other one than nothin' +you could mention. An' mercy knows what's goin' to come of it +all, an' where it's to end, an' you might have knocked me down +with a feather when Jane brought the news." + +In fact there was excitement everywhere at the Castle: in the +library, where the Earl and Mr. Havisham sat and talked; in the +servants' hall, where Mr. Thomas and the butler and the other men +and women servants gossiped and exclaimed at all times of the +day; and in the stables, where Wilkins went about his work in a +quite depressed state of mind, and groomed the brown pony more +beautifully than ever, and said mournfully to the coachman that +he "never taught a young gen'leman to ride as took to it more +nat'ral, or was a better-plucked one than he was. He was a one +as it were some pleasure to ride behind." + +But in the midst of all the disturbance there was one person who +was quite calm and untroubled. That person was the little Lord +Fauntleroy who was said not to be Lord Fauntleroy at all. When +first the state of affairs had been explained to him, he had felt +some little anxiousness and perplexity, it is true, but its +foundation was not in baffled ambition. + +While the Earl told him what had happened, he had sat on a stool +holding on to his knee, as he so often did when he was listening +to anything interesting; and by the time the story was finished +he looked quite sober. + +"It makes me feel very queer," he said; "it makes me +feel--queer!" + +The Earl looked at the boy in silence. It made him feel queer, +too--queerer than he had ever felt in his whole life. And he +felt more queer still when he saw that there was a troubled +expression on the small face which was usually so happy. + +"Will they take Dearest's house from her--and her carriage?" +Cedric asked in a rather unsteady, anxious little voice. + +"NO!" said the Earl decidedly--in quite a loud voice, in fact. +"They can take nothing from her." + +"Ah!" said Cedric, with evident relief. "Can't they?" + +Then he looked up at his grandfather, and there was a wistful +shade in his eyes, and they looked very big and soft. + +"That other boy," he said rather tremulously--"he will have +to--to be your boy now--as I was--won't he?" + +"NO!" answered the Earl--and he said it so fiercely and loudly +that Cedric quite jumped. + +"No?" he exclaimed, in wonderment. "Won't he? I +thought----" + +He stood up from his stool quite suddenly. + +"Shall I be your boy, even if I'm not going to be an earl?" he +said. "Shall I be your boy, just as I was before?" And his +flushed little face was all alight with eagerness. + +How the old Earl did look at him from head to foot, to be sure! +How his great shaggy brows did draw themselves together, and how +queerly his deep eyes shone under them--how very queerly! + +"My boy!" he said--and, if you'll believe it, his very voice +was queer, almost shaky and a little broken and hoarse, not at +all what you would expect an Earl's voice to be, though he spoke +more decidedly and peremptorily even than before,--"Yes, you'll +be my boy as long as I live; and, by George, sometimes I feel as +if you were the only boy I had ever had." + +Cedric's face turned red to the roots of his hair; it turned red +with relief and pleasure. He put both his hands deep into his +pockets and looked squarely into his noble relative's eyes. + +"Do you?" he said. "Well, then, I don't care about the earl +part at all. I don't care whether I'm an earl or not. I +thought--you see, I thought the one that was going to be the Earl +would have to be your boy, too, and--and I couldn't be. That was +what made me feel so queer." + +The Earl put his hand on his shoulder and drew him nearer. + +"They shall take nothing from you that I can hold for you," he +said, drawing his breath hard. "I won't believe yet that they +can take anything from you. You were made for the place, +and--well, you may fill it still. But whatever comes, you shall +have all that I can give you--all!" + +It scarcely seemed as if he were speaking to a child, there was +such determination in his face and voice; it was more as if he +were making a promise to himself--and perhaps he was. + +He had never before known how deep a hold upon him his fondness +for the boy and his pride in him had taken. He had never seen +his strength and good qualities and beauty as he seemed to see +them now. To his obstinate nature it seemed impossible--more +than impossible--to give up what he had so set his heart upon. +And he had determined that he would not give it up without a +fierce struggle. + +Within a few days after she had seen Mr. Havisham, the woman who +claimed to be Lady Fauntleroy presented herself at the Castle, +and brought her child with her. She was sent away. The Earl +would not see her, she was told by the footman at the door; his +lawyer would attend to her case. It was Thomas who gave the +message, and who expressed his opinion of her freely afterward, +in the servants' hall. He "hoped," he said, "as he had wore +livery in 'igh famblies long enough to know a lady when he see +one, an' if that was a lady he was no judge o' females." + +"The one at the Lodge," added Thomas loftily, "'Merican or no +'Merican, she's one o' the right sort, as any gentleman 'u'd +reckinize with all a heye. I remarked it myself to Henery when +fust we called there." + +The woman drove away; the look on her handsome, common face half +frightened, half fierce. Mr. Havisham had noticed, during his +interviews with her, that though she had a passionate temper, and +a coarse, insolent manner, she was neither so clever nor so bold +as she meant to be; she seemed sometimes to be almost overwhelmed +by the position in which she had