LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY

By Frances Hodgson Burnett

I

Cedric himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never been evenmentioned to him. He knew that his papa had been an Englishman, becausehis mamma had told him so; but then his papa had died when he was solittle a boy that he could not remember very much about him, except thathe was big, and had blue eyes and a long mustache, and that it was asplendid thing to be carried around the room on his shoulder. Since hispapa's death, Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to hismamma about him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent away, andwhen he had returned, everything was over; and his mother, who hadbeen very ill, too, was only just beginning to sit in her chair by thewindow. She was pale and thin, and all the dimples had gone from herpretty face, and her eyes looked large and mournful, and she was dressedin black. 

"Dearest, " said Cedric (his papa had called her that always, and so thelittle 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 inher face. There was something in it that made him feel that he was goingto cry. 

"Dearest, " he said, "is he well?"

Then suddenly his loving little heart told him that he'd better put bothhis arms around her neck and kiss her again and again, and keep hissoft cheek close to hers; and he did so, and she laid her face on hisshoulder and cried bitterly, holding him as if she could never let himgo again. 

"Yes, he is well, " she sobbed; "he is quite, quite well, but we--we haveno one left but each other. No one at all. "

Then, little as he was, he understood that his big, handsome young papawould not come back any more; that he was dead, as he had heard of otherpeople being, although he could not comprehend exactly what strangething had brought all this sadness about. It was because his mammaalways cried when he spoke of his papa that he secretly made up his mindit 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 fireor out of the window without moving or talking. He and his mamma knewvery few people, and lived what might have been thought very lonelylives, although Cedric did not know it was lonely until he grew olderand heard why it was they had no visitors. Then he was told that hismamma was an orphan, and quite alone in the world when his papa hadmarried her. She was very pretty, and had been living as companion to arich 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 onher eyelashes; and she looked so sweet and innocent and sorrowful thatthe Captain could not forget her. And after many strange things hadhappened, they knew each other well and loved each other dearly, andwere married, although their marriage brought them the ill-will ofseveral persons. The one who was most angry of all, however, wasthe Captain's father, who lived in England, and was a very rich andimportant old nobleman, with a very bad temper and a very violentdislike to America and Americans. He had two sons older than CaptainCedric; and it was the law that the elder of these sons should inheritthe family title and estates, which were very rich and splendid; if theeldest son died, the next one would be heir; so, though he was a memberof such a great family, there was little chance that Captain Cedricwould be very rich himself. 

But it so happened that Nature had given to the youngest son gifts whichshe had not bestowed upon his elder brothers. He had a beautiful faceand 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 theworld, and seemed to have the power to make every one love him. And itwas not so with his elder brothers; neither of them was handsome, or very kind, or clever. When they were boys at Eton, they were notpopular; when they were at college, they cared nothing for study, andwasted both time and money, and made few real friends. The old Earl, their father, was constantly disappointed and humiliated by them; hisheir was no honor to his noble name, and did not promise to end in beinganything but a selfish, wasteful, insignificant man, with no manly ornoble qualities. It was very bitter, the old Earl thought, that the sonwho was only third, and would have only a very small fortune, should bethe one who had all the gifts, and all the charms, and all the strengthand beauty. Sometimes he almost hated the handsome young man because heseemed to have the good things which should have gone with the statelytitle and the magnificent estates; and yet, in the depths of his proud, stubborn old heart, he could not help caring very much for his youngestson. It was in one of his fits of petulance that he sent him off totravel in America; he thought he would send him away for a while, sothat he should not be made angry by constantly contrasting him with hisbrothers, who were at that time giving him a great deal of trouble bytheir wild ways. 

But, after about six months, he began to feel lonely, and longed insecret to see his son again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric and orderedhim home. The letter he wrote crossed on its way a letter the Captainhad just written to his father, telling of his love for the prettyAmerican girl, and of his intended marriage; and when the Earl receivedthat letter he was furiously angry. Bad as his temper was, he hadnever given way to it in his life as he gave way to it when he read theCaptain's letter. His valet, who was in the room when it came, thoughthis 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 hisson, and ordered him never to come near his old home, nor to write tohis 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 familyforever, and that he need never expect help from his father as long ashe lived. 

The Captain was very sad when he read the letter; he was very fond ofEngland, and he dearly loved the beautiful home where he had been born;he had even loved his ill-tempered old father, and had sympathized withhim in his disappointments; but he knew he need expect no kindness fromhim in the future. At first he scarcely knew what to do; he had not beenbrought up to work, and had no business experience, but he had courageand plenty of determination. So he sold his commission in the Englisharmy, 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 youngand happy, and he hoped that hard work would do great things for him inthe future. He had a small house on a quiet street, and his little boywas 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 oldlady's pretty companion just because she was so sweet and he loved herand she loved him. She was very sweet, indeed, and her little boy waslike both her and his father. Though he was born in so quiet and cheap alittle 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 onetrouble; in the second place, he had so sweet a temper and ways socharming 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 ofbeing 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 intoloose rings by the time he was six months old; he had big brown eyes andlong eyelashes and a darling little face; he had so strong a back andsuch splendid sturdy legs, that at nine months he learned suddenly towalk; his manners were so good, for a baby, that it was delightful tomake 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 thestreet, he would give the stranger one sweet, serious look with thebrown eyes, and then follow it with a lovely, friendly smile; and theconsequence was, that there was not a person in the neighborhood of thequiet street where he lived--even to the groceryman at the corner, whowas considered the crossest creature alive--who was not pleased to seehim and speak to him. And every month of his life he grew handsomer andmore interesting. 

When he was old enough to walk out with his nurse, dragging a smallwagon and wearing a short white kilt skirt, and a big white hat set backon his curly yellow hair, he was so handsome and strong and rosy that heattracted every one's attention, and his nurse would come home and tellhis mamma stories of the ladies who had stopped their carriages to lookat and speak to him, and of how pleased they were when he talked to themin his cheerful little way, as if he had known them always. His greatestcharm was this cheerful, fearless, quaint little way of making friendswith people. I think it arose from his having a very confiding nature, and a kind little heart that sympathized with every one, and wished tomake every one as comfortable as he liked to be himself. It made himvery quick to understand the feelings of those about him. Perhaps thishad grown on him, too, because he had lived so much with his father andmother, who were always loving and considerate and tender and well-bred. He had never heard an unkind or uncourteous word spoken at home; he hadalways been loved and caressed and treated tenderly, and so his childishsoul was full of kindness and innocent warm feeling. He had always heardhis mamma called by pretty, loving names, and so he used them himselfwhen he spoke to her; he had always seen that his papa watched over herand took great care of her, and so he learned, too, to be careful ofher. 

So when he knew his papa would come back no more, and saw how verysad his mamma was, there gradually came into his kind little heart thethought that he must do what he could to make her happy. He was not muchmore than a baby, but that thought was in his mind whenever he climbedupon her knee and kissed her and put his curly head on her neck, andwhen he brought his toys and picture-books to show her, and when hecurled up quietly by her side as she used to lie on the sofa. He was notold enough to know of anything else to do, so he did what he could, andwas 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 heis trying to help me in his innocent way--I know he is. He looks at mesometimes with a loving, wondering little look, as if he were sorry forme, and then he will come and pet me or show me something. He is such alittle man, I really think he knows. "

As he grew older, he had a great many quaint little ways which amusedand interested people greatly. He was so much of a companion for hismother that she scarcely cared for any other. They used to walk togetherand 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, inthe evening, and read aloud--sometimes stories, and sometimes big bookssuch as older people read, and sometimes even the newspaper; and oftenat such times Mary, in the kitchen, would hear Mrs. Errol laughing withdelight at the quaint things he said. 

"And; indade, " said Mary to the groceryman, "nobody cud help laughin' atthe quare little ways of him--and his ould-fashioned sayin's! Didn'the come into my kitchen the noight the new Prisident was nominated andshtand afore the fire, lookin' loike a pictur', wid his hands in hisshmall 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 sincethin 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 withhis mother ever since he was born; and, after his father's death, hadbeen cook and housemaid and nurse and everything else. She was proud ofhis graceful, strong little body and his pretty manners, and especiallyproud of the bright curly hair which waved over his forehead and fell incharming love-locks on his shoulders. She was willing to work early andlate 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 thechoild on Fifth Avey-NOO as looks loike him an' shteps out as handsomeas himself. An' ivvery man, woman, and choild lookin' afther him in hisbit 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 ayoung lord he looks. "

Cedric did not know that he looked like a young lord; he did notknow what a lord was. His greatest friend was the groceryman at thecorner--the cross groceryman, who was never cross to him. His name wasMr. Hobbs, and Cedric admired and respected him very much. He thoughthim a very rich and powerful person, he had so many things in hisstore, --prunes and figs and oranges and biscuits, --and he had ahorse and wagon. Cedric was fond of the milkman and the baker and theapple-woman, but he liked Mr. Hobbs best of all, and was on terms ofsuch intimacy with him that he went to see him every day, and often satwith him quite a long time, discussing the topics of the hour. It wasquite surprising how many things they found to talk about--the Fourthof July, for instance. When they began to talk about the Fourth of Julythere 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, relatingvery wonderful and patriotic stories about the villainy of the enemy andthe bravery of the Revolutionary heroes, and he even generously repeatedpart of the Declaration of Independence. 

Cedric was so excited that his eyes shone and his cheeks were red andhis curls were all rubbed and tumbled into a yellow mop. He could hardlywait to eat his dinner after he went home, he was so anxious to tellhis mamma. It was, perhaps, Mr. Hobbs who gave him his first interestin politics. Mr. Hobbs was fond of reading the newspapers, and so Cedricheard a great deal about what was going on in Washington; and Mr. Hobbswould tell him whether the President was doing his duty or not. Andonce, when there was an election, he found it all quite grand, andprobably but for Mr. Hobbs and Cedric the country might have beenwrecked. 

Mr. Hobbs took him to see a great torchlight procession, and many of themen who carried torches remembered afterward a stout man who stood neara lamp-post and held on his shoulder a handsome little shouting boy, whowaved his cap in the air. 

It was not long after this election, when Cedric was between seven andeight years old, that the very strange thing happened which made sowonderful a change in his life. It was quite curious, too, that theday it happened he had been talking to Mr. Hobbs about England andthe Queen, and Mr. Hobbs had said some very severe things about thearistocracy, being specially indignant against earls and marquises. Ithad been a hot morning; and after playing soldiers with some friendsof his, Cedric had gone into the store to rest, and had found Mr. Hobbslooking very fierce over a piece of the Illustrated London News, whichcontained a picture of some court ceremony. 

"Ah, " he said, "that's the way they go on now; but they'll get enoughof it some day, when those they've trod on rise and blow 'em upsky-high, --earls and marquises and all! It's coming, and they may lookout for it!"

Cedric had perched himself as usual on the high stool and pushed hishat back, and put his hands in his pockets in delicate compliment to Mr. Hobbs. 

"Did you ever know many marquises, Mr. Hobbs?" Cedric inquired, --"orearls?"

"No, " answered Mr. Hobbs, with indignation; "I guess not. I'd like tocatch one of 'em inside here; that's all! I'll have no grasping tyrantssittin' 'round on my cracker-barrels!"

And he was so proud of the sentiment that he looked around proudly andmopped 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, andhe 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 coupestanding before the door and some one was in the little parlor talkingto his mamma. Mary hurried him upstairs and put on his best summersuit of cream-colored flannel, with the red scarf around his waist, andcombed out his curly locks. 

"Lords, is it?" he heard her say. "An' the nobility an' gintry. Och! badcess to them! Lords, indade--worse luck. "

It was really very puzzling, but he felt sure his mamma would tell himwhat all the excitement meant, so he allowed Mary to bemoan herselfwithout asking many questions. When he was dressed, he ran downstairsand went into the parlor. A tall, thin old gentleman with a sharp facewas sitting in an arm-chair. His mother was standing near by with a paleface, and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. 

"Oh! Ceddie!" she cried out, and ran to her little boy and caught himin 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 hissharp 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 LordFauntleroy. "

II

There was never a more amazed little boy than Cedric during the weekthat followed; there was never so strange or so unreal a week. In thefirst place, the story his mamma told him was a very curious one. He wasobliged to hear it two or three times before he could understand it. Hecould 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 eldestuncle, if he had not been killed by a fall from his horse, would havebeen an earl, too, in time; and after his death, his other uncle wouldhave 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 HEwas to be an earl after his grandpapa's death--and for the present hewas 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 theboys are earls. Can't I NOT be one?"

But it seemed to be unavoidable. And when, that evening, they sattogether by the open window looking out into the shabby street, heand his mother had a long talk about it. Cedric sat on his footstool, clasping one knee in his favorite attitude and wearing a bewilderedlittle face rather red from the exertion of thinking. His grandfatherhad 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, "Iknow your papa would wish it to be so, Ceddie. He loved his home verymuch; and there are many things to be thought of that a little boy can'tquite understand. I should be a selfish little mother if I did not sendyou. 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'llmiss 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--camethe next day, Cedric heard many things. But, somehow, it did not consolehim to hear that he was to be a very rich man when he grew up, and thathe would have castles here and castles there, and great parks and deepmines 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, ingreat anxiety of mind. 

He found him reading the morning paper, and he approached him with agrave demeanor. He really felt it would be a great shock to Mr. Hobbsto hear what had befallen him, and on his way to the store he had beenthinking 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 acracker-box and clasped his knee, and was so silent for a few momentsthat Mr. Hobbs finally looked up inquiringly over the top of hisnewspaper. 

"Hello!" he said again. 

Cedric gathered all his strength of mind together. 

"Mr. Hobbs, " he said, "do you remember what we were talking aboutyesterday 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 youknow?"

"Why, yes, " returned Mr. Hobbs; "we DID touch 'em up a little; that'sso!"

Cedric flushed up to the curly bang on his forehead. Nothing soembarrassing as this had ever happened to him in his life. He was alittle afraid that it might be a trifle embarrassing to Mr. Hobbs, too. 

"You said, " he proceeded, "that you wouldn't have them sitting 'round onyour cracker-barrels. "

"So I did!" returned Mr. Hobbs, stoutly. "And I meant it. Let 'em tryit--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 tobe. I won't deceive you. "

Mr. Hobbs looked agitated. He rose up suddenly and went to look at thethermometer. 

"The mercury's got into your head!" he exclaimed, turning back toexamine his young friend's countenance. "It IS a hot day! How do youfeel? 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 embarrassingthan ever. 

"Thank you, " said Ceddie; "I'm all right. There is nothing the matterwith my head. I'm sorry to say it's true, Mr. Hobbs. That was what Marycame to take me home for. Mr. Havisham was telling my mamma, and he is alawyer. "

Mr. Hobbs sank into his chair and mopped his forehead with hishandkerchief. 

"ONE of us has got a sunstroke!" he exclaimed. 

"No, " returned Cedric, "we haven't. We shall have to make the best ofit, Mr. Hobbs. Mr. Havisham came all the way from England to tell usabout 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 ofpaper, on which something was written in his own round, irregular hand. 

"I couldn't easily remember it, so I wrote it down on this, " hesaid. And he read aloud slowly: "'John Arthur Molyneux Errol, Earl ofDorincourt. ' That is his name, and he lives in a castle--in two or threecastles, I think. And my papa, who died, was his youngest son; and Ishouldn't have been a lord or an earl if my papa hadn't died; and mypapa wouldn't have been an earl if his two brothers hadn't died. Butthey all died, and there is no one but me, --no boy, --and so I have to beone; and my grandpapa has sent for me to come to England. "

Mr. Hobbs seemed to grow hotter and hotter. He mopped his forehead andhis bald spot and breathed hard. He began to see that something veryremarkable had happened; but when he looked at the little boy sitting onthe cracker-box, with the innocent, anxious expression in his childisheyes, and saw that he was not changed at all, but was simply as he hadbeen the day before, just a handsome, cheerful, brave little fellow ina blue suit and red neck-ribbon, all this information about the nobilitybewildered him. He was all the more bewildered because Cedric gave itwith such ingenuous simplicity, and plainly without realizing himselfhow stupendous it was. 

"Wha--what did you say your name was?" Mr. Hobbs inquired. 

"It's Cedric Errol, Lord Fauntleroy, " answered Cedric. "That was whatMr. Havisham called me. He said when I went into the room: 'And so thisis little Lord Fauntleroy!'"

"Well, " said Mr. Hobbs, "I'll be--jiggered!"

This was an exclamation he always used when he was very much astonishedor excited. He could think of nothing else to say just at that puzzlingmoment. 

Cedric felt it to be quite a proper and suitable ejaculation. Hisrespect and affection for Mr. Hobbs were so great that he admired andapproved of all his remarks. He had not seen enough of society as yet tomake him realize that sometimes Mr. Hobbs was not quite conventional. He knew, of course, that he was different from his mamma, but, then, hismamma was a lady, and he had an idea that ladies were always differentfrom 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 youagain 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 weeksold when you was first walked out on this street. "

"Ah, " remarked Cedric, with a sigh, "I never thought I should have to bean 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 wouldwish me to do it. But if I have to be an earl, there's one thing I cando: I can try to be a good one. I'm not going to be a tyrant. And ifthere 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 havinggot over the first shock, Mr. Hobbs was not so rancorous as might havebeen expected; he endeavored to resign himself to the situation, andbefore the interview was at an end he had asked a great many questions. As Cedric could answer but few of them, he endeavored to answerthem himself, and, being fairly launched on the subject of earls andmarquises and lordly estates, explained many things in a way which wouldprobably have astonished Mr. Havisham, could that gentleman have heardit. 

But then there were many things which astonished Mr. Havisham. He hadspent all his life in England, and was not accustomed to American peopleand American habits. He had been connected professionally with thefamily of the Earl of Dorincourt for nearly forty years, and he knew allabout its grand estates and its great wealth and importance; and, in acold, business-like way, he felt an interest in this little boy, who, inthe future, was to be the master and owner of them all, --the future Earlof Dorincourt. He had known all about the old Earl's disappointmentin his elder sons and all about his fierce rage at Captain Cedric'sAmerican marriage, and he knew how he still hated the gentle littlewidow and would not speak of her except with bitter and cruel words. Heinsisted that she was only a common American girl, who had entrappedhis son into marrying her because she knew he was an earl's son. Theold lawyer himself had more than half believed this was all true. He hadseen a great many selfish, mercenary people in his life, and he hadnot a good opinion of Americans. When he had been driven into the cheapstreet, and his coupe had stopped before the cheap, small house, he hadfelt actually shocked. It seemed really quite dreadful to think that thefuture owner of Dorincourt Castle and Wyndham Towers and Chorlworth, andall the other stately splendors, should have been born and brought up inan insignificant house in a street with a sort of green-grocery at thecorner. He wondered what kind of a child he would be, and what kind of amother he had. He rather shrank from seeing them both. He had a sort ofpride 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 tomanage a woman who would seem to him a vulgar, money-loving person, withno 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 hada 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 itcritically. It was plainly furnished, but it had a home-like look; therewere no cheap, common ornaments, and no cheap, gaudy pictures; the fewadornments on the walls were in good taste and about the room were manypretty things which a woman's hand might have made. 

"Not at all bad so far, " he had said to himself; "but perhaps theCaptain'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. Ifhe had not been quite a self-contained and stiff old gentleman, he wouldprobably have started when he saw her. She looked, in the simple blackdress, fitting closely to her slender figure, more like a young girlthan the mother of a boy of seven. She had a pretty, sorrowful, youngface, and a very tender, innocent look in her large brown eyes, --thesorrowful look that had never quite left her face since her husband haddied. Cedric was used to seeing it there; the only times he had everseen it fade out had been when he was playing with her or talking toher, and had said some old-fashioned thing, or used some long word hehad picked up out of the newspapers or in his conversations with Mr. Hobbs. He was fond of using long words, and he was always pleasedwhen they made her laugh, though he could not understand why theywere laughable; they were quite serious matters with him. The lawyer'sexperience taught him to read people's characters very shrewdly, andas soon as he saw Cedric's mother he knew that the old Earl had made agreat mistake in thinking her a vulgar, mercenary woman. Mr. Havishamhad never been married, he had never even been in love, but he divinedthat this pretty young creature with the sweet voice and sad eyeshad married Captain Errol only because she loved him with all heraffectionate heart, and that she had never once thought it an advantagethat he was an earl's son. And he saw he should have no trouble withher, and he began to feel that perhaps little Lord Fauntleroy might notbe such a trial to his noble family, after all. The Captain had been ahandsome fellow, and the young mother was very pretty, and perhaps theboy might be well enough to look at. 

When he first told Mrs. Errol what he had come for, she turned verypale. 

"Oh!" she said; "will he have to be taken away from me? We love eachother so much! He is such a happiness to me! He is all I have. I havetried 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 tome!" she said. 

The lawyer cleared his throat. 

"I am obliged to tell you, " he said, "that the Earl of Dorincourtis not--is not very friendly toward you. He is an old man, and hisprejudices are very strong. He has always especially disliked Americaand Americans, and was very much enraged by his son's marriage. I amsorry to be the bearer of so unpleasant a communication, but he isvery fixed in his determination not to see you. His plan is that LordFauntleroy shall be educated under his own supervision; that he shalllive with him. The Earl is attached to Dorincourt Castle, and spends agreat deal of time there. He is a victim to inflammatory gout, and isnot fond of London. Lord Fauntleroy will, therefore, be likely to livechiefly at Dorincourt. The Earl offers you as a home Court Lodge, whichis situated pleasantly, and is not very far from the castle. He alsooffers you a suitable income. Lord Fauntleroy will be permitted to visityou; the only stipulation is, that you shall not visit him or enter thepark gates. You see you will not be really separated from your son, andI assure you, madam, the terms are not so harsh as--as they mighthave been. The advantage of such surroundings and education as LordFauntleroy 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 tosee women cry. 

But she did not. She went to the window and stood with her face turnedaway 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 lovedEngland, and everything English. It was always a grief to him that hewas parted from his home. He was proud of his home, and of his name. Hewould wish--I know he would wish that his son should know the beautifulold places, and be brought up in such a way as would be suitable to hisfuture position. "

Then she came back to the table and stood looking up at Mr. Havishamvery gently. 

"My husband would wish it, " she said. "It will be best for my littleboy. I know--I am sure the Earl would not be so unkind as to try toteach him not to love me; and I know--even if he tried--that my littleboy is too much like his father to be harmed. He has a warm, faithfulnature, 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 notmake any terms for herself. "

"Madam, " he said aloud, "I respect your consideration for your son. Hewill thank you for it when he is a man. I assure you Lord Fauntleroywill be most carefully guarded, and every effort will be used to insurehis happiness. The Earl of Dorincourt will be as anxious for his comfortand well-being as you yourself could be. "

"I hope, " said the tender little mother, in a rather broken voice, "thathis grandfather will love Ceddie. The little boy has a very affectionatenature; and he has always been loved. "

Mr. Havisham cleared his throat again. He could not quite imagine thegouty, fiery-tempered old Earl loving any one very much; but he knew itwould be to his interest to be kind, in his irritable way, to the childwho was to be his heir. He knew, too, that if Ceddie were at all acredit to his name, his grandfather would be proud of him. 

"Lord Fauntleroy will be comfortable, I am sure, " he replied. "It waswith a view to his happiness that the Earl desired that you should benear enough to him to see him frequently. "

He did not think it would be discreet to repeat the exact words the Earlhad used, which were in fact neither polite nor amiable. 

Mr. Havisham preferred to express his noble patron's offer in smootherand more courteous language. 

He had another slight shock when Mrs. Errol asked Mary to find herlittle 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 betweenthem. "

Remembering the glimpse he had caught of the store as he passed it, and having a recollection of the barrels of potatoes and apples andthe various odds and ends, Mr. Havisham felt his doubts arise again. In England, gentlemen's sons did not make friends of grocerymen, and itseemed to him a rather singular proceeding. It would be very awkward ifthe child had bad manners and a disposition to like low company. One ofthe bitterest humiliations of the old Earl's life had been that his twoelder sons had been fond of low company. Could it be, he thought, that this boy shared their bad qualities instead of his father's goodqualities?