placed herself. It was as if +she had not expected to meet with such opposition. + +"She is evidently," the lawyer said to Mrs. Errol, "a person +from the lower walks of life. She is uneducated and untrained in + +everything, and quite unused to meeting people like ourselves on +any terms of equality. She does not know what to do. Her visit +to the Castle quite cowed her. She was infuriated, but she was +cowed. The Earl would not receive her, but I advised him to go +with me to the Dorincourt Arms, where she is staying. When she +saw him enter the room, she turned white, though she flew into a +rage at once, and threatened and demanded in one breath." + +The fact was that the Earl had stalked into the room and stood, +looking like a venerable aristocratic giant, staring at the woman +from under his beetling brows, and not condescending a word. He +simply stared at her, taking her in from head to foot as if she +were some repulsive curiosity. He let her talk and demand until +she was tired, without himself uttering a word, and then he said: + +"You say you are my eldest son's wife. If that is true, and if +the proof you offer is too much for us, the law is on your side. +In that case, your boy is Lord Fauntleroy. The matter will be +sifted to the bottom, you may rest assured. If your claims are +proved, you will be provided for. I want to see nothing of +either you or the child so long as I live. The place will +unfortunately have enough of you after my death. You are exactly +the kind of person I should have expected my son Bevis to +choose." + +And then he turned his back upon her and stalked out of the room +as he had stalked into it. + +Not many days after that, a visitor was announced to Mrs. Errol, +who was writing in her little morning room. The maid, who +brought the message, looked rather excited; her eyes were quite +round with amazement, in fact, and being young and inexperienced, +she regarded her mistress with nervous sympathy. + +"It's the Earl hisself, ma'am!" she said in tremulous awe. + +When Mrs. Errol entered the drawing-room, a very tall, +majestic-looking old man was standing on the tiger-skin rug. He +had a handsome, grim old face, with an aquiline profile, a long +white mustache, and an obstinate look. + +"Mrs. Errol, I believe?" he said. + +"Mrs. Errol," she answered. + +"I am the Earl of Dorincourt," he said. + +He paused a moment, almost unconsciously, to look into her +uplifted eyes. They were so like the big, affectionate, childish +eyes he had seen uplifted to his own so often every day during +the last few months, that they gave him a quite curious +sensation. + +"The boy is very like you," he said abruptly. + +"It has been often said so, my lord," she replied, "but I have +been glad to think him like his father also." + +As Lady Lorridaile had told him, her voice was very sweet, and +her manner was very simple and dignified. She did not seem in +the least troubled by his sudden coming. + +"Yes," said the Earl. "he is like--my son--too." He put his +hand up to his big white mustache and pulled it fiercely. "Do +you know," he said, "why I have come here?" + +"I have seen Mr. Havisham," Mrs. Errol began, "and he has told +me of the claims which have been made----" + +"I have come to tell you," said the Earl, "that they will be +investigated and contested, if a contest can be made. I have +come to tell you that the boy shall be defended with all the +power of the law. His rights----" + +The soft voice interrupted him. + +"He must have nothing that is NOT his by right, even if the law +can give it to him," she said. + +"Unfortunately the law can not," said the Earl. "If it could, +it should. This outrageous woman and her child----" + +"Perhaps she cares for him as much as I care for Cedric, my +lord," said little Mrs. Errol. "And if she was your eldest +son's wife,her son is Lord Fauntleroy, and mine is not." + +She was no more afraid of him than Cedric had been, and she +looked at him just as Cedric would have looked, and he, having +been an old tyrant all his life, was privately pleased by it. +People so seldom dared to differ from him that there was an +entertaining novelty in it. + +"I suppose," he said, scowling slightly, "that you would much +prefer that he should not be the Earl of Dorincourt." + +Her fair young face flushed. + +"It is a very magnificent thing to be the Earl of Dorincourt, my +lord," she said. "I know that, but I care most that he should +be what his father was--brave and just and true always." + +"In striking contrast to what his grandfather was, eh?" said +his lordship sardonically. + +"I have not had the pleasure of knowing his grandfather," +replied Mrs. Errol, "but I know my little boy believes----" She +stopped short a moment, looking quietly into his face, and then +she added, "I know that Cedric loves you." + +"Would he have loved me," said the Earl dryly, "if you had +told him why I did not receive you at the Castle?" + +"No," answered Mrs. Errol, "I think not. That was why I did +not wish him to know." + +"Well," said my lord brusquely, "there are few women who would +not have told him." + +He suddenly began to walk up and down the room, pulling his great +mustache more violently than ever. + +"Yes, he is fond of me," he said, "and I am fond of him. I +can't say I ever was fond of anything before. I am fond of him. +He pleased me from the first. I am an old man, and was tired of +my life. He has given me something to live for. I am proud of +him. I was satisfied to think of his taking his place some day +as the head of the family." + +He came back and stood before Mrs. Errol. + +"I am miserable," he said. "Miserable!" + +He looked as if he was. Even his pride could not