He was thinking uneasily about this as he talked to Mrs. Errol until thechild came into the room. When the door opened, he actually hesitateda moment before looking at Cedric. It would, perhaps, have seemed veryqueer to a great many people who knew him, if they could have known thecurious sensations that passed through Mr. Havisham when he looked downat the boy, who ran into his mother's arms. He experienced a revulsionof feeling which was quite exciting. He recognized in an instant thathere was one of the finest and handsomest little fellows he had everseen. 

His beauty was something unusual. He had a strong, lithe, gracefullittle body and a manly little face; he held his childish head up, andcarried himself with a brave air; he was so like his father that it wasreally startling; he had his father's golden hair and his mother'sbrown eyes, but there was nothing sorrowful or timid in them. They wereinnocently fearless eyes; he looked as if he had never feared or doubtedanything 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 sothis is little Lord Fauntleroy. "

And, after this, the more he saw of little Lord Fauntleroy, the more ofa surprise he found him. He knew very little about children, though hehad seen plenty of them in England--fine, handsome, rosy girls and boys, who were strictly taken care of by their tutors and governesses, and whowere sometimes shy, and sometimes a trifle boisterous, but never veryinteresting to a ceremonious, rigid old lawyer. Perhaps his personalinterest in little Lord Fauntleroy's fortunes made him notice Ceddiemore than he had noticed other children; but, however that was, hecertainly found himself noticing him a great deal. 

Cedric did not know he was being observed, and he only behaved himselfin his ordinary manner. He shook hands with Mr. Havisham in his friendlyway when they were introduced to each other, and he answered all hisquestions with the unhesitating readiness with which he answered Mr. Hobbs. He was neither shy nor bold, and when Mr. Havisham was talking tohis mother, the lawyer noticed that he listened to the conversation withas much interest as if he had been quite grown up. 

"He seems to be a very mature little fellow, " Mr. Havisham said to themother. 

"I think he is, in some things, " she answered. "He has always been veryquick to learn, and he has lived a great deal with grownup people. Hehas a funny little habit of using long words and expressions he has readin books, or has heard others use, but he is very fond of childishplay. 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 quitetrue. As his coupe turned the corner, he caught sight of a group ofsmall boys, who were evidently much excited. Two of them were about torun a race, and one of them was his young lordship, and he was shoutingand making as much noise as the noisiest of his companions. He stoodside by side with another boy, one little red leg advanced a step. 

"One, to make ready!" yelled the starter. "Two, to be steady. Three--andaway!"

Mr. Havisham found himself leaning out of the window of his coupe witha curious feeling of interest. He really never remembered having seenanything quite like the way in which his lordship's lordly little redlegs flew up behind his knickerbockers and tore over the ground as heshot out in the race at the signal word. He shut his small hands and sethis face against the wind; his bright hair streamed out behind. 

"Hooray, Ced Errol!" all the boys shouted, dancing and shrieking withexcitement. "Hooray, Billy Williams! Hooray, Ceddie! Hooray, Billy!Hooray! 'Ray! 'Ray!"

"I really believe he is going to win, " said Mr. Havisham. The way inwhich the red legs flew and flashed up and down, the shrieks of theboys, the wild efforts of Billy Williams, whose brown legs were not tobe despised, as they followed closely in the rear of the red legs, madehim feel some excitement. "I really--I really can't help hoping he willwin!" he said, with an apologetic sort of cough. At that moment, thewildest yell of all went up from the dancing, hopping boys. Withone last frantic leap the future Earl of Dorincourt had reached thelamp-post at the end of the block and touched it, just two secondsbefore Billy Williams flung himself at it, panting. 

"Three cheers for Ceddie Errol!" yelled the little boys. "Hooray forCeddie Errol!"

Mr. Havisham drew his head in at the window of his coupe and leaned backwith a dry smile. 

"Bravo, Lord Fauntleroy!" he said. 

As his carriage stopped before the door of Mrs. Errol's house, thevictor and the vanquished were coming toward it, attended by theclamoring crew. Cedric walked by Billy Williams and was speaking to him. His elated little face was very red, his curls clung to his hot, moistforehead, his hands were in his pockets. 

"You see, " he was saying, evidently with the intention of making defeateasy for his unsuccessful rival, "I guess I won because my legs are alittle longer than yours. I guess that was it. You see, I'm three daysolder 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 thathe 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, CeddieErrol had a way of making people feel comfortable. Even in the firstflush of his triumphs, he remembered that the person who was beatenmight not feel so gay as he did, and might like to think that he MIGHThave been the winner under different circumstances. 

That morning Mr. Havisham had quite a long conversation with the winnerof the race--a conversation which made him smile his dry smile, and rubhis chin with his bony hand several times. 

Mrs. Errol had been called out of the parlor, and the lawyer and Cedricwere left together. At first Mr. Havisham wondered what he should say tohis small companion. He had an idea that perhaps it would be best to sayseveral things which might prepare Cedric for meeting his grandfather, and, perhaps, for the great change that was to come to him. He could seethat Cedric had not the least idea of the sort of thing he was to seewhen he reached England, or of the sort of home that waited for himthere. He did not even know yet that his mother was not to live in thesame house with him. They had thought it best to let him get over thefirst shock before telling him. 

Mr. Havisham sat in an arm-chair on one side of the open window; on theother side was another still larger chair, and Cedric sat in that andlooked 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 hishands thrust deep into his pockets, in a quite Mr. Hobbs-like way. Hehad been watching Mr. Havisham very steadily when his mamma had been inthe room, and after she was gone he still looked at him in respectfulthoughtfulness. There was a short silence after Mrs. Errol went out, and Cedric seemed to be studying Mr. Havisham, and Mr. Havisham wascertainly studying Cedric. He could not make up his mind as to what anelderly gentleman should say to a little boy who won races, and woreshort knickerbockers and red stockings on legs which were not longenough 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, heought to know. Don't you?"

"Well--yes, " answered Mr. Havisham. 

"Would you mind, " said Ceddie respectfully--"would you mind 'splainingit to me?" (Sometimes when he used his long words he did not pronouncethem 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, orsome 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 agreat deal, he is elected president. They have torch-light processionsand bands, and everybody makes speeches. I used to think I might perhapsbe a president, but I never thought of being an earl. I didn't knowabout earls, " he said, rather hastily, lest Mr. Havisham might feel itimpolite 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 fingerscarefully together. He thought perhaps the time had come to explainmatters rather more clearly. 

"An earl is--is a very important person, " he began. 

"So is a president!" put in Ceddie. "The torch-light processions arefive 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. "Isuppose that is the way with the apple-woman near the park. I dare sayshe is of ancient lin-lenage. She is so old it would surprise you howshe can stand up. She's a hundred, I should think, and yet she is outthere 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 fivecents' 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; butthen--it was quite fortunate--a gentleman gave me fifty cents and Ibought apples from her instead. You feel sorry for any one that's sopoor and has such ancient lin-lenage. She says hers has gone into herbones and the rain makes it worse. "

Mr. Havisham felt rather at a loss as he looked at his companion'sinnocent, serious little face. 

"I am afraid you did not quite understand me, " he explained. "When Isaid 'ancient lineage' I did not mean old age; I meant that the nameof such a family has been known in the world a long time; perhaps forhundreds of years persons bearing that name have been known and spokenof in the history of their country. "

"Like George Washington, " said Ceddie. "I've heard of him ever since Iwas born, and he was known about, long before that. Mr. Hobbs sayshe will never be forgotten. That's because of the Declaration ofIndependence, you know, and the Fourth of July. You see, he was a verybrave man. "

"The first Earl of Dorincourt, " said Mr. Havisham solemnly, "was createdan earl four hundred years ago. "

"Well, well!" said Ceddie. "That was a long time ago! Did you tellDearest that? It would int'rust her very much. We'll tell her when shecomes in. She always likes to hear cur'us things. What else does an earldo besides being created?"

"A great many of them have helped to govern England. Some of them havebeen 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. Perhapsthat was because he would have been an earl if he hadn't died. I am gladearls are brave. That's a great 'vantage--to be a brave man. Once I usedto be rather afraid of things--in the dark, you know; but when I thoughtabout the soldiers in the Revolution and George Washington--it curedme. "

"There is another advantage in being an earl, sometimes, " said Mr. Havisham slowly, and he fixed his shrewd eyes on the little boy with arather curious expression. "Some earls have a great deal of money. "

He was curious because he wondered if his young friend knew what thepower of money was. 

"That's a good thing to have, " said Ceddie innocently. "I wish I had agreat deal of money. "

"Do you?" said Mr. Havisham. "And why?"

"Well, " explained Cedric, "there are so many things a person can do withmoney. You see, there's the apple-woman. If I were very rich I shouldbuy her a little tent to put her stall in, and a little stove, and thenI should give her a dollar every morning it rained, so that she couldafford to stay at home. And then--oh! I'd give her a shawl. And, yousee, 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 hurtyou. If I were rich enough to do all those things for her, I guess herbones would be all right. "

"Ahem!" said Mr. Havisham. "And what else would you do if you wererich?"

"Oh! I'd do a great many things. Of course I should buy Dearest allsorts of beautiful things, needle-books and fans and gold thimbles andrings, and an encyclopedia, and a carriage, so that she needn't have towait for the street-cars. If she liked pink silk dresses, I should buyher 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 inhis interest in plans so exciting. "He is one of the nicest boot-blacksyou ever knew. He stands at the corner of a street down-town. I'veknown him for years. Once when I was very little, I was walking outwith Dearest, and she bought me a beautiful ball that bounced, and Iwas carrying it and it bounced into the middle of the street where thecarriages and horses were, and I was so disappointed, I began to cry--Iwas 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 theball 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 didI, 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 mehow trade is. It's been bad lately. "

"And what would you like to do for him?" inquired the lawyer, rubbinghis chin and smiling a queer smile. 

"Well, " said Lord Fauntleroy, settling himself in his chair with abusiness 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. Hecheats, and that makes Dick mad. It would make you mad, you know, if youwere 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'tlike 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 goesa long way; and I'd get him some new clothes and new brushes, and starthim out fair. He says all he wants is to start out fair. "

There could have been nothing more confiding and innocent than the wayin which his small lordship told his little story, quoting his friendDick's bits of slang in the most candid good faith. He seemed to feelnot a shade of a doubt that his elderly companion would be just asinterested as he was himself. And in truth Mr. Havisham was beginningto be greatly interested; but perhaps not quite so much in Dick and theapple-woman as in this kind little lordling, whose curly head was sobusy, 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, ifyou were rich?"

"Lots of things!" answered Lord Fauntleroy briskly; "but first I'd giveMary some money for Bridget--that's her sister, with twelve children, and a husband out of work. She comes here and cries, and Dearest givesher things in a basket, and then she cries again, and says: 'Blessin'sbe on yez, for a beautiful lady. ' And I think Mr. Hobbs would like agold watch and chain to remember me by, and a meerschaum pipe. And thenI'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 formyself, 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 aboutsome 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 Bridgetto whom I have been talking in the kitchen. She is in great trouble nowbecause 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 anice man when he is well. I'm obliged to him because he once made me asword out of wood. He's a very talented man. "

He ran out of the room, and Mr. Havisham rose from his chair. He seemedto 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, inwhich he gave me some instructions. He is desirous that his grandsonshould look forward with some pleasure to his future life in England, and also to his acquaintance with himself. He said that I must let hislordship know that the change in his life would bring him money and thepleasures children enjoy; if he expressed any wishes, I was to gratifythem, and to tell him that his grand-father had given him what hewished. I am aware that the Earl did not expect anything quite likethis; but if it would give Lord Fauntleroy pleasure to assist this poorwoman, I should feel that the Earl would be displeased if he were notgratified. "

For the second time, he did not repeat the Earl's exact words. Hislordship had, indeed, said:

"Make the lad understand that I can give him anything he wants. Let himknow what it is to be the grandson of the Earl of Dorincourt. Buy himeverything he takes a fancy to; let him have money in his pockets, andtell him his grandfather put it there. "

His motives were far from being good, and if he had been dealing with anature less affectionate and warm-hearted than little Lord Fauntleroy's, great harm might have been done. And Cedric's mother was too gentle tosuspect any harm. She thought that perhaps this meant that a lonely, unhappy old man, whose children were dead, wished to be kind to herlittle boy, and win his love and confidence. And it pleased her verymuch to think that Ceddie would be able to help Bridget. It made herhappier to know that the very first result of the strange fortune whichhad befallen her little boy was that he could do kind things for thosewho needed kindness. Quite a warm color bloomed on her pretty youngface. 

"Oh!" she said, "that was very kind of the Earl; Cedric will be soglad! He has always been fond of Bridget and Michael. They are quitedeserving. 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 along time and needs expensive medicines and warm clothing and nourishingfood. 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 alarge pocket-book. There was a queer look in his keen face. The truthwas, he was wondering what the Earl of Dorincourt would say when he wastold what was the first wish of his grandson that had been granted. Hewondered what the cross, worldly, selfish old nobleman would think ofit. 

"I do not know that you have realized, " he said, "that the Earl ofDorincourt is an exceedingly rich man. He can afford to gratify anycaprice. I think it would please him to know that Lord Fauntleroy hadbeen indulged in any fancy. If you will call him back and allow me, Ishall give him five pounds for these people. "

"That would be twenty-five dollars!" exclaimed Mrs. Errol. "It will seemlike wealth to them. I can scarcely believe that it is true. "

"It is quite true, " said Mr. Havisham, with his dry smile. "A greatchange has taken place in your son's life, a great deal of power willlie 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 prettylittle Ceddie!"

The lawyer slightly cleared his throat. It touched his worldly, hard oldheart to see the tender, timid look in her brown eyes. 

"I think, madam, " he said, "that if I may judge from my interview withLord Fauntleroy this morning, the next Earl of Dorincourt will thinkfor others as well as for his noble self. He is only a child yet, but Ithink 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 ofrheumatism 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 aplace in a store if he had some clothes. "

His little face looked quite anxious when he came in. He was very sorryfor Bridget. 

"Dearest said you wanted me, " he said to Mr. Havisham. "I've beentalking to Bridget. "

Mr. Havisham looked down at him a moment. He felt a little awkward andundecided. As Cedric's mother had said, he was a very little boy. 

"The Earl of Dorincourt----" he began, and then he glanced involuntarilyat Mrs. Errol. 

Little Lord Fauntleroy's mother suddenly kneeled down by him and putboth 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 behappy and to make other people happy. He is very rich, and he wishes youto have everything you would like to have. He told Mr. Havisham so, andgave him a great deal of money for you. You can give some to Bridgetnow; 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'sjust going. "

Mr. Havisham handed him the money. It was in fresh, clean greenbacks andmade 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 therent. My grandpapa gave it to me. It's for you and Michael!"

"Oh, Master Ceddie!" cried Bridget, in an awe-stricken voice. "It'stwinty-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 fora while. He went to the window and stood looking out into the streetreflectively. He was thinking of the old Earl of Dorincourt, sittingin 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 buthimself; he had been selfish and self-indulgent and arrogant andpassionate; he had cared so much for the Earl of Dorincourt and hispleasures 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 highrank, had seemed to him to be things only to be used to amuse and givepleasure to the Earl of Dorincourt; and now that he was an old man, allthis excitement and self-indulgence had only brought him ill health andirritability and a dislike of the world, which certainly disliked him. In spite of all his splendor, there was never a more unpopular oldnobleman than the Earl of Dorincourt, and there could scarcely have beena more lonely one. He could fill his castle with guests if he chose. Hecould give great dinners and splendid hunting parties; but he knew thatin secret the people who would accept his invitations were afraid of hisfrowning old face and sarcastic, biting speeches. He had a cruel tongueand a bitter nature, and he took pleasure in sneering at people andmaking them feel uncomfortable, when he had the power to do so, becausethey were sensitive or proud or timid. 

Mr. Havisham knew his hard, fierce ways by heart, and he was thinkingof him as he looked out of the window into the narrow, quiet street. Andthere rose in his mind, in sharp contrast, the picture of the cheery, handsome little fellow sitting in the big chair and telling his story ofhis friends, Dick and the apple-woman, in his generous, innocent, honestway. And he thought of the immense income, the beautiful, majesticestates, the wealth, and power for good or evil, which in the course oftime would lie in the small, chubby hands little Lord Fauntleroy thrustso deep into his pockets. 

"It will make a great difference, " he said to himself. "It will make agreat 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, andfell into one of his quaint attitudes, with his hands on his knees. Hewas glowing with enjoyment of Bridget's relief and rapture. 

"She cried!" he said. "She said she was crying for joy! I never saw anyone cry for joy before. My grandpapa must be a very good man. I didn'tknow he was so good a man. It's more--more agreeabler to be an earl thanI thought it was. I'm almost glad--I'm almost QUITE glad I'm going to beone. "

III

Cedric's good opinion of the advantages of being an earl increasedgreatly during the next week. It seemed almost impossible for him torealize that there was scarcely anything he might wish to do which hecould not do easily; in fact, I think it may be said that he didnot fully realize it at all. But at least he understood, after a fewconversations with Mr. Havisham, that he could gratify all his nearestwishes, and he proceeded to gratify them with a simplicity and delightwhich caused Mr. Havisham much diversion. In the week before they sailedfor England he did many curious things. The lawyer long after rememberedthe morning they went down-town together to pay a visit to Dick, and theafternoon they so amazed the apple-woman of ancient lineage by stoppingbefore 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 mindevery time it rained. My own bones never hurt, so I think I don't knowhow painful a person's bones can be, but I've sympathized with you agreat deal, and I hope you'll be better. "

"She's a very good apple-woman, " he said to Mr. Havisham, as they walkedaway, leaving the proprietress of the stall almost gasping for breath, and not at all believing in her great fortune. "Once, when I felldown and cut my knee, she gave me an apple for nothing. I've alwaysremembered her for it. You know you always remember people who are kindto you. "

It had never occurred to his honest, simple little mind that there werepeople who could forget kindnesses. 

The interview with Dick was quite exciting. Dick had just been havinga great deal of trouble with Jake, and was in low spirits when they sawhim. His amazement when Cedric calmly announced that they had come togive him what seemed a very great thing to him, and would set all histroubles right, almost struck him dumb. Lord Fauntleroy's manner ofannouncing the object of his visit was very simple and unceremonious. Mr. Havisham was much impressed by its directness as he stood by andlistened. The statement that his old friend had become a lord, and wasin danger of being an earl if he lived long enough, caused Dick toso open his eyes and mouth, and start, that his cap fell off. When hepicked it up, he uttered a rather singular exclamation. Mr. Havishamthought it singular, but Cedric had heard it before. 

"I soy!" he said, "what're yer givin' us?" This plainly embarrassed hislordship a little, but he bore himself bravely. 

"Everybody thinks it not true at first, " he said. "Mr. Hobbs thoughtI'd had a sunstroke. I didn't think I was going to like it myself, but Ilike it better now I'm used to it. The one who is the earl now, he's mygrandpapa; and he wants me to do anything I like. He's very kind, ifhe IS an earl; and he sent me a lot of money by Mr. Havisham, and I'vebrought some to you to buy Jake out. "

And the end of the matter was that Dick actually bought Jake out, andfound himself the possessor of the business and some new brushes and amost astonishing sign and outfit. He could not believe in his good luckany more easily than the apple-woman of ancient lineage could believein hers; he walked about like a boot-black in a dream; he stared athis young benefactor and felt as if he might wake up at any moment. Hescarcely seemed to realize anything until Cedric put out his hand toshake hands with him before going away. 

"Well, good-bye, " he said; and though he tried to speak steadily, therewas 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, butperhaps I shall come back again when I'm an earl. And I wish you'd writeto 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 ofpaper. "And my name isn't Cedric Errol any more; it's Lord Fauntleroyand--and good-bye, Dick. "

Dick winked his eyes also, and yet they looked rather moist about thelashes. He was not an educated boot-black, and he would have found itdifficult to tell what he felt just then if he had tried; perhaps thatwas why he didn't try, and only winked his eyes and swallowed a lump inhis throat. 

"I wish ye wasn't goin' away, " he said in a husky voice. Then he winkedhis 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 heapof him. He's such a game little feller, an'--an' such a queer littleun. "

And when they turned away he stood and looked after them in a dazedkind of way, and there was still a mist in his eyes, and a lump in histhroat, as he watched the gallant little figure marching gayly along bythe side of its tall, rigid escort. 

Until the day of his departure, his lordship spent as much time aspossible with Mr. Hobbs in the store. Gloom had settled upon Mr. Hobbs;he was much depressed in spirits. When his young friend brought to himin triumph the parting gift of a gold watch and chain, Mr. Hobbs foundit difficult to acknowledge it properly. He laid the case on his stoutknee, 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, LordFauntleroy, to Mr. Hobbs. When this you see, remember me. ' I don't wantyou 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 hadspoken; "nor don't you go and forget me when you get among the Britisharrystocracy. "

"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 happiesthours. I hope you'll come to see me sometime. I'm sure my grandpapawould be very much pleased. Perhaps he'll write and ask you, when I tellhim about you. You--you wouldn't mind his being an earl, would you, Imean you wouldn't stay away just because he was one, if he invited youto come?"

"I'd come to see you, " replied Mr. Hobbs, graciously. 

So it seemed to be agreed that if he received a pressing invitation fromthe earl to come and spend a few months at Dorincourt Castle, he was tolay aside his republican prejudices and pack his valise at once. 

At last all the preparations were complete; the day came when the trunkswere taken to the steamer, and the hour arrived when the carriage stoodat the door. Then a curious feeling of loneliness came upon the littleboy. His mamma had been shut up in her room for some time; when she camedown the stairs, her eyes looked large and wet, and her sweet mouth wastrembling. Cedric went to her, and she bent down to him, and he put hisarms around her, and they kissed each other. He knew something made themboth sorry, though he scarcely knew what it was; but one tender littlethought rose to his lips. 

"We liked this little house, Dearest, didn't we?" he said. "We alwayswill 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 strokedher hand and held it close. 

And then, it seemed almost directly, they were on the steamer in themidst of the wildest bustle and confusion; carriages were drivingdown and leaving passengers; passengers were getting into a state ofexcitement about baggage which had not arrived and threatened to be toolate; big trunks and cases were being bumped down and dragged about;sailors were uncoiling ropes and hurrying to and fro; officers weregiving orders; ladies and gentlemen and children and nurses were comingon board, --some were laughing and looked gay, some were silent and sad, here and there two or three were crying and touching their eyes withtheir handkerchiefs. Cedric found something to interest him on everyside; 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 tomake plans for conversing with the sailors and gaining some informationon the subject of pirates. 

It was just at the very last, when he was standing leaning on therailing of the upper deck and watching the final preparations, enjoyingthe excitement and the shouts of the sailors and wharfmen, that hisattention was called to a slight bustle in one of the groups not farfrom him. Some one was hurriedly forcing his way through this group andcoming toward him. It was a boy, with something red in his hand. It wasDick. He came up to Cedric quite breathless. 

"I've run all the way, " he said. "I've come down to see ye off. Trade'sbeen prime! I bought this for ye out o' what I made yesterday. Ye kinwear 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 aleap away before Cedric had time to speak. 

"Good-bye!" he panted. "Wear it when ye get among the swells. " And hedarted off and was gone. 

A few seconds later they saw him struggle through the crowd on the lowerdeck, and rush on shore just before the gang-plank was drawn in. Hestood on the wharf and waved his cap. 

Cedric held the handkerchief in his hand. It was of bright red silkornamented with purple horseshoes and horses' heads. 

There was a great straining and creaking and confusion. The people onthe wharf began to shout to their friends, and the people on the steamershouted back:

"Good-bye! Good-bye! Good-bye, old fellow!" Every one seemed to besaying, "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, andCedric's mother drew the veil over her eyes, and on the shore there wasleft great confusion; but Dick saw nothing save that bright, childishface 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 ofhis birth to the unknown land of his ancestors. 

IV

It was during the voyage that Cedric's mother told him that his home wasnot to be hers; and when he first understood it, his grief was sogreat that Mr. Havisham saw that the Earl had been wise in making thearrangements that his mother should be quite near him, and see himoften; for it was very plain he could not have borne the separationotherwise. But his mother managed the little fellow so sweetly andlovingly, and made him feel that she would be so near him, that, after awhile, he ceased to be oppressed by the fear of any real parting. 

"My house is not far from the Castle, Ceddie, " she repeated each timethe subject was referred to--"a very little way from yours, and you canalways run in and see me every day, and you will have so many thingsto 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 youwill 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, whichcould put his "Dearest" in one house and himself in another. 

The fact was that Mrs. Errol had thought it better not to tell him whythis plan had been made. 

"I should prefer he should not be told, " she said to Mr. Havisham. "Hewould not really understand; he would only be shocked and hurt; andI feel sure that his feeling for the Earl will be a more natural andaffectionate one if he does not know that his grandfather dislikes me sobitterly. He has never seen hatred or hardness, and it would be a greatblow to him to find out that any one could hate me. He is so lovinghimself, and I am so dear to him! It is better for him that he shouldnot 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 achild. "

So Cedric only knew that there was some mysterious reason for thearrangement, some reason which he was not old enough to understand, butwhich would be explained when he was older. He was puzzled; but, afterall, it was not the reason he cared about so much; and after many talkswith his mother, in which she comforted him and placed before him thebright side of the picture, the dark side of it gradually began to fadeout, though now and then Mr. Havisham saw him sitting in some queerlittle 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 almostvenerable talks with the lawyer. "You don't know how much I don't likeit; but there are a great many troubles in this world, and you haveto bear them. Mary says so, and I've heard Mr. Hobbs say it too. AndDearest wants me to like to live with my grandpapa, because, you see, all his children are dead, and that's very mournful. It makes yousorry for a man, when all his children have died--and one was killedsuddenly. "

One of the things which always delighted the people who made theacquaintance of his young lordship was the sage little air he woreat times when he gave himself up to conversation;--combined with hisoccasionally elderly remarks and the extreme innocence and seriousnessof his round childish face, it was irresistible. He was such a handsome, blooming, curly-headed little fellow, that, when he sat down and nursedhis knee with his chubby hands, and conversed with much gravity, he wasa source of great entertainment to his hearers. Gradually Mr. Havishamhad begun to derive a great deal of private pleasure and amusement fromhis 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 haveto like your relations; and besides, he's been very kind to me. When aperson does so many things for you, and wants you to have everything youwish for, of course you'd like him if he wasn't your relation; but whenhe'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 hisrelation, too, and I'm his boy's little boy besides, and, well, don'tyou see--of course he must be fond of me now, or he wouldn't want me tohave 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? Ofcourse a man would be fond of his grandson. "

The people who had been seasick had no sooner recovered from theirseasickness, and come on deck to recline in their steamer-chairs andenjoy themselves, than every one seemed to know the romantic story oflittle Lord Fauntleroy, and every one took an interest in the littlefellow, 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; hemade friends everywhere. He was ever ready to make friends. When thegentlemen walked up and down the deck, and let him walk with them, hestepped out with a manly, sturdy little tramp, and answered all theirjokes with much gay enjoyment; when the ladies talked to him, there wasalways laughter in the group of which he was the center; when he playedwith the children, there was always magnificent fun on hand. Among thesailors he had the heartiest friends; he heard miraculous stories aboutpirates and shipwrecks and desert islands; he learned to splice ropesand 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 raiseda shout of laughter in a group of ladies and gentlemen who were sittingon deck, wrapped in shawls and overcoats, by saying sweetly, and with avery engaging expression:

"Shiver my timbers, but it's a cold day!"

It surprised him when they laughed. He had picked up this sea-faringremark from an "elderly naval man" of the name of Jerry, who told himstories in which it occurred frequently. To judge from his stories ofhis own adventures, Jerry had made some two or three thousand voyages, and had been invariably shipwrecked on each occasion on an islanddensely populated with bloodthirsty cannibals. Judging, also, by thesesame exciting adventures, he had been partially roasted and eatenfrequently 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 theParromachaweekins did it with the knife made out of the skull of theChief of the Wopslemumpkies. He says it was one of the most serioustimes he ever had. He was so frightened that his hair stood rightstraight up when the king flourished his knife, and it never would liedown, and the king wears it that way now, and it looks something like ahair-brush. I never heard anything like the asperiences Jerry has had! Ishould so like to tell Mr. Hobbs about them!"

Sometimes, when the weather was very disagreeable and people werekept below decks in the saloon, a party of his grown-up friends wouldpersuade him to tell them some of these "asperiences" of Jerry's, and ashe sat relating them with great delight and fervor, there was certainlyno more popular voyager on any ocean steamer crossing the Atlantic thanlittle Lord Fauntleroy. He was always innocently and good-naturedlyready to do his small best to add to the general entertainment, andthere was a charm in the very unconsciousness of his own childishimportance. 

"Jerry's stories int'rust them very much, " he said to his mamma. "For mypart--you must excuse me, Dearest--but sometimes I should have thoughtthey couldn't be all quite true, if they hadn't happened to Jerryhimself; but as they all happened to Jerry--well, it's very strange, youknow, and perhaps sometimes he may forget and be a little mistaken, ashe's been scalped so often. Being scalped a great many times might makea person forgetful. "

It was eleven days after he had said good-bye to his friend Dick beforehe reached Liverpool; and it was on the night of the twelfth day thatthe carriage in which he and his mother and Mr. Havisham had driven fromthe station stopped before the gates of Court Lodge. They could notsee much of the house in the darkness. Cedric only saw that there was adrive-way under great arching trees, and after the carriage had rolleddown this drive-way a short distance, he saw an open door and a streamof bright light coming through it. 

Mary had come with them to attend her mistress, and she had reached thehouse before them. When Cedric jumped out of the carriage he saw one ortwo servants standing in the wide, bright hall, and Mary stood in thedoor-way. 

Lord Fauntleroy sprang at her with a gay little shout. 

"Did you get here, Mary?" he said. "Here's Mary, Dearest, " and he kissedthe 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. Sheknew how this first "strangeness" must feel to this little mother whohad left her own land and was about to give up her child. 

The English servants looked with curiosity at both the boy and hismother. They had heard all sorts of rumors about them both; they knewhow angry the old Earl had been, and why Mrs. Errol was to live at thelodge and her little boy at the castle; they knew all about the greatfortune he was to inherit, and about the savage old grandfather and hisgout and his tempers. 

"He'll have no easy time of it, poor little chap, " they had said amongthemselves. 

But they did not know what sort of a little lord had come amongthem; they did not quite understand the character of the next Earl ofDorincourt. 

He pulled off his overcoat quite as if he were used to doing things forhimself, and began to look about him. He looked about the broad hall, atthe pictures and stags' antlers and curious things that ornamented it. They seemed curious to him because he had never seen such things beforein a private house. 

"Dearest, " he said, "this is a very pretty house, isn't it? I am gladyou 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 Yorkstreet, and it was very pretty and cheerful. Mary led them upstairs toa bright chintz-hung bedroom where a fire was burning, and a largesnow-white Persian cat was sleeping luxuriously on the white furhearth-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 hadiverything 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 tosay the big cat slapin' on the rug moight make the room same homeloiketo 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 everyone, great an' shmall. An' ses I to her, ses I: 'He's lift a byethat's loike him, ma'am, fur a foiner little felly niver sthipped inshoe-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 queershelves and cabinets with strange, pretty ornaments on them. There wasa 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 andfollowed him downstairs, and when he threw himself down upon the rug, she curled herself up grandly beside him as if she intended to makefriends. Cedric was so pleased that he put his head down by hers, andlay stroking her, not noticing what his mother and Mr. Havisham weresaying. 

They were, indeed, speaking in a rather low tone. Mrs. Errol looked alittle 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 benecessary for him to go to-night. I myself will go to the Castle as soonas we have dined, and inform the Earl of our arrival. "

Mrs. Errol glanced down at Cedric. He was lying in a graceful, carelessattitude upon the black-and-yellow skin; the fire shone on his handsome, flushed little face, and on the tumbled, curly hair spread out on therug; the big cat was purring in drowsy content, --she liked the caressingtouch 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 saidrather sadly. Then she looked at the lawyer. "Will you tell him, if youplease, " she said, "that I should rather not have the money?"

"The money!" Mr. Havisham exclaimed. "You can not mean the income heproposed to settle upon you!"

"Yes, " she answered, quite simply; "I think I should rather not haveit. I am obliged to accept the house, and I thank him for it, because itmakes it possible for me to be near my child; but I have a little moneyof my own, --enough to live simply upon, --and I should rather not takethe other. As he dislikes me so much, I should feel a little as if Iwere selling Cedric to him. I am giving him up only because I love himenough to forget myself for his good, and because his father would wishit to be so. "

Mr. Havisham rubbed his chin. 

"This is very strange, " he said. "He will be very angry. He won'tunderstand it. "

"I think he will understand it after he thinks it over, " she said. "I donot really need the money, and why should I accept luxuries from theman who hates me so much that he takes my little boy from me--his son'schild?"

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 bigcat taking a seat on a chair near Cedric's and purring majesticallythroughout the meal. 

When, later in the evening, Mr. Havisham presented himself at theCastle, he was taken at once to the Earl. He found him sitting by thefire in a luxurious easy-chair, his foot on a gout-stool. He lookedat the lawyer sharply from under his shaggy eyebrows, but Mr. Havishamcould see that, in spite of his pretense at calmness, he was nervous andsecretly 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 yourselfcomfortable. Have a glass of wine and settle down. What else?"

"His lordship remains with his mother to-night. To-morrow I will bringhim to the Castle. "

The Earl's elbow was resting on the arm of his chair; he put his hand upand shielded his eyes with it. 

"Well, " he said; "go on. You know I told you not to write to me aboutthe matter, and I know nothing whatever about it. What kind of a lad ishe? 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 forhimself, 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 anduttered a rough word. 

"A fool, is he?" he exclaimed. "Or a clumsy cub? His American bloodtells, does it?"

"I do not think it has injured him, my lord, " replied the lawyer inhis dry, deliberate fashion. "I don't know much about children, but Ithought him rather a fine lad. "

His manner of speech was always deliberate and unenthusiastic, but hemade it a trifle more so than usual. He had a shrewd fancy that itwould be better that the Earl should judge for himself, and be quiteunprepared 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 upbefore his mind's eye the picture he had left at Court Lodge, --thebeautiful, graceful child's body lying upon the tiger-skin in carelesscomfort--the bright, tumbled hair spread on the rug--the bright, rosyboy's face. 

"Rather a handsome boy, I think, my lord, as boys go, " he said, "thoughI am scarcely a judge, perhaps. But you will find him somewhat differentfrom most English children, I dare say. "

"I haven't a doubt of that, " snarled the Earl, a twinge of gout seizinghim. "A lot of impudent little beggars, those American children; I'veheard that often enough. "

"It is not exactly impudence in his case, " said Mr. Havisham. "I canscarcely describe what the difference is. He has lived more with olderpeople than with children, and the difference seems to be a mixture ofmaturity and childishness. "

"American impudence!" protested the Earl. "I've heard of it before. Theycall it precocity and freedom. Beastly, impudent bad manners; that'swhat it is!"

Mr. Havisham drank some more port. He seldom argued with his lordlypatron, --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 asilence 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 Ihear of her the better. "

"This is a rather important one, " explained the lawyer. "She prefers notto 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 arenot friendly----"

"Not friendly!" ejaculated my lord savagely; "I should say they were notfriendly! I hate to think of her! A mercenary, sharp-voiced American! Idon't wish to see her. "

"My lord, " said Mr. Havisham, "you can scarcely call her mercenary. Shehas asked for nothing. She does not accept the money you offer her. "

"All done for effect!" snapped his noble lordship. "She wants to wheedleme into seeing her. She thinks I shall admire her spirit. I don't admireit! It's only American independence! I won't have her living like abeggar at my park gates. As she's the boy's mother, she has a positionto keep up, and she shall keep it up. She shall have the money, whethershe 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. "Sheshall have it sent to her. She sha'n't tell people that she has to livelike a pauper because I have done nothing for her! She wants to give theboy a bad opinion of me! I suppose she has poisoned his mind against mealready!"

"No, " said Mr. Havisham. "I have another message, which will prove toyou that she has not done that. "

"I don't want to hear it!" panted the Earl, out of breath with anger andexcitement and gout. 

But Mr. Havisham delivered it. 

"She asks you not to let Lord Fauntleroy hear anything which wouldlead him to understand that you separate him from her because of yourprejudice against her. He is very fond of her, and she is convinced thatit would cause a barrier to exist between you. She says he would notcomprehend it, and it might make him fear you in some measure, or atleast cause him to feel less affection for you. She has told him thathe is too young to understand the reason, but shall hear it when he isolder. 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 gleamedunder his beetling brows. 

"Come, now!" he said, still breathlessly. "Come, now! You don't mean themother hasn't told him?"

"Not one word, my lord, " replied the lawyer coolly. "That I canassure you. The child is prepared to believe you the most amiable andaffectionate of grandparents. Nothing--absolutely nothing has been saidto him to give him the slightest doubt of your perfection. And asI carried out your commands in every detail, while in New York, hecertainly regards you as a wonder of generosity. "

"He does, eh?" said the Earl. 

"I give you my word of honor, " said Mr. Havisham, "that LordFauntleroy's impressions of you will depend entirely upon yourself. Andif you will pardon the liberty I take in making the suggestion, I thinkyou will succeed better with him if you take the precaution not to speakslightingly 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 LordFauntleroy and Mr. Havisham drove up the long avenue which led to thecastle. The Earl had given orders that his grandson should arrive intime to dine with him; and for some reason best known to himself, he hadalso ordered that the child should be sent alone into the room in whichhe intended to receive him. As the carriage rolled up the avenue, LordFauntleroy sat leaning comfortably against the luxurious cushions, andregarded the prospect with great interest. He was, in fact, interestedin everything he saw. He had been interested in the carriage, withits large, splendid horses and their glittering harness; he had beeninterested in the tall coachman and footman, with their resplendentlivery; and he had been especially interested in the coronet on thepanels, and had struck up an acquaintance with the footman for thepurpose of inquiring what it meant. 

When the carriage reached the great gates of the park, he looked out ofthe window to get a good view of the huge stone lions ornamenting theentrance. The gates were opened by a motherly, rosy-looking woman, whocame out of a pretty, ivy-covered lodge. Two children ran out of thedoor of the house and stood looking with round, wide-open eyes at thelittle boy in the carriage, who looked at them also. Their mother stoodcourtesying 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 sheknows 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 rosyface and a kind look came into her blue eyes. 

"God bless your lordship!" she said. "God bless your pretty face! Goodluck and happiness to your lordship! Welcome to you!"

Lord Fauntleroy waved his cap and nodded to her again as the carriagerolled by her. 

"I like that woman, " he said. "She looks as if she liked boys. I shouldlike to come here and play with her children. I wonder if she has enoughto make up a company?"

Mr. Havisham did not tell him that he would scarcely be allowed to makeplaymates of the gate-keeper's children. The lawyer thought there wastime enough for giving him that information. 

The carriage rolled on and on between the great, beautiful trees whichgrew on each side of the avenue and stretched their broad, swayingbranches in an arch across it. Cedric had never seen such trees, --theywere so grand and stately, and their branches grew so low down on theirhuge trunks. He did not then know that Dorincourt Castle was one of themost beautiful in all England; that its park was one of the broadest andfinest, and its trees and avenue almost without rivals. But he did knowthat it was all very beautiful. He liked the big, broad-branched trees, with the late afternoon sunlight striking golden lances through them. Heliked the perfect stillness which rested on everything. He felt a great, strange pleasure in the beauty of which he caught glimpses under andbetween the sweeping boughs--the great, beautiful spaces of the park, with still other trees standing sometimes stately and alone, andsometimes in groups. Now and then they passed places where tall fernsgrew in masses, and again and again the ground was azure with thebluebells swaying in the soft breeze. Several times he started up witha laugh of delight as a rabbit leaped up from under the greenery andscudded away with a twinkle of short white tail behind it. Once a coveyof partridges rose with a sudden whir and flew away, and then he shoutedand clapped his hands. 

"It's a beautiful place, isn't it?" he said to Mr. Havisham. "I neversaw 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 hislordship. 

Every few minutes he saw something new to wonder at and admire. When hecaught sight of the deer, some couched in the grass, some standing withtheir pretty antlered heads turned with a half-startled air toward theavenue as the carriage wheels disturbed them, he was enchanted. 

"Has there been a circus?" he cried; "or do they live here always? Whoseare they?"

"They live here, " Mr. Havisham told him. "They belong to the Earl, yourgrandfather. "

It was not long after this that they saw the castle. It rose up beforethem stately and beautiful and gray, the last rays of the sun castingdazzling lights on its many windows. It had turrets and battlements andtowers; a great deal of ivy grew upon its walls; all the broad, openspace about it was laid out in terraces and lawns and beds of brilliantflowers. 

"It's the most beautiful place I ever saw!" said Cedric, his round faceflushing with pleasure. "It reminds any one of a king's palace. I saw apicture of one once in a fairy-book. "

He saw the great entrance-door thrown open and many servants standing intwo lines looking at him. He wondered why they were standing there, andadmired their liveries very much. He did not know that they were thereto do honor to the little boy to whom all this splendor would oneday belong, --the beautiful castle like the fairy king's palace, themagnificent park, the grand old trees, the dells full of ferns andbluebells where the hares and rabbits played, the dappled, large-eyeddeer couching in the deep grass. It was only a couple of weeks since hehad sat with Mr. Hobbs among the potatoes and canned peaches, with hislegs dangling from the high stool; it would not have been possible forhim to realize that he had very much to do with all this grandeur. Atthe 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 enteredthe hall she stood nearer than the rest, and the child thought from thelook in her eyes that she was going to speak to him. Mr. Havisham, whoheld his hand, paused a moment. 

"This is Lord Fauntleroy, Mrs. Mellon, " he said. "Lord Fauntleroy, thisis 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 thelodge-keeper's wife had done. 

"I should know his lordship anywhere, " she said to Mr. Havisham. "He hasthe Captain's face and way. It's a great day, this, sir. "

Cedric wondered why it was a great day. He looked at Mrs. Melloncuriously. It seemed to him for a moment as if there were tears in hereyes, and yet it was evident she was not unhappy. She smiled down onhim. 

"The cat left two beautiful kittens here, " she said; "they shall be sentup 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 takenthere alone. "

A few minutes later, the very tall footman in livery, who had escortedCedric 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 itwas rather a grand occasion when the heir came home to his own land andpossessions, and was ushered into the presence of the old Earl, whoseplace and title he was to take. 

Cedric crossed the threshold into the room. It was a very large andsplendid room, with massive carven furniture in it, and shelves uponshelves of books; the furniture was so dark, and the draperies so heavy, the diamond-paned windows were so deep, and it seemed such a distancefrom one end of it to the other, that, since the sun had gone down, theeffect of it all was rather gloomy. For a moment Cedric thought therewas nobody in the room, but soon he saw that by the fire burning on thewide hearth there was a large easy-chair and that in that chair some onewas 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 limbsalmost as big as a lion's; and this great creature rose majestically andslowly, 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 therewas unkindness--he had been a brave little fellow all his life. He puthis 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 withshaggy white hair and eyebrows, and a nose like an eagle's beak betweenhis deep, fierce eyes. What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figurein a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with love-locks wavingabout the handsome, manly little face, whose eyes met his with a look ofinnocent good-fellowship. If the Castle was like the palace in a fairystory, it must be owned that little Lord Fauntleroy was himself ratherlike a small copy of the fairy prince, though he was not at all awareof 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 oldEarl'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 bigdog's neck. It pleased the grim old nobleman that the child should showno 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 andat 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 properthing 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 atfirst, he was so astonished that he scarcely knew what to say. He staredat the picturesque little apparition from under his shaggy brows, andtook 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 hadsettled himself in it, but he seemed to be quite comfortable as he satthere, and regarded his august relative intently but modestly. 

"I've kept wondering what you would look like, " he remarked. "I used tolie in my berth in the ship and wonder if you would be anything like myfather. "

"Am I?" asked the Earl. 

"Well, " Cedric replied, "I was very young when he died, and I may notremember 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 oneto look like your father; but of course you would enjoy the way yourgrandfather looked, even if he wasn't like your father. You know how itis yourself about admiring your relations. "

The Earl leaned back in his chair and stared. He could not be said toknow how it was about admiring his relations. He had employed most ofhis noble leisure in quarreling violently with them, in turning them outof his house, and applying abusive epithets to them; and they all hatedhim 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 toyou 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--themoney you told Mr. Havisham to give me if I wanted it. "

"Ha!" ejaculated his lordship. "That's it, is it? The money you wereto spend as you liked. What did you buy with it? I should like to hearsomething about that. "

He drew his shaggy eyebrows together and looked at the child sharply. Hewas secretly curious to know in what way the lad had indulged himself. 

"Oh!" said Lord Fauntleroy, "perhaps you didn't know about Dick and theapple-woman and Bridget. I forgot you lived such a long way off fromthem. They were particular friends of mine. And you see Michael had thefever----"

"Who's Michael?" asked the Earl. 

"Michael is Bridget's husband, and they were in great trouble. When aman 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 ourhouse and cry. And the evening Mr. Havisham was there, she was in thekitchen crying, because they had almost nothing to eat and couldn't paythe rent; and I went in to see her, and Mr. Havisham sent for me and hesaid you had given him some money for me. And I ran as fast as I couldinto the kitchen and gave it to Bridget; and that made it all right; andBridget could scarcely believe her eyes. That's why I'm so obliged toyou. "

"Oh!" said the Earl in his deep voice, "that was one of the things youdid for yourself, was it? What else?"

Dougal had been sitting by the tall chair; the great dog had taken itsplace there when Cedric sat down. Several times it had turned and lookedup at the boy as if interested in the conversation. Dougal was asolemn dog, who seemed to feel altogether too big to take life'sresponsibilities lightly. The old Earl, who knew the dog well, hadwatched it with secret interest. Dougal was not a dog whose habit it wasto make acquaintances rashly, and the Earl wondered somewhat to see howquietly the brute sat under the touch of the childish hand. And, justat this moment, the big dog gave little Lord Fauntleroy one more lookof dignified scrutiny, and deliberately laid its huge, lion-like head onthe 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 himselfwhat it meant. He had taken it for granted as meaning something verycreditable because Dick had been fond of using it. 

"I think it means that he wouldn't cheat any one, " he exclaimed; "orhit a boy who was under his size, and that he blacks people's bootsvery well and makes them shine as much as he can. He's a perfessionalbootblack. "

"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 oldas Mr. Hobbs, but quite old. He gave me a present just before the shipsailed. "

He put his hand into his pocket and drew forth a neatly folded redobject and opened it with an air of affectionate pride. It was the redsilk handkerchief with the large purple horse-shoes and heads on it. 