keep his voice +steady or his hands from shaking. For a moment it almost seemed +as if his deep, fierce eyes had tears in them. "Perhaps it is +because I am miserable that I have come to you," he said, quite +glaring down at her. "I used to hate you; I have been jealous +of you. This wretched, disgraceful business has changed that. +After seeing that repulsive woman who calls herself the wife of +my son Bevis, I actually felt it would be a relief to look at +you. I have been an obstinate old fool, and I suppose I have +treated you badly. You are like the boy, and the boy is the +first object in my life. I am miserable, and I came to you +merely because you are like the boy, and he cares for you, and I +care for him. Treat me as well as you can, for the boy's sake." + +He said it all in his harsh voice, and almost roughly, but +somehow he seemed so broken down for the time that Mrs. Errol was +touched to the heart. She got up and moved an arm-chair a little +forward. + +"I wish you would sit down," she said in a soft, pretty, +sympathetic way. "You have been so much troubled that you are +very tired, and you need all your strength." + +It was just as new to him to be spoken to and cared for in that +gentle, simple way as it was to be contradicted. He was reminded +of "the boy" again, and he actually did as she asked him. +Perhaps his disappointment and wretchedness were good discipline +for him; if he had not been wretched he might have continued to +hate her, but just at present he found her a little soothing. +Almost anything would have seemed pleasant by contrast with Lady +Fauntleroy; and this one had so sweet a face and voice, and a +pretty dignity when she spoke or moved. Very soon, through the +quiet magic of these influences, he began to feel less gloomy, +and then he talked still more. + +"Whatever happens," he said, "the boy shall be provided for. +He shall be taken care of, now and in the future." + +Before he went away, he glanced around the room. + +"Do you like the house?" he demanded. + +"Very much," she answered. + +"This is a cheerful room," he said. "May I come here again +and talk this matter over?" + +"As often as you wish, my lord," she replied. + +And then he went out to his carriage and drove away, Thomas and +Henry almost stricken dumb upon the box at the turn affairs had +taken. + + + +XIII + +OF course, as soon as the story of Lord Fauntleroy and the +difficulties of the Earl of Dorincourt were discussed in the +English newspapers, they were discussed in the American +newspapers. The story was too interesting to be passed over +lightly, and it was talked of a great deal. There were so many +versions of it that it would have been an edifying thing to buy +all the papers and compare them. Mr. Hobbs read so much about it +that he became quite bewildered. One paper described his young +friend Cedric as an infant in arms,--another as a young man at +Oxford, winning all the honors, and distinguishing himself by +writing Greek poems; one said he was engaged to a young lady of +great beauty, who was the daughter of a duke; another said he had +just been married; the only thing, in fact, which was NOT said +was that he was a little boy between seven and eight, with +handsome legs and curly hair. One said he was no relation to the +Earl of Dorincourt at all, but was a small impostor who had sold +newspapers and slept in the streets of New York before his mother +imposed upon the family lawyer, who came to America to look for +the Earl's heir. Then came the descriptions of the new Lord +Fauntleroy and his mother. Sometimes she was a gypsy, sometimes +an actress, sometimes a beautiful Spaniard; but it was always +agreed that the Earl of Dorincourt was her deadly enemy, and +would not acknowledge her son as his heir if he could help it, +and as there seemed to be some slight flaw in the papers she had +produced, it was expected that there would be a long trial, which +would be far more interesting than anything ever carried into +court before. Mr. Hobbs used to read the papers until his head +was in a whirl, and in the evening he and Dick would talk it all +over. They found out what an important personage an Earl of +Dorincourt was, and what a magnificent income he possessed, and +how many estates he owned, and how stately and beautiful was the +Castle in which he lived; and the more they learned, the more +excited they became. + +"Seems like somethin' orter be done," said Mr. Hobbs. "Things +like them orter be held on to--earls or no earls." + +But there really was nothing they could do but each write a +letter to Cedric, containing assurances of their friendship and +sympathy. They wrote those letters as soon as they could after +receiving the news; and after having written them, they handed +them over to each other to be read. + +This is what Mr. Hobbs read in Dick's letter: + + +"DERE FREND: i got ure letter an Mr. Hobbs got his an we are +sory u are down on ure luck an we say hold on as longs u kin an +dont let no one git ahed of u. There is a lot of ole theves wil +make al they kin of u ef u dont kepe ure i skined. But this is +mosly to say that ive not forgot wot u did fur me an if there +aint no better way cum over here an go in pardners with me. +Biznes is fine an ile see no harm cums to u Enny big feler that +trise to cum it over u wil hafter setle it fust with Perfessor +Dick Tipton +So no more at present + "DICK." + + +And this was what Dick read in Mr. Hobbs's letter: + + +"DEAR SIR: Yrs received and wd say things looks bad. I believe +its a put up job and them thats done it ought to be looked after +sharp. And what I write to say is two things. Im going to look +this thing up. Keep quiet and Ill see