"He gave me this, " said his young lordship. "I shall keep it always. Youcan wear it round your neck or keep it in your pocket. He bought it withthe first money he earned after I bought Jake out and gave him the newbrushes. It's a keepsake. I put some poetry in Mr. Hobbs's watch. Itwas, 'When this you see, remember me. ' When this I see, I shall alwaysremember Dick. "

The sensations of the Right Honorable the Earl of Dorincourt couldscarcely be described. He was not an old nobleman who was very easilybewildered, because he had seen a great deal of the world; but here wassomething 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 hadtime to care for them. His own sons had not interested him when theywere very young--though sometimes he remembered having thought Cedric'sfather a handsome and strong little fellow. He had been so selfishhimself that he had missed the pleasure of seeing unselfishness inothers, and he had not known how tender and faithful and affectionate akind-hearted little child can be, and how innocent and unconscious areits simple, generous impulses. A boy had always seemed to him a mostobjectionable little animal, selfish and greedy and boisterous when notunder strict restraint; his own two eldest sons had given their tutorsconstant trouble and annoyance, and of the younger one he fancied he hadheard few complaints because the boy was of no particular importance. Ithad never once occurred to him that he should like his grandson; he hadsent for the little Cedric because his pride impelled him to do so. Ifthe boy was to take his place in the future, he did not wish his nameto be made ridiculous by descending to an uneducated boor. He had beenconvinced the boy would be a clownish fellow if he were brought up inAmerica. He had no feeling of affection for the lad; his only hope wasthat he should find him decently well-featured, and with a respectableshare of sense; he had been so disappointed in his other sons, and hadbeen made so furious by Captain Errol's American marriage, that he hadnever once thought that anything creditable could come of it. When thefootman had announced Lord Fauntleroy, he had almost dreaded to look atthe boy lest he should find him all that he had feared. It was becauseof this feeling that he had ordered that the child should be sent tohim alone. His pride could not endure that others should see hisdisappointment if he was to be disappointed. His proud, stubborn oldheart therefore had leaped within him when the boy came forward with hisgraceful, easy carriage, his fearless hand on the big dog's neck. Evenin the moments when he had hoped the most, the Earl had never hoped thathis grandson would look like that. It seemed almost too good to be truethat this should be the boy he had dreaded to see--the child of thewoman he so disliked--this little fellow with so much beauty and sucha brave, childish grace! The Earl's stern composure was quite shaken bythis startling surprise. 

And then their talk began; and he was still more curiously moved, andmore and more puzzled. In the first place, he was so used to seeingpeople rather afraid and embarrassed before him, that he had expectednothing else but that his grandson would be timid or shy. But Cedric wasno 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 therecould be any reason why he should be awkward or afraid. The Earl couldnot help seeing that the little boy took him for a friend and treatedhim as one, without having any doubt of him at all. It was quite plainas the little fellow sat there in his tall chair and talked in hisfriendly way that it had never occurred to him that this large, fierce-looking old man could be anything but kind to him, and ratherpleased to see him there. And it was plain, too, that, in his childishway, he wished to please and interest his grandfather. Cross, andhard-hearted, and worldly as the old Earl was, he could not help feelinga secret and novel pleasure in this very confidence. After all, it wasnot disagreeable to meet some one who did not distrust him or shrinkfrom him, or seem to detect the ugly part of his nature; some one wholooked at him with clear, unsuspecting eyes, --if it was only a littleboy in a black velvet suit. 

So the old man leaned back in his chair, and led his young companionon to telling him still more of himself, and with that odd gleam in hiseyes watched the little fellow as he talked. Lord Fauntleroy was quitewilling to answer all his questions and chatted on in his genial littleway quite composedly. He told him all about Dick and Jake, and theapple-woman, and Mr. Hobbs; he described the Republican Rally in allthe glory of its banners and transparencies, torches and rockets. Inthe course of the conversation, he reached the Fourth of July andthe Revolution, and was just becoming enthusiastic, when he suddenlyrecollected 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 tothe Earl that he was embarrassed by the thought which had just occurredto 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 youwere an Englishman. "

"You can go on, " said my lord. "No one belonging to me was there. Youforgot 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 anEnglishman. "

It amused him a little to say this, but it did not amuse Cedric. The ladhad never thought of such a development as this. He felt himself growquite hot up to the roots of his hair. 

"I was born in America, " he protested. "You have to be an American ifyou are born in America. I beg your pardon, " with serious politenessand delicacy, "for contradicting you. Mr. Hobbs told me, if there wereanother 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 alaugh. 

"You would, would you?" he said. 

He hated America and Americans, but it amused him to see how serious andinterested this small patriot was. He thought that so good an Americanmight make a rather good Englishman when he was a man. 

They had not time to go very deep into the Revolution again--andindeed Lord Fauntleroy felt some delicacy about returning to thesubject--before dinner was announced. 

Cedric left his chair and went to his noble kinsman. He looked down athis gouty foot. 

"Would you like me to help you?" he said politely. "You could lean onme, you know. Once when Mr. Hobbs hurt his foot with a potato-barrelrolling on it, he used to lean on me. "

The big footman almost periled his reputation and his situation bysmiling. He was an aristocratic footman who had always lived in the bestof noble families, and he had never smiled; indeed, he would have felthimself a disgraced and vulgar footman if he had allowed himself to beled by any circumstance whatever into such an indiscretion as a smile. But he had a very narrow escape. He only just saved himself by staringstraight 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. Youcould lean on your stick on one side, and on me on the other. Dick saysI'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 Earlmight see the muscle Dick had kindly approved of, and his face was sograve and earnest that the footman found it necessary to look very hardindeed at the ugly picture. 

"Well, " said the Earl, "you may try. "

Cedric gave him his stick and began to assist him to rise. Usually, thefootman did this, and was violently sworn at when his lordship had anextra 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 imposingliveries. 

But this evening he did not swear, though his gouty foot gave him moretwinges than one. He chose to try an experiment. He got up slowlyand put his hand on the small shoulder presented to him with so muchcourage. Little Lord Fauntleroy made a careful step forward, lookingdown at the gouty foot. 

"Just lean on me, " he said, with encouraging good cheer. "I'll walk veryslowly. "

If the Earl had been supported by the footman he would have rested lesson his stick and more on his assistant's arm. And yet it was part of hisexperiment to let his grandson feel his burden as no light weight. It was quite a heavy weight indeed, and after a few steps his younglordship's face grew quite hot, and his heart beat rather fast, but hebraced himself sturdily, remembering his muscle and Dick's approval ofit. 

"Don't be afraid of leaning on me, " he panted. "I'm all right--if--if itisn't a very long way. "

It was not really very far to the dining-room, but it seemed rather along way to Cedric, before they reached the chair at the head of thetable. The hand on his shoulder seemed to grow heavier at every step, and his face grew redder and hotter, and his breath shorter, but henever thought of giving up; he stiffened his childish muscles, held hishead erect, and encouraged the Earl as he limped along. 

"Does your foot hurt you very much when you stand on it?" he asked. "Didyou ever put it in hot water and mustard? Mr. Hobbs used to put his inhot 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 figuremaking the very most of all its strength, and bearing its burden withsuch good-will. The Earl, too, looked rather queer, once, as he glancedsidewise down at the flushed little face. When they entered the roomwhere they were to dine, Cedric saw it was a very large and imposingone, and that the footman who stood behind the chair at the head of thetable stared very hard as they came in. 

But they reached the chair at last. The hand was removed from hisshoulder, 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 firebecause--because of your foot, but it seems just a little warm to me. "

His delicate consideration for his noble relative's feelings was suchthat he did not wish to seem to intimate that any of his surroundingswere 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 alittle warm. A person will get warm in summer time. "

And he rubbed his damp curls rather vigorously with the gorgeoushandkerchief. His own chair was placed at the other end of the table, opposite his grandfather's. It was a chair with arms, and intended fora much larger individual than himself; indeed, everything he had seen sofar, --the great rooms, with their high ceilings, the massive furniture, the big footman, the big dog, the Earl himself, --were all of proportionscalculated to make this little lad feel that he was very small, indeed. But that did not trouble him; he had never thought himself very largeor important, and he was quite willing to accommodate himself even tocircumstances which rather overpowered him. 

Perhaps he had never looked so little a fellow as when seated now inhis great chair, at the end of the table. Notwithstanding his solitaryexistence, the Earl chose to live in some state. He was fond of hisdinner, and he dined in a formal style. Cedric looked at him acrossa glitter of splendid glass and plate, which to his unaccustomed eyesseemed quite dazzling. A stranger looking on might well have smiled atthe picture, --the great stately room, the big liveried servants, thebright lights, the glittering silver and glass, the fierce-looking oldnobleman 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 avery serious matter with the cook, if his lordship was not pleased orhad an indifferent appetite. To-day, however, his appetite seemed atrifle better than usual, perhaps because he had something to think ofbeside the flavor of the entrees and the management of the gravies. Hisgrandson gave him something to think of. He kept looking at him acrossthe table. He did not say very much himself, but he managed to make theboy talk. He had never imagined that he could be entertained by hearinga child talk, but Lord Fauntleroy at once puzzled and amused him, andhe kept remembering how he had let the childish shoulder feel his weightjust for the sake of trying how far the boy's courage and endurancewould go, and it pleased him to know that his grandson had not quailedand had not seemed to think even for a moment of giving up what he hadundertaken to do. 

"You don't wear your coronet all the time?" remarked Lord Fauntleroyrespectfully. 

"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 thoughtit over, he said he supposed you must sometimes take it off to put yourhat on. "

"Yes, " said the Earl, "I take it off occasionally. "

And one of the footmen suddenly turned aside and gave a singular littlecough behind his hand. 

Cedric finished his dinner first, and then he leaned back in his chairand took a survey of the room. 

"You must be very proud of your house, " he said, "it's such a beautifulhouse. I never saw anything so beautiful; but, of course, as I'm onlyseven, 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 isbeautiful. And the park, and those trees, --how beautiful they are, andhow 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?" hesaid. 

"It is quite large enough for two, " answered the Earl. "Do you find ittoo large?"

His little lordship hesitated a moment. 

"I was only thinking, " he said, "that if two people lived in it who werenot 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 greatfriends. 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 littlevoice. 

Perhaps he was a trifle tired, as his bed-time was nearing, and perhapsafter the excitement of the last few days it was natural he should betired, so perhaps, too, the feeling of weariness brought to him a vaguesense of loneliness in the remembrance that to-night he was not to sleepat 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. Hecould not help thinking of her, and the more he thought of her the lesswas he inclined to talk, and by the time the dinner was at an end theEarl saw that there was a faint shadow on his face. But Cedric borehimself with excellent courage, and when they went back to the library, though the tall footman walked on one side of his master, the Earl'shand rested on his grandson's shoulder, though not so heavily as before. 

When the footman left them alone, Cedric sat down upon the hearth-rugnear Dougal. For a few minutes he stroked the dog's ears in silence andlooked at the fire. 

The Earl watched him. The boy's eyes looked wistful and thoughtful, andonce or twice he gave a little sigh. The Earl sat still, and kept hiseyes 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 betterget up and walk up and down the room. "

He rose up, and put his hands in his small pockets, and began to walk toand fro. His eyes were very bright, and his lips were pressed together, but he kept his head up and walked firmly. Dougal moved lazily andlooked at him, and then stood up. He walked over to the child, and beganto follow him uneasily. Fauntleroy drew one hand from his pocket andlaid 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 withhis first feeling of homesickness, but it pleased him to see that hewas making so brave an effort to bear it well. He liked this childishcourage. 

"Come here, " he said. 

Fauntleroy went to him. 

"I never was away from my own house before, " said the boy, with atroubled look in his brown eyes. "It makes a person feel a strangefeeling when he has to stay all night in another person's castle insteadof in his own house. But Dearest is not very far away from me. She toldme to remember that--and--and I'm seven--and I can look at the pictureshe gave me. "

He put his hand in his pocket, and brought out a small violetvelvet-covered case. 

"This is it, " he said. "You see, you press this spring and it opens, andshe is in there!"

He had come close to the Earl's chair, and, as he drew forth the littlecase, 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 asmile. 

The Earl knitted his brows; he did not wish to see the picture, but helooked at it in spite of himself; and there looked up at him from itsuch a pretty young face--a face so like the child's at his side--thatit 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 simpledirectness; "I do think so, and I think it's true. You see, Mr. Hobbswas my friend, and Dick and Bridget and Mary and Michael, they were myfriends, too; but Dearest--well, she is my CLOSE friend, and we alwaystell 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 withthe 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 ifthat is a good business, I shouldn't mind. The grocery business is dullsometimes. "

Perhaps he was weighing the matter in his mind, for he sat very quietafter this, and looked at the fire for some time. 

The Earl did not speak again. He leaned back in his chair and watchedhim. A great many strange new thoughts passed through the old nobleman'smind. Dougal had stretched himself out and gone to sleep with his headon his huge paws. There was a long silence. 

In about half an hour's time Mr. Havisham was ushered in. The great roomwas very still when he entered. The Earl was still leaning back in hischair. He moved as Mr. Havisham approached, and held up his hand in agesture of warning--it seemed as if he had scarcely intended to make thegesture--as if it were almost involuntary. Dougal was still asleep, andclose beside the great dog, sleeping also, with his curly head upon hisarm, lay little Lord Fauntleroy. 

VI

When Lord Fauntleroy wakened in the morning, --he had not wakened at allwhen he had been carried to bed the night before, --the first sounds hewas conscious of were the crackling of a wood fire and the murmur ofvoices. 

"You will be careful, Dawson, not to say anything about it, " he heardsome one say. "He does not know why she is not to be with him, and thereason is to be kept from him. "

"If them's his lordship's orders, mem, " another voice answered, "they'llhave to be kep', I suppose. But, if you'll excuse the liberty, mem, asit'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 anobleman 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--noryet no other gentleman in livery--like that little fellow's ways, asinnercent an' polite an' interested as if he'd been sitting there diningwith his best friend, --and the temper of a' angel, instead of one (ifyou'll excuse me, mem), as it's well known, is enough to curdle yourblood in your veins at times. And as to looks, mem, when we was rungfor, James and me, to go into the library and bring him upstairs, andJames lifted him up in his arms, what with his little innercent faceall red and rosy, and his little head on James's shoulder and his hairhanging down, all curly an' shinin', a prettier, takiner sight you'dnever wish to see. An' it's my opinion, my lord wasn't blind to itneither, for he looked at him, and he says to James, 'See you don't wakehim!' he says. "

Cedric moved on his pillow, and turned over, opening his eyes. 

There were two women in the room. Everything was bright and cheerfulwith gay-flowered chintz. There was a fire on the hearth, and thesunshine was streaming in through the ivy-entwined windows. Both womencame toward him, and he saw that one of them was Mrs. Mellon, thehousekeeper, and the other a comfortable, middle-aged woman, with a faceas 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 heldit out to the Earl. 

"How do you do, ma'am?" he said. "I'm much obliged to you for coming totake 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. "NeitherMiss nor Missis, bless your little heart! Will you get up now, and letDawson dress you, and then have your breakfast in the nursery?"

"I learned to dress myself many years ago, thank you, " answeredFauntleroy. "Dearest taught me. 'Dearest' is my mamma. We had only Maryto do all the work, --washing and all, --and so of course it wouldn't doto give her so much trouble. I can take my bath, too, pretty well ifyou'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-humoredvoice. "He shall dress himself if he likes, and I'll stand by, ready tohelp him if he wants me. "

"Thank you, " responded Lord Fauntleroy; "it's a little hard sometimesabout the buttons, you know, and then I have to ask somebody. "

He thought Dawson a very kind woman, and before the bath and thedressing were finished they were excellent friends, and he had found outa great deal about her. He had discovered that her husband had been asoldier and had been killed in a real battle, and that her son was asailor, and was away on a long cruise, and that he had seen pirates andcannibals and Chinese people and Turks, and that he brought home strangeshells 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 alsofound out that she had taken care of little children all her life, andthat 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 wasLady Gwyneth Vaughn. 

"And she is a sort of relation of your lordship's, " said Dawson. "Andperhaps sometime you may see her. "

"Do you think I shall?" said Fauntleroy. "I should like that. I neverknew any little girls, but I always like to look at them. "

When he went into the adjoining room to take his breakfast, and sawwhat a great room it was, and found there was another adjoining it whichDawson told him was his also, the feeling that he was very small indeedcame over him again so strongly that he confided it to Dawson, as he satdown 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 alarge 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 ithere. It's such a beautiful place, you know. "

"It's a very beautiful place, of course, " said Fauntleroy, with a littlesigh; "but I should like it better if I didn't miss Dearest so. I alwayshad my breakfast with her in the morning, and put the sugar and cream inher 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 herevery 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, --thedogs, and the stables with all the horses in them. There's one of them Iknow you'll like to see----"

"Is there?" exclaimed Fauntleroy; "I'm very fond of horses. I was veryfond 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 thestables. And, deary me, you haven't looked even into the very next roomyet!"

"What is there?" asked Fauntleroy. 

"Wait until you've had your breakfast, and then you shall see, " saidDawson. 

At this he naturally began to grow curious, and he applied himselfassiduously to his breakfast. It seemed to him that there must besomething worth looking at, in the next room; Dawson had such aconsequential, mysterious air. 

"Now, then, " he said, slipping off his seat a few minutes later; "I'vehad enough. Can I go and look at it?"

Dawson nodded and led the way, looking more mysterious and importantthan ever. He began to be very much interested indeed. 

When she opened the door of the room, he stood upon the threshold andlooked about him in amazement. He did not speak; he only put his handsin his pockets and stood there flushing up to his forehead and lookingin. 

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 itappeared 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 roomshe had seen downstairs; the draperies and rugs and walls were brighter;there were shelves full of books, and on the tables were numbers oftoys, --beautiful, ingenious things, --such as he had looked at withwonder and delight through the shop windows in New York. 

"It looks like a boy's room, " he said at last, catching his breath alittle. "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 tome?" And he sprang forward with a gay little shout. It seemed almosttoo much to be believed. "It was Grandpapa!" he said, with his eyes asbright as stars. "I know it was Grandpapa!"

"Yes, it was his lordship, " said Dawson; "and if you will be a nicelittle 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 beexamined, so many experiments to be tried; each novelty was so absorbingthat he could scarcely turn from it to look at the next. And it was socurious to know that all this had been prepared for himself alone; that, even before he had left New York, people had come down from Londonto arrange the rooms he was to occupy, and had provided the books andplaythings most likely to interest him. 

"Did you ever know any one, " he said to Dawson, "who had such a kindgrandfather!"

Dawson's face wore an uncertain expression for a moment. She had nota very high opinion of his lordship the Earl. She had not been in thehouse many days, but she had been there long enough to hear the oldnobleman's peculiarities discussed very freely in the servants' hall. 

"An' of all the wicious, savage, hill-tempered hold fellows it was evermy hill-luck to wear livery hunder, " the tallest footman had said, "he'sthe wiolentest and wust by a long shot. "

And this particular footman, whose name was Thomas, had also repeated tohis 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 quicklyenough. Amuse him, and fill his mind with other things, and we shallhave no trouble. That's boy nature. "

So, perhaps, having had this truly amiable object in view, it did notplease him so very much to find it did not seem to be exactly thisparticular boy's nature. The Earl had passed a bad night and had spentthe morning in his room; but at noon, after he had lunched, he sent forhis grandson. 

Fauntleroy answered the summons at once. He came down the broadstaircase 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 sparklingeyes. 

"I was waiting for you to send for me, " he said. "I was ready a longtime ago. I'm EVER so much obliged to you for all those things! I'm EVERso 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!" saidFauntleroy, his face glowing with delight. "There's one that's likebaseball, only you play it on a board with black and white pegs, and youkeep 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 neverplayed baseball, being a lady; and I'm afraid I wasn't very good atexplaining 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'tit? Is it something like cricket?"

"I never saw cricket, " said Fauntleroy; "but Mr. Hobbs took me severaltimes to see baseball. It's a splendid game. You get so excited! Wouldyou like me to go and get my game and show it to you? Perhaps it wouldamuse you and make you forget about your foot. Does your foot hurt youvery 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 itwould 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 achild who offered to teach him to play games, --but the very novelty ofit amused him. There was a smile lurking about the Earl's mouth whenCedric came back with the box containing the game, in his arms, and anexpression 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 theold man's face as he watched the little fellow's preparations; there wassuch an absorbed interest in them. The small table was dragged forwardand placed by his chair, and the game taken from its box and arrangedupon 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--andthese are the outs--and here is the first base and that's the second andthat'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 thereal game, and gave a dramatic description of a wonderful "hot ball"he had seen caught on the glorious occasion on which he had witnessed amatch in company with Mr. Hobbs. His vigorous, graceful little body, hiseager gestures, his simple enjoyment of it all, were pleasant to behold. 

When at last the explanations and illustrations were at an end and thegame began in good earnest, the Earl still found himself entertained. His young companion was wholly absorbed; he played with all his childishheart; his gay little laughs when he made a good throw, his enthusiasmover a "home run, " his impartial delight over his own good luck and hisopponent's, would have given a flavor to any game. 

If, a week before, any one had told the Earl of Dorincourt that on thatparticular morning he would be forgetting his gout and his bad temperin a child's game, played with black and white wooden pegs, on a gaylypainted board, with a curly-headed small boy for a companion, he wouldwithout doubt have made himself very unpleasant; and yet he certainlyhad forgotten himself when the door opened and Thomas announced avisitor. 

The visitor in question, who was an elderly gentleman in black, and noless a person than the clergyman of the parish, was so startled by theamazing scene which met his eye, that he almost fell back a pace, andran some risk of colliding with Thomas. 

There was, in fact, no part of his duty that the Reverend Mr. Mordauntfound so decidedly unpleasant as that part which compelled him to callupon his noble patron at the Castle. His noble patron, indeed, usuallymade these visits as disagreeable as it lay in his lordly power to makethem. He abhorred churches and charities, and flew into violent rageswhen any of his tenantry took the liberty of being poor and ill andneeding assistance. When his gout was at its worst, he did not hesitateto announce that he would not be bored and irritated by being toldstories of their miserable misfortunes; when his gout troubled him lessand he was in a somewhat more humane frame of mind, he would perhapsgive the rector some money, after having bullied him in the mostpainful manner, and berated the whole parish for its shiftlessness andimbecility. But, whatsoever his mood, he never failed to make as manysarcastic and embarrassing speeches as possible, and to cause theReverend Mr. Mordaunt to wish it were proper and Christian-like to throwsomething heavy at him. During all the years in which Mr. Mordaunthad been in charge of Dorincourt parish, the rector certainly did notremember having seen his lordship, of his own free will, do any one akindness, or, under any circumstances whatever, show that he thought ofany one but himself. 

He had called to-day to speak to him of a specially pressing case, andas he had walked up the avenue, he had, for two reasons, dreaded hisvisit more than usual. In the first place, he knew that his lordshiphad for several days been suffering with the gout, and had been inso villainous a humor that rumors of it had even reached thevillage--carried there by one of the young women servants, to hersister, who kept a little shop and retailed darning-needles and cottonand peppermints and gossip, as a means of earning an honest living. What Mrs. Dibble did not know about the Castle and its inmates, and thefarm-houses and their inmates, and the village and its population, wasreally not worth being talked about. And of course she knew everythingabout the Castle, because her sister, Jane Shorts, was one of the upperhousemaids, 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 fleshand 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'tfor other things being agreeable and the society below stairs mostgenteel, warning would have been gave within a' hour!"

And the rector had heard all this, for somehow the Earl was a favoriteblack sheep in the cottages and farm-houses, and his bad behavior gavemany 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 hadbeen talked about with the most excited interest. 

Who did not know of the old nobleman's fury when his handsome son theCaptain had married the American lady? Who did not know how cruelly hehad 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 ina foreign land, poor and unforgiven? Who did not know how fiercely hislordship 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 theboy--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 orpleasure to his grandson's coming, and that he had made up his mind thathe should find the boy a vulgar, awkward, pert American lad, more likelyto disgrace his noble name than to honor it?

The proud, angry old man thought he had kept all his thoughts secret. Hedid not suppose any one had dared to guess at, much less talk over whathe felt, and dreaded; but his servants watched him, and read hisface and his ill-humors and fits of gloom, and discussed them in theservants' hall. And while he thought himself quite secure from thecommon herd, Thomas was telling Jane and the cook, and the butler, andthe housemaids and the other footmen that it was his opinion that "thehold 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 himright, " added Thomas; "hit's 'is hown fault. Wot can he iggspect from achild brought up in pore circumstances in that there low Hamerica?"