a lawyer and do all I can +And if the worst happens and them earls is too many for us theres +a partnership in the grocery business ready for you when yure old +enough and a home and a friend in + "Yrs truly, + "SILAS HOBBS." + + +"Well," said Mr. Hobbs, "he's pervided for between us, if he +aint a earl." + +"So he is," said Dick. "I'd ha' stood by him. Blest if I +didn't like that little feller fust-rate." + +The very next morning, one of Dick's customers was rather +surprised. He was a young lawyer just beginning practice--as +poor as a very young lawyer can possibly be, but a bright, +energetic young fellow, with sharp wit and a good temper. He had +a shabby office near Dick's stand, and every morning Dick blacked +his boots for him, and quite often they were not exactly +water-tight, but he always had a friendly word or a joke for +Dick. + +That particular morning, when he put his foot on the rest, he had +an illustrated paper in his hand--an enterprising paper, with +pictures in it of conspicuous people and things. He had just +finished looking it over, and when the last boot was polished, he +handed it over to the boy. + +"Here's a paper for you, Dick," he said; "you can look it over +when you drop in at Delmonico's for your breakfast. Picture of +an English castle in it, and an English earl's daughter-in-law. +Fine young woman, too,--lots of hair,--though she seems to be +raising rather a row. You ought to become familiar with the +nobility and gentry, Dick. Begin on the Right Honorable the Earl +of Dorincourt and Lady Fauntleroy. Hello! I say, what's the +matter?" + +The pictures he spoke of were on the front page, and Dick was +staring at one of them with his eyes and mouth open, and his +sharp face almost pale with excitement. + +"What's to pay, Dick?" said the young man. "What has +paralyzed you?" + +Dick really did look as if something tremendous had happened. He +pointed to the picture, under which was written: + +"Mother of Claimant (Lady Fauntleroy)." + +It was the picture of a handsome woman, with large eyes and heavy +braids of black hair wound around her head. + +"Her!" said Dick. "My, I know her better 'n I know you!" + +The young man began to laugh. + +"Where did you meet her, Dick?" he said. "At Newport? Or +when you ran over to Paris the last time?" + +Dick actually forgot to grin. He began to gather his brushes and +things together, as if he had something to do which would put an +end to his business for the present. + +"Never mind," he said. "I know her! An I've struck work for +this mornin'." + +And in less than five minutes from that time he was tearing +through the streets on his way to Mr. Hobbs and the corner store. + +Mr. Hobbs could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses when +he looked across the counter and saw Dick rush in with the paper +in his hand. The boy was out of breath with running; so much out +of breath, in fact, that he could scarcely speak as he threw the +paper down on the counter. + +"Hello!" exclaimed Mr. Hobbs. "Hello! What you got there?" + +"Look at it!" panted Dick. "Look at that woman in the +picture! That's what you look at! SHE aint no 'ristocrat, SHE +aint!" with withering scorn. "She's no lord's wife. You may +eat me, if it aint Minna--MINNA! I'd know her anywheres, an' so +'d Ben. Jest ax him." + +Mr. Hobbs dropped into his seat. + +"I knowed it was a put-up job," he said. "I knowed it; and +they done it on account o' him bein' a 'Merican!" + +"Done it!" cried Dick, with disgust. "SHE done it, that's who +done it. She was allers up to her tricks; an' I'll tell yer wot +come to me, the minnit I saw her pictur. There was one o' them +papers we saw had a letter in it that said somethin' 'bout her +boy, an' it said he had a scar on his chin. Put them two +together--her 'n' that there scar! Why, that there boy o' hers +aint no more a lord than I am! It's BEN'S boy,--the little chap +she hit when she let fly that plate at me." + +Professor Dick Tipton had always been a sharp boy, and earning +his living in the streets of a big city had made him still +sharper. He had learned to keep his eyes open and his wits about +him, and it must be confessed he enjoyed immensely the excitement +and impatience of that moment. If little Lord Fauntleroy could +only have looked into the store that morning, he would certainly +have been interested, even if all the discussion and plans had +been intended to decide the fate of some other boy than himself. + +Mr. Hobbs was almost overwhelmed by his sense of responsibility, +and Dick was all alive and full of energy. He began to write a +letter to Ben, and he cut out the picture and inclosed it to him, +and Mr. Hobbs wrote a letter to Cedric and one to the Earl. They +were in the midst of this letter-writing when a new idea came to +Dick. + +"Say," he said, "the feller that give me the paper, he's a +lawyer. Let's ax him what we'd better do. Lawyers knows it +all." + +Mr. Hobbs was immensely impressed by this suggestion and Dick's +business capacity. + +"That's so!" he replied. "This here calls for lawyers." + +And leaving the store in the care of a substitute, he struggled +into his coat and marched down-town with Dick, and the two +presented themselves with their romantic story in Mr. Harrison's +office, much to that young man's astonishment. + +If he had not been a very young lawyer, with a very enterprising +mind and a great deal of spare time on his hands, he might not +have been so readily interested in what they had to say, for it +all certainly sounded very wild and queer; but he chanced to want +something to do very much, and he chanced to know Dick, and Dick +chanced to say his say in a very sharp, telling sort of way. + +"And," said Mr. Hobbs, "say what your time's worth a' hour and +look into this thing thorough, and I'LL pay the damage,--Silas +Hobbs, corner of Blank street, Vegetables and Fancy Groceries." + +"Well," said Mr. Harrison, "it will be a big thing if it turns +out all right, and it will be almost as big a thing for me as for +Lord Fauntleroy; and, at any rate, no harm can be done by +investigating. It appears there has been some dubiousness about +the child. The woman contradicted herself in some of her +statements about his age, and aroused suspicion. The first +persons to be written to are Dick's brother and the Earl of +Dorincourt's family lawyer." + +And actually, before the sun went down, two letters had been +written and sent in two different directions--one speeding out of +New York harbor on a mail steamer on its way to England, and the +other on a train carrying letters and passengers bound for +California. And the first was addressed to T. Havisham, Esq., +and the second to Benjamin Tipton. + +And after the store was closed that evening, Mr. Hobbs and Dick +sat in the back-room and talked together until midnight. + + + +XIV + +It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful +things to happen. It had taken only a few minutes, apparently, +to change all the fortunes of the little boy dangling his red +legs from the high stool in Mr. Hobbs's store, and to transform +him from a small boy, living the simplest life in a quiet street, +into an English nobleman, the heir to an earldom and magnificent +wealth. It had taken only a few minutes, apparently, to change +him from an English nobleman into a penniless little impostor, +with no right to any of the splendors he had been enjoying. And, +surprising as it may appear, it did not take nearly so long a +time as one might have expected, to alter the face of everything +again and to give back to him all that he had been in danger of +losing. + +It took the less time because, after all, the woman who had +called herself Lady Fauntleroy was not nearly so clever as she +was wicked; and when she had been closely pressed by Mr. +Havisham's questions about her marriage and her boy, she had made +one or two blunders which had caused suspicion to be awakened; +and then she had lost her presence of mind and her temper, and in +her excitement and anger had betrayed herself still further. All +the mistakes she made were about her child. There seemed no +doubt that she had been married to Bevis, Lord Fauntleroy, and +had quarreled with him and had been paid to keep away from him; +but Mr. Havisham found out that her story of the boy's being born +in a certain part of London was false; and just when they all +were in the midst of the commotion caused by this discovery, +there came the letter from the young lawyer in New York, and Mr. +Hobbs's letters also. + +What an evening it was when those letters arrived, and when Mr. +Havisham and the Earl sat and talked their plans over in the +library! + +"After my first three meetings with her," said Mr. Havisham, +"I began to suspect her strongly. It appeared to me that the +child was older than she said he was, and she made a slip in +speaking of the date of his birth and then tried to patch the +matter up. The story these letters bring fits in with several of +my suspicions. Our best plan will be to cable at once for these +two Tiptons,--say nothing about them to her,--and suddenly +confront her with them when she is not expecting it. She is only +a very clumsy plotter, after all. My opinion is that she will be +frightened out of her wits, and will betray herself on the +spot." + +And that was what actually happened. She was told nothing, and +Mr. Havisham kept her from suspecting anything by continuing to +have interviews with her, in which he assured her he was +investigating her statements; and she really began to feel so +secure that her spirits rose immensely and she began to be as +insolent as might have been expected. + +But one fine morning, as she sat in her sitting-room at the inn +called "The Dorincourt Arms," making some very fine plans for +herself, Mr. Havisham was announced; and when he entered, he was +followed by no less than three persons--one was a sharp-faced boy +and one was a big young man and the third was the Earl of +Dorincourt. + +She sprang to her feet and actually uttered a cry of terror. It +broke from her before she had time to check it. She had thought +of these new-comers as being thousands of miles away, when she +had ever thought of them at all, which she had scarcely done for +years. She had never expected to see them again. It must be +confessed that Dick grinned a little when he saw her. + +"Hello, Minna!" he said. + +The big young man--who was Ben--stood still a minute and looked +at her. + +"Do you know her?" Mr. Havisham asked, glancing from one to the +other. + +"Yes," said Ben. "I know her and she knows me." And he +turned his back on her and went and stood looking out of the +window, as if the sight of her was hateful to him, as indeed it +was. Then the woman, seeing herself so baffled and exposed, lost +all control over herself and flew into such a rage as Ben and +Dick had often seen her in before. Dick grinned a trifle more as +he watched her and heard the names she called them all and the +violent threats she made, but Ben did not turn to look at her. + +"I can swear to her in any court," he said to Mr. Havisham, +"and I can bring a dozen others who will. Her father is a +respectable sort of man, though he's low down in the world. Her +mother was just like herself. She's dead, but he's alive, and +he's honest enough to be ashamed of her. He'll tell you who she +is, and whether she married