And as the Reverend Mr. Mordaunt walked under the great trees, heremembered that this questionable little boy had arrived at the Castleonly the evening before, and that there were nine chances to one thathis lordship's worst fears were realized, and twenty-two chances to onethat if the poor little fellow had disappointed him, the Earl was evennow in a tearing rage, and ready to vent all his rancor on the firstperson who called--which it appeared probable would be his reverendself. 

Judge then of his amazement when, as Thomas opened the library door, hisears were greeted by a delighted ring of childish laughter. 

"That's two out!" shouted an excited, clear little voice. "You see it'stwo out!"

And there was the Earl's chair, and the gout-stool, and his foot onit; 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 boywith face glowing, and eyes dancing with excitement. "It's two out!" thelittle stranger cried. "You hadn't any luck that time, had you?"--Andthen they both recognized at once that some one had come in. 

The Earl glanced around, knitting his shaggy eyebrows as he had atrick of doing, and when he saw who it was, Mr. Mordaunt was stillmore surprised to see that he looked even less disagreeable than usualinstead of more so. In fact, he looked almost as if he had forgotten forthe moment how disagreeable he was, and how unpleasant he really couldmake himself when he tried. 

"Ah!" he said, in his harsh voice, but giving his hand rathergraciously. "Good-morning, Mordaunt. I've found a new employment, yousee. "

He put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder, --perhaps deep down in hisheart there was a stir of gratified pride that it was such an heir hehad to present; there was a spark of something like pleasure in his eyesas 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 gavehim his hand. 

"I am very glad to make your acquaintance, sir, " he said, rememberingthe words he had heard Mr. Hobbs use on one or two occasions when he hadbeen greeting a new customer with ceremony. 

Cedric felt quite sure that one ought to be more than usually polite toa minister. 

Mr. Mordaunt held the small hand in his a moment as he looked down atthe child's face, smiling involuntarily. He liked the little fellow fromthat instant--as in fact people always did like him. And it was not theboy'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 rectorlooked at Cedric, he forgot to think of the Earl at all. Nothing in theworld is so strong as a kind heart, and somehow this kind littleheart, though it was only the heart of a child, seemed to clear all theatmosphere of the big gloomy room and make it brighter. 

"I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lord Fauntleroy, " said therector. "You made a long journey to come to us. A great many people willbe glad to know you made it safely. "

"It WAS a long way, " answered Fauntleroy, "but Dearest, my mother, waswith me and I wasn't lonely. Of course you are never lonely if yourmother is with you; and the ship was beautiful. "

"Take a chair, Mordaunt, " said the Earl. Mr. Mordaunt sat down. Heglanced 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 thesubject. 

"He is like his father, " he said rather gruffly. "Let us hope he'llconduct himself more creditably. " And then he added: "Well, what is itthis morning, Mordaunt? Who is in trouble now?"

This was not as bad as Mr. Mordaunt had expected, but he hesitated asecond before he began. 

"It is Higgins, " he said; "Higgins of Edge Farm. He has been veryunfortunate. He was ill himself last autumn, and his children hadscarlet fever. I can't say that he is a very good manager, but he hashad ill-luck, and of course he is behindhand in many ways. He is introuble about his rent now. Newick tells him if he doesn't pay it, hemust 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 aboutit, and ask you for time. He thinks if you would give him time he couldcatch up again. "

"They all think that, " said the Earl, looking rather black. 

Fauntleroy made a movement forward. He had been standing between hisgrandfather and the visitor, listening with all his might. He had begunto be interested in Higgins at once. He wondered how many children therewere, and if the scarlet fever had hurt them very much. His eyes werewide open and were fixed upon Mr. Mordaunt with intent interest as thatgentleman went on with the conversation. 

"Higgins is a well-meaning man, " said the rector, making an effort tostrengthen his plea. 

"He is a bad enough tenant, " replied his lordship. "And he is alwaysbehindhand, 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 takenfrom him they may literally starve. He can not give them the nourishingthings they need. Two of the children were left very low after thefever, and the doctor orders for them wine and luxuries that Higgins cannot 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 theold man's deep-set eyes. 

"He was Bridget's husband, who had the fever, " answered Fauntleroy; "andhe couldn't pay the rent or buy wine and things. And you gave me thatmoney to help him. "

The Earl drew his brows together into a curious frown, which somehow wasscarcely 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 hewanted--and what he wanted, it seems, was money to give to beggars. "

"Oh! but they weren't beggars, " said Fauntleroy eagerly. "Michael was asplendid bricklayer! They all worked. "

"Oh!" said the Earl, "they were not beggars. They were splendidbricklayers, and bootblacks, and apple-women. "

He bent his gaze on the boy for a few seconds in silence. The fact wasthat a new thought was coming to him, and though, perhaps, it was notprompted 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 encroachingon the gouty foot. 

"What would YOU do in this case?" his lordship asked. 

It must be confessed that Mr. Mordaunt experienced for the moment acurious sensation. Being a man of great thoughtfulness, and having spentso many years on the estate of Dorincourt, knowing the tenantry, richand poor, the people of the village, honest and industrious, dishonestand lazy, he realized very strongly what power for good or evil would begiven in the future to this one small boy standing there, his brown eyeswide open, his hands deep in his pockets; and the thought came to himalso that a great deal of power might, perhaps, through the caprice ofa proud, self-indulgent old man, be given to him now, and that if hisyoung nature were not a simple and generous one, it might be the worstthing 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 themost confiding air of good comradeship. 

"If I were very rich, " he said, "and not only just a little boy, Ishould let him stay, and give him the things for his children; butthen, I am only a boy. " Then, after a second's pause, in which his facebrightened visibly, "YOU can do anything, can't you?" he said. 

"Humph!" said my lord, staring at him. "That's your opinion, is it?" Andhe 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 notover-fond of him. "

"Are you going to write him a letter now?" inquired Fauntleroy. "Shall Ibring 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 beallowed to do his worst. 

The Earl paused a moment, still looking at him. "Can you write?" heasked. 

"Yes, " answered Cedric, "but not very well. "

"Move the things from the table, " commanded my lord, "and bring the penand ink, and a sheet of paper from my desk. "

Mr. Mordaunt's interest began to increase. Fauntleroy did as he was toldvery deftly. In a few moments, the sheet of paper, the big inkstand, andthe 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. "Willit do if I write it? I don't always spell quite right when I haven't adictionary, and nobody tells me. "

"It will do, " answered the Earl. "Higgins will not complain of thespelling. 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 hearranged 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, beganto write. It was rather a slow and serious process, but he gave hiswhole soul to it. After a while, however, the manuscript was complete, and he handed it to his grandfather with a smile slightly tinged withanxiety. 

"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 hehanded 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 withfor the present and oblige. Yours rispecferly, "FAUNTLEROY. "

"Mr. Hobbs always signed his letters that way, " said Fauntleroy; "and Ithought 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 theEarl. 

"I was afraid of that, " said Fauntleroy. "I ought to have asked. Yousee, that's the way with words of more than one syllable; you have tolook 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, andtaking precautions in the matter of spelling by consulting the Earlhimself. 

"Spelling is a curious thing, " he said. "It's so often differentfrom what you expect it to be. I used to think 'please' was spelledp-l-e-e-s, but it isn't, you know; and you'd think 'dear' was spelledd-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 tooksomething else with him also--namely, a pleasanter feeling and a morehopeful one than he had ever carried home with him down that avenue onany previous visit he had made at Dorincourt Castle. 

When he was gone, Fauntleroy, who had accompanied him to the door, wentback to his grandfather. 

"May I go to Dearest now?" he asked. "I think she will be waiting forme. "

The Earl was silent a moment. 

"There is something in the stable for you to see first, " he said. "Ringthe bell. "

"If you please, " said Fauntleroy, with his quick little flush. "I'm verymuch obliged; but I think I'd better see it to-morrow. She will beexpecting me all the time. "

"Very well, " answered the Earl. "We will order the carriage. " Then headded 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 itto 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 tosee 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. "Youthink 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 rathersilent. But Fauntleroy was not. He talked about the pony. What color wasit? How big was it? What was its name? What did it like to eat best? Howold 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 obligedto 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 FifthAvenue who had one, and he used to ride out every morning and we used totake a walk past his house to see him. "

He leaned back against the cushions and regarded the Earl with raptinterest for a few minutes and in entire silence. 

"I think you must be the best person in the world, " he burst forth atlast. "You are always doing good, aren't you?--and thinking about otherpeople. Dearest says that is the best kind of goodness; not to thinkabout yourself, but to think about other people. That is just the wayyou are, isn't it?"

His lordship was so dumfounded to find himself presented in suchagreeable colors, that he did not know exactly what to say. He felt thathe needed time for reflection. To see each of his ugly, selfish motiveschanged into a good and generous one by the simplicity of a child was asingular 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 Bridgetand 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, aboutthe pony and all the other things. Do you know, I've counted it up onmy fingers and in my mind, and it's twenty-seven people you've been kindto. 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 sometimesmistaken about earls when they don't know them. Mr. Hobbs was. I amgoing 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. Hethought--you mustn't mind it--that they were gory tyrants; and he saidhe 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 aboutyou. "

"What shall you tell him?"

"I shall tell him, " said Fauntleroy, glowing with enthusiasm, "thatyou are the kindest man I ever heard of. And you are always thinking ofother people, and making them happy and--and I hope when I grow up, Ishall be just like you. "

"Just like me!" repeated his lordship, looking at the little kindlingface. And a dull red crept up under his withered skin, and he suddenlyturned his eyes away and looked out of the carriage window at the greatbeech-trees, with the sun shining on their glossy, red-brown leaves. 

"JUST like you, " said Fauntleroy, adding modestly, "if I can. PerhapsI'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 ofgolden sunlight. Fauntleroy saw again the lovely places where the fernsgrew high and the bluebells swayed in the breeze; he saw the deer, standing or lying in the deep grass, turn their large, startled eyes asthe carriage passed, and caught glimpses of the brown rabbits as theyscurried away. He heard the whir of the partridges and the calls andsongs of the birds, and it all seemed even more beautiful to him thanbefore. All his heart was filled with pleasure and happiness in thebeauty that was on every side. But the old Earl saw and heard verydifferent things, though he was apparently looking out too. He sawa long life, in which there had been neither generous deeds nor kindthoughts; he saw years in which a man who had been young and strong andrich and powerful had used his youth and strength and wealth and poweronly to please himself and kill time as the days and years succeededeach other; he saw this man, when the time had been killed and old agehad come, solitary and without real friends in the midst of all hissplendid wealth; he saw people who disliked or feared him, and peoplewho would flatter and cringe to him, but no one who really cared whetherhe lived or died, unless they had something to gain or lose by it. Helooked out on the broad acres which belonged to him, and he knew whatFauntleroy did not--how far they extended, what wealth they represented, and how many people had homes on their soil. And he knew, too, --anotherthing Fauntleroy did not, --that in all those homes, humble orwell-to-do, there was probably not one person, however much he enviedthe wealth and stately name and power, and however willing he would havebeen to possess them, who would for an instant have thought of callingthe noble owner "good, " or wishing, as this simple-souled little boyhad, 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 yearsand who had never deigned to care what opinion the world held of him solong as it did not interfere with his comfort or entertainment. And thefact was, indeed, that he had never before condescended to reflectupon it at all; and he only did so now because a child had believedhim better than he was, and by wishing to follow in his illustriousfootsteps and imitate his example, had suggested to him the curiousquestion whether he was exactly the person to take as a model. 

Fauntleroy thought the Earl's foot must be hurting him, his browsknitted themselves together so, as he looked out at the park; andthinking 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 thegreen lanes for a short distance, stopped. They had reached Court Lodge;and Fauntleroy was out upon the ground almost before the big footman hadtime 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 mewhen 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 herthat not even a new pony would keep you away. "

"She will be disappointed, " said Fauntleroy. "She will want to see youvery much. "

"I am afraid not, " was the answer. "The carriage will call for you as wecome back. --Tell Jeffries to drive on, Thomas. "

Thomas closed the carriage door; and, after a puzzled look, Fauntleroyran up the drive. The Earl had the opportunity--as Mr. Havisham oncehad--of seeing a pair of handsome, strong little legs flash over theground with astonishing rapidity. Evidently their owner had no intentionof losing any time. The carriage rolled slowly away, but his lordshipdid not at once lean back; he still looked out. Through a space in thetrees he could see the house door; it was wide open. The little figuredashed up the steps; another figure--a little figure, too, slender andyoung, in its black gown--ran to meet it. It seemed as if they flewtogether, as Fauntleroy leaped into his mother's arms, hanging about herneck 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 hadbeen so crowded. People appeared upon the scene who seldom did him thehonor of coming to hear his sermons. 

There were even people from Hazelton, which was the next parish. Therewere hearty, sunburned farmers, stout, comfortable, apple-cheekedwives in their best bonnets and most gorgeous shawls, and half a dozenchildren or so to each family. The doctor's wife was there, with herfour daughters. Mrs. Kimsey and Mr. Kimsey, who kept the druggist'sshop, and made pills, and did up powders for everybody within tenmiles, sat in their pew; Mrs. Dibble in hers; Miss Smiff, the villagedressmaker, and her friend Miss Perkins, the milliner, sat in theirs;the doctor's young man was present, and the druggist's apprentice; infact, almost every family on the county side was represented, in one wayor another. 

In the course of the preceding week, many wonderful stories had beentold of little Lord Fauntleroy. Mrs. Dibble had been kept so busyattending to customers who came in to buy a pennyworth of needles ora ha'porth of tape and to hear what she had to relate, that the littleshop bell over the door had nearly tinkled itself to death over thecoming and going. Mrs. Dibble knew exactly how his small lordship'srooms had been furnished for him, what expensive toys had been bought, how there was a beautiful brown pony awaiting him, and a small groom toattend it, and a little dog-cart, with silver-mounted harness. And shecould tell, too, what all the servants had said when they had caughtglimpses of the child on the night of his arrival; and how every femalebelow stairs had said it was a shame, so it was, to part the poor prettydear from his mother; and had all declared their hearts came into theirmouths 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 wasenough to fluster them with old heads on their shoulders, let alone achild. "

"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 eversince his first hour. An' the Earl so took aback, Mr. Thomas says, thathe 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 waspleased in his secret soul, an' proud, too; for a handsomer littlefellow, or with better manners, though so old-fashioned, Mr. Thomas sayshe'd never wish to see. "

And then there had come the story of Higgins. The Reverend Mr. Mordaunthad told it at his own dinner table, and the servants who had heard ithad 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 beenquestioned on every side, and Newick had been questioned too, and inresponse 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 andtheir shopping, and they had done the subject full justice and made themost of it. And on Sunday they had either walked to church or hadbeen driven in their gigs by their husbands, who were perhaps a triflecurious themselves about the new little lord who was to be in time theowner of the soil. 

It was by no means the Earl's habit to attend church, but he chose toappear on this first Sunday--it was his whim to present himself in thehuge family pew, with Fauntleroy at his side. 

There were many loiterers in the churchyard, and many lingerers in thelane that morning. There were groups at the gates and in the porch, andthere had been much discussion as to whether my lord would really appearor not. When this discussion was at its height, one good woman suddenlyuttered an exclamation. 

"Eh, " she said, "that must be the mother, pretty young thing. " All whoheard turned and looked at the slender figure in black coming up thepath. The veil was thrown back from her face and they could see how fairand sweet it was, and how the bright hair curled as softly as a child'sunder 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 hadactually ridden to her door the day before, sitting very straightand looking very proud and happy. But soon she could not help beingattracted by the fact that she was being looked at and that her arrivalhad created some sort of sensation. She first noticed it because an oldwoman in a red cloak made a bobbing courtesy to her, and then anotherdid the same thing and said, "God bless you, my lady!" and one manafter another took off his hat as she passed. For a moment she did notunderstand, and then she realized that it was because she was littleLord Fauntleroy's mother that they did so, and she flushed rather shylyand smiled and bowed too, and said, "Thank you, " in a gentle voice tothe old woman who had blessed her. To a person who had always lived ina bustling, crowded American city this simple deference was very novel, and at first just a little embarrassing; but after all, she could nothelp liking and being touched by the friendly warm-heartedness of whichit seemed to speak. She had scarcely passed through the stone porch intothe church before the great event of the day happened. The carriage fromthe Castle, with its handsome horses and tall liveried servants, bowledaround 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 thedoor, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with a splendid mopof 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 whoremembered his father. "He's the Captain's self, to the life!"

He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as Thomas helpedthat nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest that could beimagined. The instant he could help, he put out his hand and offered hisshoulder as if he had been seven feet high. It was plain enough to everyone that however it might be with other people, the Earl of Dorincourtstruck no terror into the breast of his grandson. 

"Just lean on me, " they heard him say. "How glad the people are to seeyou, and how well they all seem to know you!"

"Take off your cap, Fauntleroy, " said the Earl. "They are bowing toyou. "

"To me!" cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, baring hisbright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled eyes on them as hetried to bow to every one at once. 

"God bless your lordship!" said the courtesying, red-cloaked old womanwho 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 thechurch where he could look at her, his mother sat and smiled at him; thesecond, that at one end of the pew, against the wall, knelt two quaintfigures carven in stone, facing each other as they kneeled on eitherside of a pillar supporting two stone missals, their pointed handsfolded as if in prayer, their dress very antique and strange. On thetablet by them was written something of which he could only read thecurious words:

"Here lyeth ye bodye of Gregorye Arthure Fyrst Earle of DorincourtAllsoe of Alisone Hildegarde hys wyfe. "

"May I whisper?" inquired his lordship, devoured by curiosity. 

"What is it?" said his grandfather. 

"Who are they?"

"Some of your ancestors, " answered the Earl, "who lived a few hundredyears ago. "

"Perhaps, " said Lord Fauntleroy, regarding them with respect, "perhapsI got my spelling from them. " And then he proceeded to find his place inthe church service. When the music began, he stood up and looked acrossat his mother, smiling. He was very fond of music, and his mother andhe 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 forgothimself in his pleasure in it. The Earl forgot himself a little too, ashe 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 allhis 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 astained glass window, brightened the falling hair about his young head. His mother, as she looked at him across the church, felt a thrill passthrough 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 withit. There were many soft, anxious thoughts in her tender heart in thosenew days. 

"Oh, Ceddie!" she had said to him the evening before, as she hung overhim in saying good-night, before he went away; "oh, Ceddie, dear, I wishfor 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, andthen you will never hurt any one, so long as you live, and you may helpmany, 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--evenever so little better, dearest. "

And on his return to the Castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her words tohis grandfather. 

"And I thought about you when she said that, " he ended; "and I told herthat was the way the world was because you had lived, and I was going totry 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 andtry to be like it. "

Perhaps it was this the old man remembered as he glanced through thedivided folds of the red curtain of his pew. Many times he looked overthe people's heads to where his son's wife sat alone, and he saw thefair face the unforgiven dead had loved, and the eyes which were so likethose of the child at his side; but what his thoughts were, and whetherthey were hard and bitter, or softened a little, it would have been hardto discover. 

As they came out of church, many of those who had attended the servicestood waiting to see them pass. As they neared the gate, a man who stoodwith his hat in his hand made a step forward and then hesitated. He wasa 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 athis new landlord. "

"Yes, my lord, " said the man, his sunburned face reddening. "Mr. Newicktold me his young lordship was kind enough to speak for me, and Ithought 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 whohad innocently done so much for him, and who stood there looking up justas one of his own less fortunate children might have done--apparentlynot 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 grandfatherwho 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 athearing his noble landlord presented in the character of a benevolentbeing, full of engaging qualities. 

"I--well, yes, your lordship, " he stammered, "the missus is better sincethe trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying broke her down. "

"I'm glad of that, " said Fauntleroy. "My grandfather was very sorryabout your children having the scarlet fever, and so was I. He has hadchildren himself. I'm his son's little boy, you know. "

Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it would bethe safer and more discreet plan not to look at the Earl, as it had beenwell known that his fatherly affection for his sons had been such thathe 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 withdoctors and nurses. It was a little trying, therefore, to his lordship'snerves to be told, while he looked on, his eyes gleaming from under hisshaggy eyebrows, that he felt an interest in scarlet fever. 

"You see, Higgins, " broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile, "youpeople have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. Whenyou want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply tohim. Get into the carriage, Fauntleroy. "

And Fauntleroy jumped in, and the carriage rolled away down the greenlane, and even when it turned the corner into the high road, the Earlwas still grimly smiling. 

VIII

Lord Dorincourt had occasion to wear his grim smile many a time asthe days passed by. Indeed, as his acquaintance with his grandsonprogressed, he wore the smile so often that there were moments whenit almost lost its grimness. There is no denying that before LordFauntleroy had appeared on the scene, the old man had been growing verytired of his loneliness and his gout and his seventy years. After solong a life of excitement and amusement, it was not agreeable to sitalone 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 ata frightened footman who hated the sight of him. The old Earl was tooclever a man not to know perfectly well that his servants detestedhim, and that even if he had visitors, they did not come for love ofhim--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 gonefrom one place to another, pretending to amuse himself, though he hadnot really enjoyed it; and when his health began to fail, he felt tiredof everything and shut himself up at Dorincourt, with his gout and hisnewspapers and his books. But he could not read all the time, and hebecame more and more "bored, " as he called it. He hated the long nightsand days, and he grew more and more savage and irritable. And thenFauntleroy came; and when the Earl saw him, fortunately for the littlefellow, the secret pride of the grandfather was gratified at the outset. If Cedric had been a less handsome little fellow, the old man might havetaken so strong a dislike to him that he would not have given himselfthe chance to see his grandson's finer qualities. But he chose tothink that Cedric's beauty and fearless spirit were the results of theDorincourt blood and a credit to the Dorincourt rank. And then whenhe 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 himselfrather entertained. It had amused him to give into those childish handsthe power to bestow a benefit on poor Higgins. My lord cared nothingfor poor Higgins, but it pleased him a little to think that his grandsonwould be talked about by the country people and would begin to bepopular with the tenantry, even in his childhood. Then it had gratifiedhim to drive to church with Cedric and to see the excitement andinterest caused by the arrival. He knew how the people would speak ofthe beauty of the little lad; of his fine, strong, straight body; ofhis erect bearing, his handsome face, and his bright hair, and how theywould say (as the Earl had heard one woman exclaim to another) that theboy was "every inch a lord. " My lord of Dorincourt was an arrogant oldman, proud of his name, proud of his rank, and therefore proud to showthe world that at last the House of Dorincourt had an heir who wasworthy of the position he was to fill. 

The morning the new pony had been tried, the Earl had been so pleasedthat he had almost forgotten his gout. When the groom had brought outthe pretty creature, which arched its brown, glossy neck and tossed itsfine head in the sun, the Earl had sat at the open window of the libraryand had looked on while Fauntleroy took his first riding lesson. Hewondered if the boy would show signs of timidity. It was not a verysmall pony, and he had often seen children lose courage in making theirfirst 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 bythe bridle up and down before the library window. 

"He's a well plucked un, he is, " Wilkins remarked in the stableafterward with many grins. "It weren't no trouble to put HIM up. An' aold un wouldn't ha' sat any straighter when he WERE up. He ses--seshe to me, 'Wilkins, ' he ses, 'am I sitting up straight? They sit upstraight 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 andcompletely satisfactory. After a few minutes, Fauntleroy spoke to hisgrandfather--watching him from the window:

"Can't I go by myself?" he asked; "and can't I go faster? The boy onFifth 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 hisown 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. Hefound that trotting was not so easy as walking, and the faster the ponytrotted, 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 inyour stirrups. "

"I'm ri-rising all the t-time, " said Fauntleroy. 