me or not" + +Then he clenched his hand suddenly and turned on her. + +"Where's the child?" he demanded. "He's going with me! He is +done with you, and so am I!" + +And just as he finished saying the words, the door leading into +the bedroom opened a little, and the boy, probably attracted by +the sound of the loud voices, looked in. He was not a handsome +boy, but he had rather a nice face, and he was quite like Ben, +his father, as any one could see, and there was the +three-cornered scar on his chin. + +Ben walked up to him and took his hand, and his own was +trembling. + +"Yes," he said, "I could swear to him, too. Tom," he said to +the little fellow, "I'm your father; I've come to take you away. + +Where's your hat?" + +The boy pointed to where it lay on a chair. It evidently rather +pleased him to hear that he was going away. He had been so +accustomed to queer experiences that it did not surprise him to +be told by a stranger that he was his father. He objected so +much to the woman who had come a few months before to the place +where he had lived since his babyhood, and who had suddenly +announced that she was his mother, that he was quite ready for a +change. Ben took up the hat and marched to the door. + +"If you want me again," he said to Mr. Havisham, "you know +where to find me." + +He walked out of the room, holding the child's hand and not +looking at the woman once. She was fairly raving with fury, and +the Earl was calmly gazing at her through his eyeglasses, which +he had quietly placed upon his aristocratic, eagle nose. + +"Come, come, my young woman," said Mr. Havisham. "This won't +do at all. If you don't want to be locked up, you really must +behave yourself." + +And there was something so very business-like in his tones that, +probably feeling that the safest thing she could do would be to +get out of the way, she gave him one savage look and dashed past +him into the next room and slammed the door. + +"We shall have no more trouble with her," said Mr. Havisham. + +And he was right; for that very night she left the Dorincourt +Arms and took the train to London, and was seen no more. + + + +When the Earl left the room after the interview, he went at once +to his carriage. + +"To Court Lodge," he said to Thomas. + +"To Court Lodge," said Thomas to the coachman as he mounted the +box; "an' you may depend on it, things are taking a uniggspected +turn." + +When the carriage stopped at Court Lodge, Cedric was in the +drawing-room with his mother. + +The Earl came in without being announced. He looked an inch or +so taller, and a great many years younger. His deep eyes +flashed. + +"Where," he said, "is Lord Fauntleroy?" + +Mrs. Errol came forward, a flush rising to her cheek. + +"Is it Lord Fauntleroy?" she asked. "Is it, indeed!" + +The Earl put out his hand and grasped hers. + +"Yes," he answered, "it is." + +Then he put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder. + +"Fauntleroy," he said in his unceremonious, authoritative way, +"ask your mother when she will come to us at the Castle." + +Fauntleroy flung his arms around his mother's neck. + +"To live with us!" he cried. "To live with us always!" + +The Earl looked at Mrs. Errol, and Mrs. Errol looked at the Earl. + +His lordship was entirely in earnest. He had made up his mind to +waste no time in arranging this matter. He had begun to think it +would suit him to make friends with his heir's mother. + +"Are you quite sure you want me?" said Mrs. Errol, with her +soft, pretty smile. + +"Quite sure," he said bluntly. "We have always wanted you, +but we were not exactly aware of it. We hope you will come." + + + +XV + +Ben took his boy and went back to his cattle ranch in California, +and he returned under very comfortable circumstances. Just +before his going, Mr. Havisham had an interview with him in which +the lawyer told him that the Earl of Dorincourt wished to do +something for the boy who might have turned out to be Lord +Fauntleroy, and so he had decided that it would be a good plan to +invest in a cattle ranch of his own, and put Ben in charge of it +on terms which would make it pay him very well, and which would +lay a foundation for his son's future. And so when Ben went +away, he went as the prospective master of a ranch which would be +almost as good as his own, and might easily become his own in +time, as indeed it did in the course of a few years; and Tom, the +boy, grew up on it into a fine young man and was devotedly fond +of his father; and they were so successful and happy that Ben +used to say that Tom made up to him for all the troubles he had +ever had. + +But Dick and Mr. Hobbs--who had actually come over with the +others to see that things were properly looked after--did not +return for some time. It had been decided at the outset that the +Earl would provide for Dick, and would see that he received a +solid education; and Mr. Hobbs had decided that as he himself had +left a reliable substitute in charge of his store, he could +afford to wait to see the festivities which were to celebrate +Lord Fauntleroy's eighth birthday. All the tenantry were +invited, and there were to be feasting and dancing and games in +the park, and bonfires and fire-works in the evening. + +"Just like the Fourth of July!" said Lord Fauntleroy. "It +seems a pity my birthday wasn't on the Fourth, doesn't it? For +then we could keep them both together." + +It must be confessed that at first the Earl and Mr. Hobbs were +not as intimate as it might have been hoped they would become, in +the interests of the British aristocracy. The fact was that the +Earl had known very few grocery-men, and Mr. Hobbs had not had +many very close acquaintances who were