He was both rising and falling rather uncomfortably and with many shakesand bounces. He was out of breath and his face grew red, but he held onwith all his might, and sat as straight as he could. The Earl couldsee that from his window. When the riders came back within speakingdistance, after they had been hidden by the trees a few minutes, Fauntleroy's hat was off, his cheeks were like poppies, and his lipswere 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 evidentenjoyment. "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 knowedwhat it meant. I've taught young gen'lemen to ride afore, an' I neversee 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 lordshipfrankly. "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 forthe hat. "

The cleverest person in the world, if he had undertaken to teachFauntleroy how to please the old man who watched him, could not havetaught him anything which would have succeeded better. As the ponytrotted off again toward the avenue, a faint color crept up in thefierce old face, and the eyes, under the shaggy brows, gleamed with apleasure such as his lordship had scarcely expected to know again. Andhe sat and watched quite eagerly until the sound of the horses' hoofsreturned. When they did come, which was after some time, they came at afaster pace. Fauntleroy's hat was still off; Wilkins was carrying it forhim; his cheeks were redder than before, and his hair was flying abouthis ears, but he came at quite a brisk canter. 

"There!" he panted, as they drew up, "I c-cantered. I didn't do it aswell 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 aday passed in which the country people did not see them out together, cantering gayly on the highroad or through the green lanes. The childrenin the cottages would run to the door to look at the proud little brownpony 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, andshout, "Hullo! Good-morning!" in a very unlordly manner, though withgreat heartiness. Sometimes he would stop and talk with the children, and once Wilkins came back to the castle with a story of how Fauntleroyhad insisted on dismounting near the village school, so that a boy whowas lame and tired might ride home on his pony. 

"An' I'm blessed, " said Wilkins, in telling the story at thestables, --"I'm blessed if he'd hear of anything else! He would n't letme get down, because he said the boy mightn't feel comfortable on a bighorse. 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 lordtrudges alongside of him with his hands in his pockets, and his cap onthe 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 ataking to see what's up, he whips off his cap an' ses he, 'I've broughtyour son home, ma'am, ' ses he, 'because his leg hurt him, and I don'tthink that stick is enough for him to lean on; and I'm going to ask mygrandfather to have a pair of crutches made for him. ' An' I'm blessed ifthe woman wasn't struck all of a heap, as well she might be! I thought Ishould 'a' hex-plodid, myself!"

When the Earl heard the story he was not angry, as Wilkins had beenhalf afraid that he would be; on the contrary, he laughed outright, andcalled Fauntleroy up to him, and made him tell all about the matter frombeginning to end, and then he laughed again. And actually, a few dayslater, the Dorincourt carriage stopped in the green lane before thecottage where the lame boy lived, and Fauntleroy jumped out andwalked up to the door, carrying a pair of strong, light, new crutchesshouldered like a gun, and presented them to Mrs. Hartle (the lame boy'sname was Hartle) with these words: "My grandfather's compliments, and ifyou 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 tothe 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 twowere becoming more intimate every day, and every day Fauntleroy's faithin his lordship's benevolence and virtue increased. He had no doubtwhatever that his grandfather was the most amiable and generous ofelderly gentlemen. Certainly, he himself found his wishes gratifiedalmost before they were uttered; and such gifts and pleasures werelavished upon him, that he was sometimes almost bewildered by his ownpossessions. Apparently, he was to have everything he wanted, and todo everything he wished to do. And though this would certainly not havebeen a very wise plan to pursue with all small boys, his young lordshipbore it amazingly well. Perhaps, notwithstanding his sweet nature, hemight have been somewhat spoiled by it, if it had not been for thehours he spent with his mother at Court Lodge. That "best friend" of hiswatched over him over closely and tenderly. The two had many long talkstogether, and he never went back to the Castle with her kisses on hischeeks without carrying in his heart some simple, pure words worthremembering. 

There was one thing, it is true, which puzzled the little fellow verymuch. He thought over the mystery of it much oftener than any onesupposed; even his mother did not know how often he pondered on it; theEarl for a long time never suspected that he did so at all. But, beingquick to observe, the little boy could not help wondering why it wasthat his mother and grandfather never seemed to meet. He had noticedthat they never did meet. When the Dorincourt carriage stopped atCourt Lodge, the Earl never alighted, and on the rare occasions of hislordship's going to church, Fauntleroy was always left to speak to hismother in the porch alone, or perhaps to go home with her. Andyet, every day, fruit and flowers were sent to Court Lodge from thehot-houses at the Castle. But the one virtuous action of the Earl'swhich had set him upon the pinnacle of perfection in Cedric's eyes, waswhat he had done soon after that first Sunday when Mrs. Errol had walkedhome from church unattended. About a week later, when Cedric was goingone day to visit his mother, he found at the door, instead of the largecarriage and prancing pair, a pretty little brougham and a handsome bayhorse. 

"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 manwho drives will take charge of it. It is a present from YOU. "

Fauntleroy's delight could but feebly express itself. He could scarcelycontain himself until he reached the lodge. His mother was gatheringroses in the garden. He flung himself out of the little brougham andflew to her. 

"Dearest!" he cried, "could you believe it? This is yours! He says it isa 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 haveborne to spoil his pleasure by refusing to accept the gift even thoughit came from the man who chose to consider himself her enemy. She wasobliged to step into the carriage, roses and all, and let herself betaken to drive, while Fauntleroy told her stories of his grandfather'sgoodness and amiability. They were such innocent stories that sometimesshe could not help laughing a little, and then she would draw her littleboy closer to her side and kiss him, feeling glad that he could see onlygood in the old man, who had so few friends. 

The very next day after that, Fauntleroy wrote to Mr. Hobbs. He wrotequite a long letter, and after the first copy was written, he brought itto his grandfather to be inspected. 

"Because, " he said, "it's so uncertain about the spelling. And if you'lltell 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 bestearl you ever new it is a mistake about earls being tirents he is not atirent at all i wish you new him you would be good friends i am sureyou would he has the gout in his foot and is a grate sufrer but he isso pashent i love him more every day becaus no one could help loving anearl like that who is kind to every one in this world i wish youcould talk to him he knows everything in the world you can ask him anyquestion but he has never plaid base ball he has given me a pony and acart and my mamma a bewtifle cariage and I have three rooms and toys ofall kinds it would serprise you you would like the castle and the parkit is such a large castle you could lose yourself wilkins tells mewilkins is my groom he says there is a dungon under the castle it isso pretty everything in the park would serprise you there are such bigtrees and there are deers and rabbits and games flying about in thecover my granfarther is very rich but he is not proud and orty as youthought earls always were i like to be with him the people are so politeand kind they take of their hats to you and the women make curtsies andsometimes say god bless you i can ride now but at first it shook me wheni troted my granfarther let a poor man stay on his farm when he couldnot pay his rent and mrs mellon went to take wine and things to his sickchildren i should like to see you and i wish dearest could live at thecastle but i am very happy when i dont miss her too much and i love mygranfarther 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 langwishinin there. 

"p s he is such a good earl he reminds me of you he is a unerverslefavrit"

"Do you miss your mother very much?" asked the Earl when he had finishedreading this. 

"Yes, " said Fauntleroy, "I miss her all the time. "

He went and stood before the Earl and put his hand on his knee, lookingup 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. Shetold me not to ask you any questions, and--and I won't, but sometimes Ican't help thinking, you know, and it makes me all puzzled. But I'm notgoing to ask any questions. And when I miss her very much, I go andlook out of my window to where I see her light shine for me every nightthrough an open place in the trees. It is a long way off, but she putsit in her window as soon as it is dark, and I can see it twinkle faraway, 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 usedto 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 amquite safe all the time----"

"Quite, I have no doubt, " said his lordship dryly. And he drew down hisbeetling eyebrows and looked at the little boy so fixedly and so longthat Fauntleroy wondered what he could be thinking of. 

IX

The fact was, his lordship the Earl of Dorincourt thought in thosedays, of many things of which he had never thought before, and all histhoughts were in one way or another connected with his grandson. Hispride was the strongest part of his nature, and the boy gratified it atevery 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 worldhad known of his disappointment in his sons; so there was an agreeabletouch of triumph in exhibiting this new Lord Fauntleroy, who coulddisappoint no one. He wished the child to appreciate his own power andto understand the splendor of his position; he wished that others shouldrealize it too. He made plans for his future. 

Sometimes in secret he actually found himself wishing that his own pastlife had been a better one, and that there had been less in it that thispure, childish heart would shrink from if it knew the truth. It was notagreeable to think how the beautiful, innocent face would look if itsowner should be made by any chance to understand that his grandfatherhad been called for many a year "the wicked Earl of Dorincourt. " Thethought even made him feel a trifle nervous. He did not wish the boyto 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'shealth growing better than he had expected it ever would be again. Perhaps the Earl grew better because the time did not pass so slowly forhim, and he had something to think of beside his pains and infirmities. 

One fine morning, people were amazed to see little Lord Fauntleroyriding his pony with another companion than Wilkins. This new companionrode a tall, powerful gray horse, and was no other than the Earlhimself. It was, in fact, Fauntleroy who had suggested this plan. As hehad been on the point of mounting his pony, he had said rather wistfullyto his grandfather:

"I wish you were going with me. When I go away I feel lonely becauseyou are left all by yourself in such a big castle. I wish you could ridetoo. "

And the greatest excitement had been aroused in the stables a fewminutes later by the arrival of an order that Selim was to be saddledfor the Earl. After that, Selim was saddled almost every day; and thepeople became accustomed to the sight of the tall gray horse carryingthe tall gray old man, with his handsome, fierce, eagle face, by theside of the brown pony which bore little Lord Fauntleroy. And in theirrides together through the green lanes and pretty country roads, the tworiders became more intimate than ever. And gradually the old man hearda great deal about "Dearest" and her life. As Fauntleroy trotted by thebig horse he chatted gayly. There could not well have been a brighterlittle comrade, his nature was so happy. It was he who talked the most. The Earl often was silent, listening and watching the joyous, glowingface. Sometimes he would tell his young companion to set the pony off ata gallop, and when the little fellow dashed off, sitting so straight andfearless, he would watch him with a gleam of pride and pleasure in hiseyes; and when, after such a dash, Fauntleroy came back waving his capwith a laughing shout, he always felt that he and his grandfather werevery good friends indeed. 

One thing that the Earl discovered was that his son's wife did not leadan idle life. It was not long before he learned that the poor peopleknew her very well indeed. When there was sickness or sorrow or povertyin 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 toher house to be taught to sew. She says she feels so rich now that shewants to help the poor ones. "

It had not displeased the Earl to find that the mother of his heir had abeautiful young face and looked as much like a lady as if she had beena duchess; and in one way it did not displease him to know that she waspopular and beloved by the poor. And yet he was often conscious of ahard, jealous pang when he saw how she filled her child's heart and howthe boy clung to her as his best beloved. The old man would have desiredto stand first himself and have no rival. 

That same morning he drew up his horse on an elevated point of the moorover 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 greatdeal 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 dayit 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 towhere the turrets of the great castle rose, gray and stately. Then hegave a queer little sigh. 

"What are you thinking of?" asked the Earl. 

"I am thinking, " replied Fauntleroy, "what a little boy I am! and ofwhat 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 anyone had so many things always, one might sometimes forget that everyone else was not so fortunate, and that one who is rich should alwaysbe careful and try to remember. I was talking to her about how good youwere, and she said that was such a good thing, because an earl hadso much power, and if he cared only about his own pleasure and neverthought about the people who lived on his lands, they might have troublethat he could help--and there were so many people, and it would be sucha hard thing. And I was just looking at all those houses, and thinkinghow I should have to find out about the people, when I was an earl. Howdid you find out about them?"

As his lordship's knowledge of his tenantry consisted in finding outwhich of them paid their rent promptly, and in turning out those whodid 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 smallquestioner rather uneasily. "We will go home now, " he added; "and whenyou 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 incrediblethat he who had never really loved any one in his life, should findhimself growing so fond of this little fellow, --as without doubt hewas. At first he had only been pleased and proud of Cedric's beauty andbravery, but there was something more than pride in his feeling now. Helaughed a grim, dry laugh all to himself sometimes, when he thought howhe liked to have the boy near him, how he liked to hear his voice, andhow in secret he really wished to be liked and thought well of by hissmall 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 havefound himself obliged to own that the very things which attracted him, in spite of himself, were the qualities he had never possessed--thefrank, true, kindly nature, the affectionate trustfulness which couldnever think evil. 

It was only about a week after that ride when, after a visit to hismother, Fauntleroy came into the library with a troubled, thoughtfulface. He sat down in that high-backed chair in which he had sat on theevening of his arrival, and for a while he looked at the embers on thehearth. The Earl watched him in silence, wondering what was coming. Itwas 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. "Beenneglecting it--has he?"

Contradictory as it may seem, there was nothing which entertained andedified him more than the little fellow's interest in his tenantry. Hehad never taken any interest in them himself, but it pleased him wellenough that, with all his childish habits of thought and in the midstof all his childish amusements and high spirits, there should be such aquaint 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 thevillage. The houses are close together, and almost falling down; youcan scarcely breathe; and the people are so poor, and everything isdreadful! Often they have fever, and the children die; and it makes themwicked to live like that, and be so poor and miserable! It is worse thanMichael and Bridget! The rain comes in at the roof! Dearest went to seea poor woman who lived there. She would not let me come near her untilshe had changed all her things. The tears ran down her cheeks when shetold 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 jumpeddown and came and leaned against the Earl's chair. "You can make it allright, " he said, "just as you made it all right for Higgins. You alwaysmake it all right for everybody. I told her you would, and that Newickmust have forgotten to tell you. "

The Earl looked down at the hand on his knee. Newick had not forgottento tell him; in fact, Newick had spoken to him more than once of thedesperate condition of the end of the village known as Earl's Court. He knew all about the tumble-down, miserable cottages, and the baddrainage, and the damp walls and broken windows and leaking roofs, and all about the poverty, the fever, and the misery. Mr. Mordaunthad painted it all to him in the strongest words he could use, and hislordship had used violent language in response; and, when his gout hadbeen at the worst, he said that the sooner the people of Earl's Courtdied and were buried by the parish the better it would be, --and therewas an end of the matter. And yet, as he looked at the small hand on hisknee, 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 andstroked 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 cometo 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 shortlaugh; "and we can talk it over. "

And though he laughed two or three times again, as they walked to andfro on the broad stone terrace, where they walked together almostevery fine evening, he seemed to be thinking of something which didnot displease him, and still he kept his hand on his small companion'sshoulder. 

X

The truth was that Mrs. Errol had found a great many sad things in thecourse of her work among the poor of the little village that appeared sopicturesque when it was seen from the moor-sides. Everything was not aspicturesque, when seen near by, as it looked from a distance. She hadfound idleness and poverty and ignorance where there should have beencomfort and industry. And she had discovered, after a while, thatErleboro was considered to be the worst village in that part of thecountry. Mr. Mordaunt had told her a great many of his difficultiesand discouragements, and she had found out a great deal by herself. Theagents who had managed the property had always been chosen to please theEarl, and had cared nothing for the degradation and wretchedness of thepoor tenants. Many things, therefore, had been neglected which shouldhave been attended to, and matters had gone from bad to worse. 

As to Earl's Court, it was a disgrace, with its dilapidated houses andmiserable, careless, sickly people. When first Mrs. Errol went to theplace, it made her shudder. Such ugliness and slovenliness and wantseemed worse in a country place than in a city. It seemed as if there itmight be helped. And as she looked at the squalid, uncared-for childrengrowing up in the midst of vice and brutal indifference, she thoughtof her own little boy spending his days in the great, splendid castle, guarded and served like a young prince, having no wish ungratified, andknowing nothing but luxury and ease and beauty. And a bold thought camein her wise little mother-heart. Gradually she had begun to see, as hadothers, that it had been her boy's good fortune to please the Earl verymuch, and that he would scarcely be likely to be denied anything forwhich he expressed a desire. 

"The Earl would give him anything, " she said to Mr. Mordaunt. "He wouldindulge his every whim. Why should not that indulgence be used for thegood 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 thelittle fellow the story of Earl's Court, feeling sure that he wouldspeak of it to his grandfather, and hoping that some good results wouldfollow. 

And strange as it appeared to every one, good results did follow. 

The fact was that the strongest power to influence the Earl was hisgrandson's perfect confidence in him--the fact that Cedric alwaysbelieved that his grandfather was going to do what was right andgenerous. He could not quite make up his mind to let him discover thathe had no inclination to be generous at all, and that he wanted hisown way on all occasions, whether it was right or wrong. It was sucha novelty to be regarded with admiration as a benefactor of the entirehuman race, and the soul of nobility, that he did not enjoy the idea oflooking 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'tcare about Earl's Court or the poor people"--or something which wouldamount to the same thing. He actually had learned to be fond enoughof that small boy with the mop of yellow love-locks, to feel that hehimself would prefer to be guilty of an amiable action now and then. And so--though he laughed at himself--after some reflection, he sent forNewick, and had quite a long interview with him on the subject of theCourt, and it was decided that the wretched hovels should be pulled downand new houses should be built. 

"It is Lord Fauntleroy who insists on it, " he said dryly; "he thinks itwill improve the property. You can tell the tenants that it's hisidea. " And he looked down at his small lordship, who was lying on thehearth-rug playing with Dougal. The great dog was the lad's constantcompanion, and followed him about everywhere, stalking solemnly afterhim when he walked, and trotting majestically behind when he rode ordrove. 

Of course, both the country people and the town people heard of theproposed improvement. At first, many of them would not believe it; butwhen a small army of workmen arrived and commenced pulling down thecrazy, squalid cottages, people began to understand that little LordFauntleroy had done them a good turn again, and that through hisinnocent interference the scandal of Earl's Court had at last beenremoved. If he had only known how they talked about him and praised himeverywhere, and prophesied great things for him when he grew up, howastonished he would have been! But he never suspected it. He lived hissimple, happy, child life, --frolicking about in the park; chasing therabbits to their burrows; lying under the trees on the grass, or onthe rug in the library, reading wonderful books and talking to the Earlabout them, and then telling the stories again to his mother; writinglong letters to Dick and Mr. Hobbs, who responded in characteristicfashion; riding out at his grandfather's side, or with Wilkins asescort. As they rode through the market town, he used to see the peopleturn and look, and he noticed that as they lifted their hats theirfaces often brightened very much; but he thought it was all because hisgrandfather was with him. 

"They are so fond of you, " he once said, looking up at his lordship witha bright smile. "Do you see how glad they are when they see you? I hopethey will some day be as fond of me. It must be nice to have EVERYbodylike you. " And he felt quite proud to be the grandson of so greatlyadmired and beloved an individual. 

When the cottages were being built, the lad and his grandfather used toride over to Earl's Court together to look at them, and Fauntleroywas full of interest. He would dismount from his pony and go and makeacquaintance with the workmen, asking them questions about building andbricklaying, and telling them things about America. After two or threesuch conversations, he was able to enlighten the Earl on the subject ofbrick-making, as they rode home. 

"I always like to know about things like those, " he said, "because younever 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, andliked to see him stand among them, talking away, with his hands in hispockets, his hat pushed back on his curls, and his small face fullof eagerness. "He's a rare un, " they used to say. "An' a noice littleoutspoken chap, too. Not much o' th' bad stock in him. " And they wouldgo home and tell their wives about him, and the women would tell eachother, and so it came about that almost every one talked of, or knewsome story of, little Lord Fauntleroy; and gradually almost everyone knew that the "wicked Earl" had found something he cared for atlast--something which had touched and even warmed his hard, bitter oldheart. 

But no one knew quite how much it had been warmed, and how day by daythe old man found himself caring more and more for the child, who wasthe only creature that had ever trusted him. He found himself lookingforward to the time when Cedric would be a young man, strong andbeautiful, with life all before him, but having still that kind heartand the power to make friends everywhere, and the Earl wondered what thelad would do, and how he would use his gifts. Often as he watched thelittle fellow lying upon the hearth, conning some big book, the lightshining on the bright young head, his old eyes would gleam and his cheekwould 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 spokeof him to others it was always with the same grim smile. But Fauntleroysoon knew that his grandfather loved him and always liked him to benear--near to his chair if they were in the library, opposite to him attable, or by his side when he rode or drove or took his evening walk onthe broad terrace. 

"Do you remember, " Cedric said once, looking up from his book as he layon the rug, "do you remember what I said to you that first night aboutour being good companions? I don't think any people could be bettercompanions 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 witha 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 tohimself 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 mewhen 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 momentof 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. Ishould think about you all the more. "

"Upon my word, " said the Earl, after looking at him a moment longer, "Ibelieve you would!"

The jealous pang that came when the boy spoke so of his mother seemedeven stronger than it had been before; it was stronger because of thisold man's increasing affection for the boy. 

But it was not long before he had other pangs, so much harder to facethat he almost forgot, for the time, he had ever hated his son's wife atall. And in a strange and startling way it happened. One evening, justbefore the Earl's Court cottages were completed, there was a granddinner party at Dorincourt. There had not been such a party at theCastle for a long time. A few days before it took place, Sir HarryLorridaile and Lady Lorridaile, who was the Earl's only sister, actuallycame for a visit--a thing which caused the greatest excitement in thevillage and set Mrs. Dibble's shop-bell tinkling madly again, becauseit was well known that Lady Lorridaile had only been to Dorincourt oncesince her marriage, thirty-five years before. She was a handsome oldlady with white curls and dimpled, peachy cheeks, and she was as goodas gold, but she had never approved of her brother any more than did therest of the world, and having a strong will of her own and not beingat all afraid to speak her mind frankly, she had, after several livelyquarrels with his lordship, seen very little of him since her youngdays. 

She had heard a great deal of him that was not pleasant through theyears in which they had been separated. She had heard about his neglectof his wife, and of the poor lady's death; and of his indifference tohis children; and of the two weak, vicious, unprepossessing elder boyswho had been no credit to him or to any one else. Those two eldersons, Bevis and Maurice, she had never seen; but once there had come toLorridaile Park a tall, stalwart, beautiful young fellow about eighteenyears old, who had told her that he was her nephew Cedric Errol, andthat he had come to see her because he was passing near the place andwished to look at his Aunt Constantia of whom he had heard his motherspeak. Lady Lorridaile's kind heart had warmed through and through atthe 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 wasso sweet-tempered, light-hearted, spirited a lad, that when he wentaway, she had hoped to see him often again; but she never did, becausethe 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 LadyLorridaile had always remembered him tenderly, and though she feared hehad made a rash marriage in America, she had been very angry when sheheard how he had been cast off by his father and that no one really knewwhere or how he lived. At last there came a rumor of his death, and thenBevis had been thrown from his horse and killed, and Maurice had died inRome of the fever; and soon after came the story of the American childwho 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 herto take care of him. "

But when she heard that Cedric's mother had been parted from him she wasalmost too indignant for words. 

"It is disgraceful, Harry!" she said. "Fancy a child of that age beingtaken 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 littlemonster. 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 ofDorincourt 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 manystories of him--of his beauty, his sweet temper, his popularity, andhis growing influence over the Earl, his grandfather--that rumors of himreached the gentry at their country places and he was heard of inmore than one county of England. People talked about him at the dinnertables, ladies pitied his young mother, and wondered if the boy were ashandsome as he was said to be, and men who knew the Earl and his habitslaughed heartily at the stories of the little fellow's belief in hislordship's amiability. Sir Thomas Asshe of Asshawe Hall, being inErleboro one day, met the Earl and his grandson riding together, andstopped to shake hands with my lord and congratulate him on his changeof 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 asa turkey-cock; and upon my word I don't wonder, for a handsomer, finerlad than his grandson I never saw! As straight as a dart, and sat hispony like a young trooper!"

And so by degrees Lady Lorridaile, too, heard of the child; she heardabout Higgins and the lame boy, and the cottages at Earl's Court, and ascore 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 herutter astonishment, she received a letter from her brother inviting herto come with her husband to Dorincourt. 

"It seems incredible!" she exclaimed. "I have heard it said that thechild has worked miracles, and I begin to believe it. They say mybrother 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 tous. " And she accepted the invitation at once. 

When she reached Dorincourt Castle with Sir Harry, it was late in theafternoon, and she went to her room at once before seeing her brother. Having dressed for dinner, she entered the drawing-room. The Earl wasthere standing near the fire and looking very tall and imposing; and athis side stood a little boy in black velvet, and a large Vandyke collarof rich lace--a little fellow whose round bright face was so handsome, and who turned upon her such beautiful, candid brown eyes, that shealmost 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 notused since her girlhood. 