earls; and so in their +rare interviews conversation did not flourish. It must also be +owned that Mr. Hobbs had been rather overwhelmed by the splendors +Fauntleroy felt it his duty to show him. + +The entrance gate and the stone lions and the avenue impressed +Mr. Hobbs somewhat at the beginning, and when he saw the Castle, +and the flower-gardens, and the hot-houses, and the terraces, and +the peacocks, and the dungeon, and the armor, and the great +staircase, and the stables, and the liveried servants, he really +was quite bewildered. But it was the picture gallery which +seemed to be the finishing stroke. + +"Somethin' in the manner of a museum?" he said to Fauntleroy, +when he was led into the great, beautiful room. + +"N--no--!" said Fauntleroy, rather doubtfully. "I don't THINK +it's a museum. My grandfather says these are my ancestors." + +"Your aunt's sisters!" ejaculated Mr. Hobbs. "ALL of 'em? +Your great-uncle, he MUST have had a family! Did he raise 'em +all?" + +And he sank into a seat and looked around him with quite an +agitated countenance, until with the greatest difficulty Lord +Fauntleroy managed to explain that the walls were not lined +entirely with the portraits of the progeny of his great-uncle. + +He found it necessary, in fact, to call in the assistance of Mrs. +Mellon, who knew all about the pictures, and could tell who +painted them and when, and who added romantic stories of the +lords and ladies who were the originals. When Mr. Hobbs once +understood, and had heard some of these stories, he was very much +fascinated and liked the picture gallery almost better than +anything else; and he would often walk over from the village, +where he staid at the Dorincourt Arms, and would spend half an +hour or so wandering about the gallery, staring at the painted +ladies and gentlemen, who also stared at him, and shaking his +head nearly all the time. + +"And they was all earls!" he would say, "er pretty nigh it! +An' HE'S goin' to be one of 'em, an' own it all!" + +Privately he was not nearly so much disgusted with earls and +their mode of life as he had expected to be, and it is to be +doubted whether his strictly republican principles were not +shaken a little by a closer acquaintance with castles and +ancestors and all the rest of it. At any rate, one day he +uttered a very remarkable and unexpected sentiment: + +"I wouldn't have minded bein' one of 'em myself!" he +said--which was really a great concession. + +What a grand day it was when little Lord Fauntleroy's birthday +arrived, and how his young lordship enjoyed it! How beautiful +the park looked, filled with the thronging people dressed in +their gayest and best, and with the flags flying from the tents +and the top of the Castle! Nobody had staid away who could +possibly come, because everybody was really glad that little Lord +Fauntleroy was to be little Lord Fauntleroy still, and some day +was to be the master of everything. Every one wanted to have a +look at him, and at his pretty, kind mother, who had made so many +friends. And positively every one liked the Earl rather better, +and felt more amiably toward him because the little boy loved and +trusted him so, and because, also, he had now made friends with +and behaved respectfully to his heir's mother. It was said that +he was even beginning to be fond of her, too, and that between +his young lordship and his young lordship's mother, the Earl +might be changed in time into quite a well-behaved old nobleman, +and everybody might be happier and better off. + +What scores and scores of people there were under the trees, and +in the tents, and on the lawns! Farmers and farmers' wives in +their Sunday suits and bonnets and shawls; girls and their +sweethearts; children frolicking and chasing about; and old dames +in red cloaks gossiping together. At the Castle, there were +ladies and gentlemen who had come to see the fun, and to +congratulate the Earl, and to meet Mrs. Errol. Lady Lorredaile +and Sir Harry were there, and Sir Thomas Asshe and his daughters, +and Mr. Havisham, of course, and then beautiful Miss Vivian +Herbert, with the loveliest white gown and lace parasol, and a +circle of gentlemen to take care of her--though she evidently +liked Fauntleroy better than all of them put together. And when +he saw her and ran to her and put his arm around her neck, she +put her arms around him, too, and kissed him as warmly as if he +had been her own favorite little brother, and she said: + +"Dear little Lord Fauntleroy! dear little boy! I am so glad! +I am so glad!" + +And afterward she walked about the grounds with him, and let him +show her everything. And when he took her to where Mr. Hobbs and +Dick were, and said to her, "This is my old, old friend Mr. +Hobbs, Miss Herbert, and this is my other old friend Dick. I +told them how pretty you were, and I told them they should see +you if you came to my birthday,"--she shook hands with them +both, and stood and talked to them in her prettiest way, asking +them about America and their voyage and their life since they had +been in England; while Fauntleroy stood by, looking up at her +with adoring eyes, and his cheeks quite flushed with delight +because he saw that Mr. Hobbs and Dick liked her so much. + +"Well," said Dick solemnly, afterward, "she's the daisiest gal +I ever saw! She's--well, she's just a daisy, that's what she is, +'n' no mistake!" + +Everybody looked after her as she passed, and every one looked +after little Lord Fauntleroy. And the sun shone and the flags +fluttered and the games were played and the dances danced, and as +the gayeties went on and the joyous afternoon passed, his little +lordship was simply radiantly happy. + +The