"What, Molyneux!" she said, "is this the child?"

"Yes, Constantia, " answered the Earl, "this is the boy. Fauntleroy, thisis your grand-aunt, Lady Lorridaile. "

"How do you do, Grand-Aunt?" said Fauntleroy. 

Lady Lorridaile put her hand on his shoulders, and after looking downinto his upraised face a few seconds, kissed him warmly. 

"I am your Aunt Constantia, " she said, "and I loved your poor papa, andyou 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'spause). 

Lady Lorridaile was delighted. She bent and kissed him again, and fromthat moment they were warm friends. 

"Well, Molyneux, " she said aside to the Earl afterward, "it could notpossibly be better than this!"

"I think not, " answered his lordship dryly. "He is a fine littlefellow. We are great friends. He believes me to be the most charmingand sweet-tempered of philanthropists. I will confess to you, Constantia, --as you would find it out if I did not, --that I am in someslight danger of becoming rather an old fool about him. "

"What does his mother think of you?" asked Lady Lorridaile, with herusual 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 myintention to call on Mrs. Errol as soon as possible; so if you wish toquarrel with me, you had better mention it at once. What I hear of theyoung creature makes me quite sure that her child owes her everything. We were told even at Lorridaile Park that your poorer tenants adore heralready. "

"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 herfor giving some of her beauty to the boy, and you can go to see her ifyou like. All I ask is that she will remain at Court Lodge and that youwill 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 tome, " her ladyship said to Sir Harry afterward. "And he is a changed manin a measure, and, incredible as it may seem, Harry, it is my opinionthat he is being made into a human being, through nothing more nor lessthan 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 voicelike 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 innot persuading her to come and take charge of you. I shall invite her toLorridaile. "

"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 shesaw more clearly how closely those two had grown to each other, andhow all the proud, grim old man's ambition and hope and love centeredthemselves in the child, and how the warm, innocent nature returned hisaffection with most perfect trust and good faith. 

She knew, too, that the prime reason for the great dinner party was theEarl's secret desire to show the world his grandson and heir, and to letpeople see that the boy who had been so much spoken of and described waseven a finer little specimen of boyhood than rumor had made him. 

"Bevis and Maurice were such a bitter humiliation to him, " she said toher husband. "Every one knew it. He actually hated them. His pridehas full sway here. " Perhaps there was not one person who accepted theinvitation 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'sway. Children are usually idiots or bores, --mine were both, --but he canactually answer when he's spoken to, and be silent when he is not. He isnever offensive. "

But he was not allowed to be silent very long. Every one had somethingto say to him. The fact was they wished to make him talk. The ladiespetted 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 crossedthe Atlantic. Fauntleroy did not quite understand why they laughed sosometimes when he answered them, but he was so used to seeing peopleamused when he was quite serious, that he did not mind. He thought thewhole evening delightful. The magnificent rooms were so brilliant withlights, there were so many flowers, the gentlemen seemed so gay, andthe ladies wore such beautiful, wonderful dresses, and such sparklingornaments in their hair and on their necks. There was one young ladywho, he heard them say, had just come down from London, where she hadspent the "season"; and she was so charming that he could not keep hiseyes from her. She was a rather tall young lady with a proud littlehead, and very soft dark hair, and large eyes the color of purplepansies, 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 herthroat. There was one strange thing about this young lady. So manygentlemen stood near her, and seemed anxious to please her, thatFauntleroy thought she must be something like a princess. He was so muchinterested in her that without knowing it he drew nearer and nearer toher, and at last she turned and spoke to him. 

"Come here, Lord Fauntleroy, " she said, smiling; "and tell me why youlook 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 alittle too, and the rose color in her cheeks brightened. 

"Ah, Fauntleroy, " said one of the gentlemen who had laughed mostheartily, "make the most of your time! When you are older you will nothave the courage to say that. "

"But nobody could help saying it, " said Fauntleroy sweetly. "Could youhelp it? Don't YOU think she is pretty, too?"

"We are not allowed to say what we think, " said the gentleman, while therest laughed more than ever. 

But the beautiful young lady--her name was Miss Vivian Herbert--put outher hand and drew Cedric to her side, looking prettier than before, ifpossible. 

"Lord Fauntleroy shall say what he thinks, " she said; "and I am muchobliged to him. I am sure he thinks what he says. " And she kissed him onhis 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 theprettiest person in the world. "

"I am sure she is, " said Miss Vivian Herbert. And she laughed and kissedhis cheek again. 

She kept him by her side a great part of the evening, and the groupof which they were the center was very gay. He did not know how ithappened, but before long he was telling them all about America, andthe Republican Rally, and Mr. Hobbs and Dick, and in the end heproudly produced from his pocket Dick's parting gift, --the red silkhandkerchief. 

"I put it in my pocket to-night because it was a party, " he said. "Ithought 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 fromlaughing 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 noone's way. He could be quiet and listen when others talked, and so noone found him tiresome. A slight smile crossed more than one face whenseveral times he went and stood near his grandfather's chair, or sat ona stool close to him, watching him and absorbing every word he utteredwith the most charmed interest. Once he stood so near the chair's armthat his cheek touched the Earl's shoulder, and his lordship, detectingthe general smile, smiled a little himself. He knew what the lookers-onwere thinking, and he felt some secret amusement in their seeing whatgood friends he was with this youngster, who might have been expected toshare the popular opinion of him. 

Mr. Havisham had been expected to arrive in the afternoon, but, strangeto say, he was late. Such a thing had really never been known to happenbefore during all the years in which he had been a visitor at DorincourtCastle. He was so late that the guests were on the point of rising togo in to dinner when he arrived. When he approached his host, the Earlregarded him with amazement. He looked as if he had been hurried oragitated; his dry, keen old face was actually pale. 

"I was detained, " he said, in a low voice to the Earl, "by--anextraordinary event. "

It was as unlike the methodic old lawyer to be agitated by anything asit was to be late, but it was evident that he had been disturbed. Atdinner he ate scarcely anything, and two or three times, when he wasspoken to, he started as if his thoughts were far away. At dessert, when Fauntleroy came in, he looked at him more than once, nervouslyand uneasily. Fauntleroy noted the look and wondered at it. He and Mr. Havisham were on friendly terms, and they usually exchanged smiles. Thelawyer seemed to have forgotten to smile that evening. 

The fact was, he forgot everything but the strange and painful news heknew he must tell the Earl before the night was over--the strange newswhich he knew would be so terrible a shock, and which would change theface of everything. As he looked about at the splendid rooms and thebrilliant company, --at the people gathered together, he knew, more thatthey might see the bright-haired little fellow near the Earl's chairthan for any other reason, --as he looked at the proud old man and atlittle Lord Fauntleroy smiling at his side, he really felt quite shaken, notwithstanding that he was a hardened old lawyer. What a blow it wasthat he must deal them!

He did not exactly know how the long, superb dinner ended. He satthrough it as if he were in a dream, and several times he saw the Earlglance at him in surprise. 

But it was over at last, and the gentlemen joined the ladies in thedrawing-room. They found Fauntleroy sitting on the sofa with Miss VivianHerbert, --the great beauty of the last London season; they had beenlooking at some pictures, and he was thanking his companion as the dooropened. 

"I'm ever so much obliged to you for being so kind to me!" he wassaying; "I never was at a party before, and I've enjoyed myself somuch!"

He had enjoyed himself so much that when the gentlemen gathered aboutMiss Herbert again and began to talk to her, as he listened and triedto understand their laughing speeches, his eyelids began to droop. Theydrooped until they covered his eyes two or three times, and then thesound of Miss Herbert's low, pretty laugh would bring him back, and hewould open them again for about two seconds. He was quite sure he wasnot going to sleep, but there was a large, yellow satin cushion behindhim and his head sank against it, and after a while his eyelids droopedfor the last time. They did not even quite open when, as it seemed along time after, some one kissed him lightly on the cheek. It was MissVivian 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 eyesand had murmured sleepily, "Good-night--I'm so--glad--I saw you--you areso--pretty----"

He only had a very faint recollection of hearing the gentlemen laughagain and of wondering why they did it. 

No sooner had the last guest left the room, than Mr. Havisham turnedfrom his place by the fire, and stepped nearer the sofa, where he stoodlooking down at the sleeping occupant. Little Lord Fauntleroy was takinghis ease luxuriously. One leg crossed the other and swung over the edgeof the sofa; one arm was flung easily above his head; the warm flushof healthful, happy, childish sleep was on his quiet face; his wavingtangle of bright hair strayed over the yellow satin cushion. He made apicture well worth looking at. 

As Mr. Havisham looked at it, he put his hand up and rubbed his shavenchin, 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 ofnews. I am sorry to be the bearer of it. "

The Earl had been uneasy for some time during the evening, as he glancedat 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 beenlooking at him all the evening as if--See here now, why should you lookat the boy, Havisham, and hang over him like some bird of ill-omen! Whathas your news to do with Lord Fauntleroy?"

"My lord, " said Mr. Havisham, "I will waste no words. My news haseverything to do with Lord Fauntleroy. And if we are to believe it--itis not Lord Fauntleroy who lies sleeping before us, but only the son ofCaptain Errol. And the present Lord Fauntleroy is the son of your sonBevis, and is at this moment in a lodging-house in London. "

The Earl clutched the arms of his chair with both his hands until theveins stood out upon them; the veins stood out on his forehead too; hisfierce 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 thetruth. A woman came to my chambers this morning. She said your sonBevis married her six years ago in London. She showed me her marriagecertificate. They quarrelled a year after the marriage, and he paid herto keep away from him. She has a son five years old. She is an Americanof the lower classes, --an ignorant person, --and until lately she did notfully understand what her son could claim. She consulted a lawyer andfound out that the boy was really Lord Fauntleroy and the heir to theearldom of Dorincourt; and she, of course, insists on his claims beingacknowledged. "

There was a movement of the curly head on the yellow satin cushion. Asoft, long, sleepy sigh came from the parted lips, and the little boystirred in his sleep, but not at all restlessly or uneasily. Not at allas if his slumber were disturbed by the fact that he was being proveda small impostor and that he was not Lord Fauntleroy at all and neverwould be the Earl of Dorincourt. He only turned his rosy face more onits side, as if to enable the old man who stared at it so solemnly tosee it better. 

The handsome, grim old face was ghastly. A bitter smile fixed itselfupon it. 

"I should refuse to believe a word of it, " he said, "if it were not sucha low, scoundrelly piece of business that it becomes quite possible inconnection with the name of my son Bevis. It is quite like Bevis. He wasalways a disgrace to us. Always a weak, untruthful, vicious young brutewith low tastes--my son and heir, Bevis, Lord Fauntleroy. The woman isan 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 coarseway, 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 tookout his handkerchief and swept them away. His smile grew even morebitter. 

"And I, " he said, "I objected to--to the other woman, the mother ofthis child" (pointing to the sleeping form on the sofa); "I refused torecognize her. And yet she could spell her own name. I suppose this isretribution. "

Suddenly he sprang up from his chair and began to walk up and down theroom. Fierce and terrible words poured forth from his lips. His rage andhatred and cruel disappointment shook him as a storm shakes a tree. Hisviolence was something dreadful to see, and yet Mr. Havisham noticedthat at the very worst of his wrath he never seemed to forget the littlesleeping figure on the yellow satin cushion, and that he never oncespoke loud enough to awaken it. 

"I might have known it, " he said. "They were a disgrace to me from theirfirst hour! I hated them both; and they hated me! Bevis was the worse ofthe two. I will not believe this yet, though! I will contend against itto the last. But it is like Bevis--it is like him!"

And then he raged again and asked questions about the woman, about herproofs, and pacing the room, turned first white and then purple in hisrepressed fury. 

When at last he had learned all there was to be told, and knew theworst, Mr. Havisham looked at him with a feeling of anxiety. He lookedbroken and haggard and changed. His rages had always been bad forhim, but this one had been worse than the rest because there had beensomething 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 harshvoice low and unsteady, "I should not have believed them. I alwaysdetested children--my own more than the rest. I am fond of this one; heis 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, sleepingface. His shaggy eyebrows were knitted fiercely, and yet somehow he didnot seem fierce at all. He put up his hand, pushed the bright hair backfrom 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 LordFauntleroy to his room. "

XI

When Mr. Hobbs's young friend left him to go to Dorincourt Castle andbecome Lord Fauntleroy, and the grocery-man had time to realize that theAtlantic Ocean lay between himself and the small companion who had spentso many agreeable hours in his society, he really began to feel verylonely indeed. The fact was, Mr. Hobbs was not a clever man nor even abright one; he was, indeed, rather a slow and heavy person, and he hadnever made many acquaintances. He was not mentally energetic enoughto know how to amuse himself, and in truth he never did anything of anentertaining nature but read the newspapers and add up his accounts. Itwas not very easy for him to add up his accounts, and sometimes it tookhim a long time to bring them out right; and in the old days, littleLord Fauntleroy, who had learned how to add up quite nicely with hisfingers and a slate and pencil, had sometimes even gone to the lengthof trying to help him; and, then too, he had been so good a listener andhad taken such an interest in what the newspaper said, and he and Mr. Hobbs had held such long conversations about the Revolution and theBritish and the elections and the Republican party, that it was nowonder his going left a blank in the grocery store. At first it seemedto Mr. Hobbs that Cedric was not really far away, and would come backagain; that some day he would look up from his paper and see the littlelad standing in the door-way, in his white suit and red stockings, andwith his straw hat on the back of his head, and would hear him say inhis cheerful little voice: "Hello, Mr. Hobbs! This is a hot day--isn'tit?" But as the days passed on and this did not happen, Mr. Hobbs feltvery dull and uneasy. He did not even enjoy his newspaper as much as heused to. He would put the paper down on his knee after reading it, andsit and stare at the high stool for a long time. There were some markson the long legs which made him feel quite dejected and melancholy. Theywere marks made by the heels of the next Earl of Dorincourt, when hekicked and talked at the same time. It seems that even youthful earlskick the legs of things they sit on;--noble blood and lofty lineage donot prevent it. After looking at those marks, Mr. Hobbs would takeout his gold watch and open it and stare at the inscription: "Fromhis 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 aloud snap, and sigh and get up and go and stand in the door-way--betweenthe 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 walkslowly along the pavement until he reached the house where Cedric hadlived, on which there was a sign that read, "This House to Let"; and hewould stop near it and look up and shake his head, and puff at his pipevery 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 anew idea. As a rule, he did not like new ideas, but preferred old ones. After two or three weeks, however, during which, instead of gettingbetter, matters really grew worse, a novel plan slowly and deliberatelydawned upon him. He would go to see Dick. He smoked a great many pipesbefore he arrived at the conclusion, but finally he did arrive at it. Hewould go to see Dick. He knew all about Dick. Cedric had told him, andhis idea was that perhaps Dick might be some comfort to him in the wayof 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 thepavement 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 inhim, and when he had put the finishing touch to his customer's boots, hesaid:

"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 signand 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 thewhole outfit. He was the best little feller ye ever saw. He's in Englandnow. Gone to be one o' them lords. "

"Lord--Lord--" asked Mr. Hobbs, with ponderous slowness, "LordFauntleroy--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, "eversince 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 thesplendid gold watch out of his pocket and opened it, and showed theinside of the case to Dick. 

"'When this you see, remember me, '" he read. "That was his partingkeepsake to me 'I don't want you to forget me'--those was his words--I'dha' remembered him, " he went on, shaking his head, "if he hadn't givenme a thing an' I hadn't seen hide nor hair on him again. He was acompanion as ANY man would remember. "

"He was the nicest little feller I ever see, " said Dick. "An' as tosand--I never seen so much sand to a little feller. I thought a heapo' him, I did, --an' we was friends, too--we was sort o' chums from thefust, that little young un an' me. I grabbed his ball from under a stagefur 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 agrasshopper, 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; hewould 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 notpossible to say it all at one time, and so it was agreed that the nextnight 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 nearlyall his life, but he had never been a bad boy, and he had always had aprivate yearning for a more respectable kind of existence. Since he hadbeen in business for himself, he had made enough money to enable him tosleep under a roof instead of out in the streets, and he had begun tohope he might reach even a higher plane, in time. So, to be invited tocall on a stout, respectable man who owned a corner store, and even hada horse and wagon, seemed to him quite an event. 

"Do you know anything about earls and castles?" Mr. Hobbs inquired. "I'dlike to know more of the particklars. "

"There's a story about some on 'em in the Penny Story Gazette, " saidDick. "It's called the 'Crime of a Coronet; or, The Revenge of theCountess May. ' It's a boss thing, too. Some of us boys 're takin' it toread. "

"Bring it up when you come, " said Mr. Hobbs, "an' I'll pay for it. Bringall 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 ormarkises. We did go over coronets a little, but I never happened to seeany. I guess they don't keep 'em 'round here. "

"Tiffany 'd have 'em if anybody did, " said Dick, "but I don't know asI'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 endedthe matter. 

This was the beginning of quite a substantial friendship. When Dick wentup to the store, Mr. Hobbs received him with great hospitality. He gavehim a chair tilted against the door, near a barrel of apples, and afterhis young visitor was seated, he made a jerk at them with the hand inwhich he held his pipe, saying:

"Help yerself. "

Then he looked at the story papers, and after that they read anddiscussed the British aristocracy; and Mr. Hobbs smoked his pipe veryhard and shook his head a great deal. He shook it most when he pointedout the high stool with the marks on its legs. 

"There's his very kicks, " he said impressively; "his very kicks. I sitand look at 'em by the hour. This is a world of ups an' it's a world ofdowns. Why, he'd set there, an' eat crackers out of a box, an' applesout of a barrel, an' pitch his cores into the street; an' now he's alord a-livin' in a castle. Them's a lord's kicks; they'll be a earl'skicks some day. Sometimes I says to myself, says I, 'Well, I'll bejiggered!'"

He seemed to derive a great deal of comfort from his reflections andDick's visit. Before Dick went home, they had a supper in the smallback-room; they had crackers and cheese and sardines, and other cannedthings out of the store, and Mr. Hobbs solemnly opened two bottles ofginger ale, and pouring out two glasses, proposed a toast. 

"Here's to HIM!" he said, lifting his glass, "an' may he teach 'em alesson--earls an' markises an' dooks an' all!"

After that night, the two saw each other often, and Mr. Hobbs was muchmore comfortable and less desolate. They read the Penny Story Gazette, and many other interesting things, and gained a knowledge of the habitsof the nobility and gentry which would have surprised those despisedclasses if they had realized it. One day Mr. Hobbs made a pilgrimageto a book store down town, for the express purpose of adding to theirlibrary. He went to the clerk and leaned over the counter to speak tohim. 

"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'twhat you want. "

"Haven't?" said Mr. Hobbs, anxiously. "Well, say markises then--ordooks. "

"I know of no such book, " answered the clerk. 

Mr. Hobbs was much disturbed. He looked down on the floor, --then helooked 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 andasked him if a story in which the nobility were chief characters woulddo. Mr. Hobbs said it would--if he could not get an entire volumedevoted to earls. So the clerk sold him a book called "The Tower ofLondon, " written by Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, and he carried it home. 

When Dick came they began to read it. It was a very wonderful andexciting book, and the scene was laid in the reign of the famous Englishqueen who is called by some people Bloody Mary. And as Mr. Hobbs heardof Queen Mary's deeds and the habit she had of chopping people's headsoff, putting them to the torture, and burning them alive, he became verymuch excited. He took his pipe out of his mouth and stared at Dick, andat last he was obliged to mop the perspiration from his brow with hisred pocket handkerchief. 

"Why, he ain't safe!" he said. "He ain't safe! If the women folks cansit up on their thrones an' give the word for things like that to bedone, who's to know what's happening to him this very minute? He's nomore safe than nothing! Just let a woman like that get mad, an' no one'ssafe!"

"Well, " said Dick, though he looked rather anxious himself; "ye seethis 'ere un isn't the one that's bossin' things now. I know her name'sVictory, 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 himover there with those queer folks. Why, they tell me they don't keep theFourth o' July!"

He was privately uneasy for several days; and it was not until hereceived Fauntleroy's letter and had read it several times, both tohimself and to Dick, and had also read the letter Dick got about thesame time, that he became composed again. 

But they both found great pleasure in their letters. They read andre-read them, and talked them over and enjoyed every word of them. Andthey spent days over the answers they sent and read them over almost asoften as the letters they had received. 

It was rather a labor for Dick to write his. All his knowledge ofreading and writing he had gained during a few months, when he had livedwith his elder brother, and had gone to a night-school; but, being asharp boy, he had made the most of that brief education, and had spelledout things in newspapers since then, and practiced writing with bits ofchalk on pavements or walls or fences. He told Mr. Hobbs all about hislife and about his elder brother, who had been rather good to him aftertheir mother died, when Dick was quite a little fellow. Their father haddied some time before. The brother's name was Ben, and he had takencare of Dick as well as he could, until the boy was old enough to sellnewspapers and run errands. They had lived together, and as he grewolder Ben had managed to get along until he had quite a decent place ina 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 unshe was, --a regular tiger-cat. She'd tear things to pieces when she gotmad, --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'dfire 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 nicemother 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' mypapers, 'n' the rooms wus locked up 'n' empty, 'n' the woman o' thehouse, she told me Minna 'd gone--shown a clean pair o' heels. Some unelse said she'd gone across the water to be nuss to a lady as had alittle baby, too. Never heard a word of her since--nuther has Ben. IfI'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 onher. She was a daisy-lookin' gal, too, when she was dressed up 'n' notmad. She'd big black eyes 'n' black hair down to her knees; she'd makeit into a rope as big as your arm, and twist it 'round 'n' 'round herhead; '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 madeher 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 atwork at the time when Dick became acquainted with Mr Hobbs. 

"That gal, " said Dick one day, "she took all the grit out o' him. Icouldn't help feelin' sorry for him sometimes. "

They were sitting in the store door-way together, and Mr. Hobbs wasfilling his pipe. 

"He oughtn't to 've married, " he said solemnly, as he rose to get amatch. "Women--I never could see any use in 'em myself. "

As he took the match from its box, he stopped and looked down on thecounter. 

"Why!" he said, "if here isn't a letter! I didn't see it before. Thepostman must have laid it down when I wasn't noticin', or the newspaperslipped 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 excitedand 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 youi know you will be very mutch suprised my dear frend when i tel you. Itis all a mistake and i am not a lord and i shall not have to be an earlthere is a lady whitch was marid to my uncle bevis who is dead and shehas a little boy and he is lord fauntleroy becaus that is the way it isin England the earls eldest sons little boy is the earl if everybody else is dead i mean if his farther and grandfarther are dead mygrandfarther is not dead but my uncle bevis is and so his boy is lordFauntleroy and i am not becaus my papa was the youngest son and my nameis Cedric Errol like it was when i was in New York and all the thingswill belong to the other boy i thought at first i should have to givehim my pony and cart but my grandfarther says i need not my grandfartheris very sorry and i think he does not like the lady but preaps he thinksdearest and i are sorry because i shall not be an earl i would like tobe an earl now better than i thout i would at first becaus this is abeautifle castle and i like every body so and when you are rich you cando so many things i am not rich now becaus when your papa is only theyoungest son he is not very rich i am going to learn to work so thati can take care of dearest i have been asking Wilkins about groominghorses preaps i might be a groom or a coachman. The lady brought herlittle boy to the castle and my grandfarther and Mr. Havisham talked toher i think she was angry she talked loud and my grandfarther was angrytoo i never saw him angry before i wish it did not make them all mad ithort i would tell you and Dick right away becaus you would be intrustedso 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, hispen-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 hadalways been his habit to say, "I WILL be jiggered, " but this time hesaid, "I AM jiggered. " Perhaps he really WAS jiggered. There is noknowing. 