whole world seemed beautiful to him. + +There was some one else who was happy, too,--an old man, who, +though he had been rich and noble all his life, had not often +been very honestly happy. Perhaps, indeed, I shall tell you that +I think it was because he was rather better than he had been that +he was rather happier. He had not, indeed, suddenly become as +good as Fauntleroy thought him; but, at least, he had begun to +love something, and he had several times found a sort of pleasure +in doing the kind things which the innocent, kind little heart of +a child had suggested,--and that was a beginning. And every day +he had been more pleased with his son's wife. It was true, as +the people said, that he was beginning to like her too. He liked +to hear her sweet voice and to see her sweet face; and as he sat +in his arm-chair, he used to watch her and listen as she talked +to her boy; and he heard loving, gentle words which were new to +him, and he began to see why the little fellow who had lived in a +New York side street and known grocery-men and made friends with +boot-blacks, was still so well-bred and manly a little fellow +that he made no one ashamed of him, even when fortune changed him +into the heir to an English earldom, living in an English castle. + +It was really a very simple thing, after all,--it was only that +he had lived near a kind and gentle heart, and had been taught to +think kind thoughts always and to care for others. It is a very +little thing, perhaps, but it is the best thing of all. He knew +nothing of earls and castles; he was quite ignorant of all grand +and splendid things; but he was always lovable because he was +simple and loving. To be so is like being born a king. + +As the old Earl of Dorincourt looked at him that day, moving +about the park among the people, talking to those he knew and +making his ready little bow when any one greeted him, +entertaining his friends Dick and Mr. Hobbs, or standing near his +mother or Miss Herbert listening to their conversation, the old +nobleman was very well satisfied with him. And he had never been +better satisfied than he was when they went down to the biggest +tent, where the more important tenants of the Dorincourt estate +were sitting down to the grand collation of the day. + +They were drinking toasts; and, after they had drunk the health +of the Earl, with much more enthusiasm than his name had ever +been greeted with before, they proposed the health of "Little +Lord Fauntleroy." And if there had ever been any doubt at all as +to whether his lordship was popular or not, it would have been +set that instant. Such a clamor of voices, and such a rattle of +glasses and applause! They had begun to like him so much, those +warm-hearted people, that they forgot to feel any restraint +before the ladies and gentlemen from the castle, who had come to +see them. They made quite a decent uproar, and one or two +motherly women looked tenderly at the little fellow where he +stood, with his mother on one side and the Earl on the other, and +grew quite moist about the eyes, and said to one another: + +"God bless him, the pretty little dear!" + +Little Lord Fauntleroy was delighted. He stood and smiled, and +made bows, and flushed rosy red with pleasure up to the roots of +his bright hair. + +"Is it because they like me, Dearest?" he said to his mother. +"Is it, Dearest? I'm so glad!" + +And then the Earl put his hand on the child's shoulder and said +to him: + +"Fauntleroy, say to them that you thank them for their +kindness." + +Fauntleroy gave a glance up at him and then at his mother. + +"Must I?" he asked just a trifle shyly, and she smiled, and so +did Miss Herbert, and they both nodded. And so he made a little +step forward, and everybody looked at him--such a beautiful, +innocent little fellow he was, too, with his brave, trustful +face!--and he spoke as loudly as he could, his childish voice +ringing out quite clear and strong. + +"I'm ever so much obliged to you!" he said, "and--I hope +you'll enjoy my birthday--because I've enjoyed it so +much--and--I'm very glad I'm going to be an earl; I didn't think +at first I should like it, but now I do--and I love this place +so, and I think it is beautiful--and--and--and when I am an earl, +I am going to try to be as good as my grandfather." + +And amid the shouts and clamor of applause, he stepped back with +a little sigh of relief, and put his hand into the Earl's and +stood close to him, smiling and leaning against his side. + + +And that would be the very end of my story; but I must add one +curious piece of information, which is that Mr. Hobbs became so +fascinated with high life and was so reluctant to leave his young +friend that he actually sold his corner store in New York, and +settled in the English village of Erlesboro, where he opened a +shop which was patronized by the Castle and consequently was a +great success. And though he and the Earl never became very +intimate, if you will believe me, that man Hobbs became in time +more aristocratic than his lordship himself, and he read the +Court news every morning, and followed all the doings of the +House of Lords! And about ten years after, when Dick, who had +finished his education and was going to visit his brother in +California, asked the good grocer if he did not wish to return to +America, he shook his head seriously. + +"Not to live there," he said. "Not to live there; I want to +be near HIM, an' sort o' look after him. It's a good enough +country for them that's young an' stirrin'--but there's faults in +it. There's not an auntsister among 'em--nor an earl!" + + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Little Lord Fauntleroy + |