"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' theBritish 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'retakin' it out on him. I told you he wasn't safe, an' see what'shappened! Like as not, the whole gover'ment's got together to rob him ofhis lawful ownin's. "

He was very much agitated. He had not approved of the change in hisyoung friend's circumstances at first, but lately he had become morereconciled to it, and after the receipt of Cedric's letter he hadperhaps 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 inAmerica money was considered rather an agreeable thing, and if all thewealth and grandeur were to go with the title, it must be rather hard tolose it. 

"They're trying to rob him!" he said, "that's what they're doing, andfolks that have money ought to look after him. "

And he kept Dick with him until quite a late hour to talk it over, andwhen 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 ofmind. 

XII

A very few days after the dinner party at the Castle, almost everybodyin England who read the newspapers at all knew the romantic story ofwhat had happened at Dorincourt. It made a very interesting story whenit was told with all the details. There was the little American boy whohad been brought to England to be Lord Fauntleroy, and who was said tobe so fine and handsome a little fellow, and to have already made peoplefond of him; there was the old Earl, his grandfather, who was so proudof his heir; there was the pretty young mother who had never beenforgiven for marrying Captain Errol; and there was the strange marriageof Bevis, the dead Lord Fauntleroy, and the strange wife, of whom no oneknew anything, suddenly appearing with her son, and saying that he wasthe real Lord Fauntleroy and must have his rights. All these things weretalked about and written about, and caused a tremendous sensation. Andthen there came the rumor that the Earl of Dorincourt was not satisfiedwith the turn affairs had taken, and would perhaps contest the claim bylaw, and the matter might end with a wonderful trial. 

There never had been such excitement before in the county in whichErleboro was situated. On market-days, people stood in groups and talkedand wondered what would be done; the farmers' wives invited one anotherto tea that they might tell one another all they had heard and allthey thought and all they thought other people thought. They relatedwonderful anecdotes about the Earl's rage and his determination not toacknowledge the new Lord Fauntleroy, and his hatred of the woman who wasthe claimant's mother. But, of course, it was Mrs. Dibble who could tellthe 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 thatsweet young cre'tur' as he parted from her child, --for he's got thatfond of him an' that set on him an' that proud of him as he's a'mostdrove 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 gaveorders by; and let her come into the house, he says, an' he goes out ofit. 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 featherwhen 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 servantsgossiped and exclaimed at all times of the day; and in the stables, where Wilkins went about his work in a quite depressed state ofmind, and groomed the brown pony more beautifully than ever, and saidmournfully to the coachman that he "never taught a young gen'leman toride as took to it more nat'ral, or was a better-plucked one than hewas. 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 wasquite calm and untroubled. That person was the little Lord Fauntleroywho was said not to be Lord Fauntleroy at all. When first the state ofaffairs had been explained to him, he had felt some little anxiousnessand perplexity, it is true, but its foundation was not in baffledambition. 

While the Earl told him what had happened, he had sat on a stool holdingon to his knee, as he so often did when he was listening to anythinginteresting; and by the time the story was finished he looked quitesober. 

"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 morequeer still when he saw that there was a troubled expression on thesmall face which was usually so happy. 

"Will they take Dearest's house from her--and her carriage?" Cedricasked in a rather unsteady, anxious little voice. 

"NO!" said the Earl decidedly--in quite a loud voice, in fact. "They cantake 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 inhis eyes, and they looked very big and soft. 

"That other boy, " he said rather tremulously--"he will have to--to beyour boy now--as I was--won't he?"

"NO!" answered the Earl--and he said it so fiercely and loudly thatCedric 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 facewas all alight with eagerness. 

How the old Earl did look at him from head to foot, to be sure! How hisgreat shaggy brows did draw themselves together, and how queerly hisdeep 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 youwould expect an Earl's voice to be, though he spoke more decidedly andperemptorily even than before, --"Yes, you'll be my boy as long as Ilive; and, by George, sometimes I feel as if you were the only boy I hadever had. "

Cedric's face turned red to the roots of his hair; it turned red withrelief and pleasure. He put both his hands deep into his pockets andlooked 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 thoughtthe 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 takeanything from you. You were made for the place, and--well, you mayfill it still. But whatever comes, you shall have all that I can giveyou--all!"

It scarcely seemed as if he were speaking to a child, there was suchdetermination in his face and voice; it was more as if he were making apromise to himself--and perhaps he was. 

He had never before known how deep a hold upon him his fondness for theboy and his pride in him had taken. He had never seen his strength andgood qualities and beauty as he seemed to see them now. To his obstinatenature it seemed impossible--more than impossible--to give up what hehad so set his heart upon. And he had determined that he would not giveit up without a fierce struggle. 

Within a few days after she had seen Mr. Havisham, the woman who claimedto be Lady Fauntleroy presented herself at the Castle, and brought herchild with her. She was sent away. The Earl would not see her, she wastold 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 herfreely afterward, in the servants' hall. He "hoped, " he said, "as he hadwore 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 aheye. I remarked it myself to Henery when fust we called there. "

The woman drove away; the look on her handsome, common face halffrightened, half fierce. Mr. Havisham had noticed, during his interviewswith her, that though she had a passionate temper, and a coarse, insolent manner, she was neither so clever nor so bold as she meant tobe; she seemed sometimes to be almost overwhelmed by the position inwhich she had placed herself. It was as if she had not expected to meetwith such opposition. 

"She is evidently, " the lawyer said to Mrs. Errol, "a person from thelower walks of life. She is uneducated and untrained in everything, andquite 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 isstaying. When she saw him enter the room, she turned white, though sheflew 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, lookinglike a venerable aristocratic giant, staring at the woman from under hisbeetling 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 utteringa word, and then he said:

"You say you are my eldest son's wife. If that is true, and if the proofyou 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 providedfor. 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. Youare exactly the kind of person I should have expected my son Bevis tochoose. "

And then he turned his back upon her and stalked out of the room as hehad stalked into it. 

Not many days after that, a visitor was announced to Mrs. Errol, who waswriting in her little morning room. The maid, who brought the message, looked rather excited; her eyes were quite round with amazement, infact, and being young and inexperienced, she regarded her mistress withnervous sympathy. 

"It's the Earl hisself, ma'am!" she said in tremulous awe. 

When Mrs. Errol entered the drawing-room, a very tall, majestic-lookingold man was standing on the tiger-skin rug. He had a handsome, grim oldface, with an aquiline profile, a long white mustache, and an obstinatelook. 

"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 upliftedeyes. They were so like the big, affectionate, childish eyes he had seenuplifted to his own so often every day during the last few months, thatthey 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 gladto think him like his father also. "

As Lady Lorridaile had told him, her voice was very sweet, and hermanner was very simple and dignified. She did not seem in the leasttroubled by his sudden coming. 

"Yes, " said the Earl, "he is like--my son--too. " He put his hand up tohis 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 theclaims which have been made----"

"I have come to tell you, " said the Earl, "that they will beinvestigated and contested, if a contest can be made. I have come totell 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 giveit 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, " saidlittle Mrs. Errol. "And if she was your eldest son's wife, her son isLord Fauntleroy, and mine is not. "

She was no more afraid of him than Cedric had been, and she looked athim just as Cedric would have looked, and he, having been an old tyrantall his life, was privately pleased by it. People so seldom dared todiffer from him that there was an entertaining novelty in it. 

"I suppose, " he said, scowling slightly, "that you would much preferthat 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 hisfather was--brave and just and true always. "

"In striking contrast to what his grandfather was, eh?" said hislordship sardonically. 

"I have not had the pleasure of knowing his grandfather, " replied Mrs. Errol, "but I know my little boy believes----" She stopped short amoment, looking quietly into his face, and then she added, "I know thatCedric loves you. "

"Would he have loved me, " said the Earl dryly, "if you had told him whyI did not receive you at the Castle?"

"No, " answered Mrs. Errol, "I think not. That was why I did not wish himto know. "

"Well, " said my lord brusquely, "there are few women who would not havetold him. "

He suddenly began to walk up and down the room, pulling his greatmustache more violently than ever. 

"Yes, he is fond of me, " he said, "and I am fond of him. I can't say Iever was fond of anything before. I am fond of him. He pleased me fromthe first. I am an old man, and was tired of my life. He has given mesomething to live for. I am proud of him. I was satisfied to think ofhis 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 steadyor 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 miserablethat I have come to you, " he said, quite glaring down at her. "I usedto hate you; I have been jealous of you. This wretched, disgracefulbusiness has changed that. After seeing that repulsive woman who callsherself the wife of my son Bevis, I actually felt it would be a reliefto look at you. I have been an obstinate old fool, and I suppose I havetreated you badly. You are like the boy, and the boy is the first objectin my life. I am miserable, and I came to you merely because you arelike the boy, and he cares for you, and I care for him. Treat me as wellas you can, for the boy's sake. "

He said it all in his harsh voice, and almost roughly, but somehow heseemed so broken down for the time that Mrs. Errol was touched to theheart. She got up and moved an arm-chair a little forward. 

"I wish you would sit down, " she said in a soft, pretty, sympatheticway. "You have been so much troubled that you are very tired, and youneed 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 disappointmentand wretchedness were good discipline for him; if he had not beenwretched he might have continued to hate her, but just at present hefound her a little soothing. Almost anything would have seemed pleasantby contrast with Lady Fauntleroy; and this one had so sweet a face andvoice, and a pretty dignity when she spoke or moved. Very soon, throughthe quiet magic of these influences, he began to feel less gloomy, andthen he talked still more. 

"Whatever happens, " he said, "the boy shall be provided for. He shall betaken 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 thismatter over?"

"As often as you wish, my lord, " she replied. 

And then he went out to his carriage and drove away, Thomas and Henryalmost stricken dumb upon the box at the turn affairs had taken. 

XIII

OF course, as soon as the story of Lord Fauntleroy and the difficultiesof the Earl of Dorincourt were discussed in the English newspapers, theywere discussed in the American newspapers. The story was too interestingto be passed over lightly, and it was talked of a great deal. There wereso many versions of it that it would have been an edifying thing to buyall the papers and compare them. Mr. Hobbs read so much about it that hebecame quite bewildered. One paper described his young friend Cedric asan infant in arms, --another as a young man at Oxford, winning all thehonors, and distinguishing himself by writing Greek poems; one said hewas engaged to a young lady of great beauty, who was the daughter of aduke; 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 tothe Earl of Dorincourt at all, but was a small impostor who had soldnewspapers and slept in the streets of New York before his motherimposed upon the family lawyer, who came to America to look for theEarl's heir. Then came the descriptions of the new Lord Fauntleroy andhis mother. Sometimes she was a gypsy, sometimes an actress, sometimes abeautiful Spaniard; but it was always agreed that the Earl of Dorincourtwas her deadly enemy, and would not acknowledge her son as his heirif he could help it, and as there seemed to be some slight flaw in thepapers she had produced, it was expected that there would be a longtrial, which would be far more interesting than anything ever carriedinto court before. Mr. Hobbs used to read the papers until his head wasin a whirl, and in the evening he and Dick would talk it all over. Theyfound out what an important personage an Earl of Dorincourt was, andwhat a magnificent income he possessed, and how many estates he owned, and how stately and beautiful was the Castle in which he lived; and themore they learned, the more excited they became. 

"Seems like somethin' orter be done, " said Mr. Hobbs. "Things like themorter be held on to--earls or no earls. "

But there really was nothing they could do but each write a letter toCedric, containing assurances of their friendship and sympathy. Theywrote those letters as soon as they could after receiving the news; andafter having written them, they handed them over to each other to beread. 

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 aredown on ure luck an we say hold on as longs u kin an dont let no one gitahed of u. There is a lot of ole theves wil make al they kin of u ef udont kepe ure i skined. But this is mosly to say that ive not forgotwot u did fur me an if there aint no better way cum over here an go inpardners with me. Biznes is fine an ile see no harm cums to u Ennybig feler that trise to cum it over u wil hafter setle it fust withPerfessor 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 putup job and them thats done it ought to be looked after sharp. And whatI write to say is two things. Im going to look this thing up. Keep quietand Ill see a lawyer and do all I can And if the worst happens and themearls is too many for us theres a partnership in the grocery businessready 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 aearl. "

"So he is, " said Dick. "I'd ha' stood by him. Blest if I didn't likethat 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 younglawyer can possibly be, but a bright, energetic young fellow, with sharpwit and a good temper. He had a shabby office near Dick's stand, andevery morning Dick blacked his boots for him, and quite often they werenot exactly water-tight, but he always had a friendly word or a joke forDick. 

That particular morning, when he put his foot on the rest, he had anillustrated paper in his hand--an enterprising paper, with pictures init of conspicuous people and things. He had just finished looking itover, 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 youdrop in at Delmonico's for your breakfast. Picture of an Englishcastle 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. Youought to become familiar with the nobility and gentry, Dick. Begin onthe Right Honorable the Earl of Dorincourt and Lady Fauntleroy. Hello! Isay, what's the matter?"

The pictures he spoke of were on the front page, and Dick was staring atone of them with his eyes and mouth open, and his sharp face almost palewith 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 pointedto the picture, under which was written:

"Mother of Claimant (Lady Fauntleroy). "

It was the picture of a handsome woman, with large eyes and heavy braidsof 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 ranover to Paris the last time?"

Dick actually forgot to grin. He began to gather his brushes and thingstogether, as if he had something to do which would put an end to hisbusiness for the present. 

"Never mind, " he said. "I know her! An I've struck work for thismornin'. "

And in less than five minutes from that time he was tearing through thestreets on his way to Mr. Hobbs and the corner store. 

Mr. Hobbs could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses when helooked across the counter and saw Dick rush in with the paper in hishand. 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 thecounter. 

"Hello!" exclaimed Mr. Hobbs. "Hello! What you got there?"

"Look at it!" panted Dick. "Look at that woman in the picture! That'swhat you look at! SHE aint no 'ristocrat, SHE aint!" with witheringscorn. "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 iton 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 hada letter in it that said somethin' 'bout her boy, an' it said he had ascar 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'Sboy, --the little chap she hit when she let fly that plate at me. "

Professor Dick Tipton had always been a sharp boy, and earning hisliving in the streets of a big city had made him still sharper. He hadlearned to keep his eyes open and his wits about him, and it must beconfessed he enjoyed immensely the excitement and impatience of thatmoment. If little Lord Fauntleroy could only have looked into the storethat morning, he would certainly have been interested, even if all thediscussion and plans had been intended to decide the fate of some otherboy than himself. 

Mr. Hobbs was almost overwhelmed by his sense of responsibility, andDick was all alive and full of energy. He began to write a letter toBen, and he cut out the picture and inclosed it to him, and Mr. Hobbswrote a letter to Cedric and one to the Earl. They were in the midst ofthis letter-writing when a new idea came to Dick. 

"Say, " he said, "the feller that give me the paper, he's a lawyer. Let'sax him what we'd better do. Lawyers knows it all. "

Mr. Hobbs was immensely impressed by this suggestion and Dick's businesscapacity. 

"That's so!" he replied. "This here calls for lawyers. "

And leaving the store in the care of a substitute, he struggled into hiscoat and marched down-town with Dick, and the two presented themselveswith their romantic story in Mr. Harrison's office, much to that youngman's astonishment. 

If he had not been a very young lawyer, with a very enterprising mindand a great deal of spare time on his hands, he might not have been soreadily interested in what they had to say, for it all certainly soundedvery 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 verysharp, telling sort of way. 

"And, " said Mr. Hobbs, "say what your time's worth a' hour and look intothis thing thorough, and I'LL pay the damage, --Silas Hobbs, corner ofBlank street, Vegetables and Fancy Groceries. "

"Well, " said Mr. Harrison, "it will be a big thing if it turns outall right, and it will be almost as big a thing for me as for LordFauntleroy; and, at any rate, no harm can be done by investigating. It appears there has been some dubiousness about the child. The womancontradicted herself in some of her statements about his age, andaroused suspicion. The first persons to be written to are Dick's brotherand the Earl of Dorincourt's family lawyer. "

And actually, before the sun went down, two letters had been written andsent in two different directions--one speeding out of New York harbor ona mail steamer on its way to England, and the other on a train carryingletters and passengers bound for California. And the first was addressedto T. Havisham, Esq. , and the second to Benjamin Tipton. 

And after the store was closed that evening, Mr. Hobbs and Dick sat inthe back-room and talked together until midnight. 

XIV

It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things tohappen. It had taken only a few minutes, apparently, to change all thefortunes of the little boy dangling his red legs from the high stoolin Mr. Hobbs's store, and to transform him from a small boy, living thesimplest life in a quiet street, into an English nobleman, the heirto an earldom and magnificent wealth. It had taken only a few minutes, apparently, to change him from an English nobleman into a pennilesslittle impostor, with no right to any of the splendors he had beenenjoying. And, surprising as it may appear, it did not take nearly solong a time as one might have expected, to alter the face of everythingagain 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 calledherself Lady Fauntleroy was not nearly so clever as she was wicked; andwhen she had been closely pressed by Mr. Havisham's questions about hermarriage and her boy, she had made one or two blunders which had causedsuspicion to be awakened; and then she had lost her presence of mind andher temper, and in her excitement and anger had betrayed herself stillfurther. All the mistakes she made were about her child. There seemedno doubt that she had been married to Bevis, Lord Fauntleroy, and hadquarreled 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 certainpart of London was false; and just when they all were in the midst ofthe commotion caused by this discovery, there came the letter from theyoung lawyer in New York, and Mr. Hobbs's letters also. 

What an evening it was when those letters arrived, and when Mr. Havishamand the Earl sat and talked their plans over in the library!

"After my first three meetings with her, " said Mr. Havisham, "I beganto suspect her strongly. It appeared to me that the child was olderthan she said he was, and she made a slip in speaking of the date ofhis birth and then tried to patch the matter up. The story these lettersbring fits in with several of my suspicions. Our best plan will beto cable at once for these two Tiptons, --say nothing about them toher, --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 shewill be frightened out of her wits, and will betray herself on thespot. "

And that was what actually happened. She was told nothing, and Mr. Havisham kept her from suspecting anything by continuing to haveinterviews with her, in which he assured her he was investigating herstatements; and she really began to feel so secure that her spirits roseimmensely 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 lessthan three persons--one was a sharp-faced boy and one was a big youngman and the third was the Earl of Dorincourt. 

She sprang to her feet and actually uttered a cry of terror. It brokefrom her before she had time to check it. She had thought of thesenew-comers as being thousands of miles away, when she had ever thoughtof them at all, which she had scarcely done for years. She had neverexpected to see them again. It must be confessed that Dick grinned alittle 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 backon her and went and stood looking out of the window, as if the sight ofher was hateful to him, as indeed it was. Then the woman, seeing herselfso baffled and exposed, lost all control over herself and flew intosuch a rage as Ben and Dick had often seen her in before. Dick grinneda trifle more as he watched her and heard the names she called them alland 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 canbring 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 withyou, and so am I!"

And just as he finished saying the words, the door leading into thebedroom opened a little, and the boy, probably attracted by the sound ofthe loud voices, looked in. He was not a handsome boy, but he had rathera nice face, and he was quite like Ben, his father, as any one couldsee, 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 littlefellow, "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 pleasedhim to hear that he was going away. He had been so accustomed to queerexperiences that it did not surprise him to be told by a stranger thathe was his father. He objected so much to the woman who had come a fewmonths before to the place where he had lived since his babyhood, andwho had suddenly announced that she was his mother, that he was quiteready 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 findme. "

He walked out of the room, holding the child's hand and not looking atthe woman once. She was fairly raving with fury, and the Earl was calmlygazing at her through his eyeglasses, which he had quietly placed uponhis 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 outof the way, she gave him one savage look and dashed past him into thenext 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 andtook the train to London, and was seen no more. 

When the Earl left the room after the interview, he went at once to hiscarriage. 

"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-roomwith his mother. 

The Earl came in without being announced. He looked an inch or sotaller, 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 yourmother 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 wasteno time in arranging this matter. He had begun to think it would suithim to make friends with his heir's mother. 

"Are you quite sure you want me?" said Mrs. Errol, with her soft, prettysmile. 

"Quite sure, " he said bluntly. "We have always wanted you, but we werenot exactly aware of it. We hope you will come. "

XV

Ben took his boy and went back to his cattle ranch in California, andhe returned under very comfortable circumstances. Just before his going, Mr. Havisham had an interview with him in which the lawyer told him thatthe Earl of Dorincourt wished to do something for the boy who might haveturned out to be Lord Fauntleroy, and so he had decided that it wouldbe a good plan to invest in a cattle ranch of his own, and put Ben incharge of it on terms which would make it pay him very well, and whichwould 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 asgood as his own, and might easily become his own in time, as indeed itdid in the course of a few years; and Tom, the boy, grew up on it intoa fine young man and was devotedly fond of his father; and they were sosuccessful and happy that Ben used to say that Tom made up to him forall the troubles he had ever had. 

But Dick and Mr. Hobbs--who had actually come over with the others tosee that things were properly looked after--did not return for sometime. It had been decided at the outset that the Earl would provide forDick, and would see that he received a solid education; and Mr. Hobbshad decided that as he himself had left a reliable substitute in chargeof his store, he could afford to wait to see the festivities which wereto celebrate Lord Fauntleroy's eighth birthday. All the tenantry wereinvited, and there were to be feasting and dancing and games in thepark, and bonfires and fire-works in the evening. 

"Just like the Fourth of July!" said Lord Fauntleroy. "It seems a pitymy birthday wasn't on the Fourth, doesn't it? For then we could keepthem both together. "

It must be confessed that at first the Earl and Mr. Hobbs were not asintimate as it might have been hoped they would become, in the interestsof the British aristocracy. The fact was that the Earl had known veryfew grocery-men, and Mr. Hobbs had not had many very close acquaintanceswho were earls; and so in their rare interviews conversation didnot flourish. It must also be owned that Mr. Hobbs had been ratheroverwhelmed 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 theflower-gardens, and the hot-houses, and the terraces, and the peacocks, and the dungeon, and the armor, and the great staircase, and thestables, and the liveried servants, he really was quite bewildered. Butit was the picture gallery which seemed to be the finishing stroke. 

"Somethin' in the manner of a museum?" he said to Fauntleroy, when hewas led into the great, beautiful room. 

"N--no--!" said Fauntleroy, rather doubtfully. "I don't THINK it's amuseum. My grandfather says these are my ancestors. "

"Your aunt's sisters!" ejaculated Mr. Hobbs. "ALL of 'em? Yourgreat-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 agitatedcountenance, until with the greatest difficulty Lord Fauntleroy managedto explain that the walls were not lined entirely with the portraits ofthe 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 themand when, and who added romantic stories of the lords and ladies whowere the originals. When Mr. Hobbs once understood, and had heard someof these stories, he was very much fascinated and liked the picturegallery almost better than anything else; and he would often walk overfrom the village, where he staid at the Dorincourt Arms, and would spendhalf an hour or so wandering about the gallery, staring at the paintedladies and gentlemen, who also stared at him, and shaking his headnearly all the time. 

"And they was all earls!" he would say, "er pretty nigh it! An' HE'Sgoin' to be one of 'em, an' own it all!"

Privately he was not nearly so much disgusted with earls and their modeof life as he had expected to be, and it is to be doubted whether hisstrictly republican principles were not shaken a little by a closeracquaintance with castles and ancestors and all the rest of it. At anyrate, one day he uttered a very remarkable and unexpected sentiment:

"I wouldn't have minded bein' one of 'em myself!" he said--which wasreally 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, andwith the flags flying from the tents and the top of the Castle! Nobodyhad staid away who could possibly come, because everybody was reallyglad that little Lord Fauntleroy was to be little Lord Fauntleroy still, and some day was to be the master of everything. Every one wanted tohave a look at him, and at his pretty, kind mother, who had made so manyfriends. And positively every one liked the Earl rather better, and feltmore amiably toward him because the little boy loved and trusted him so, and because, also, he had now made friends with and behaved respectfullyto his heir's mother. It was said that he was even beginning to befond of her, too, and that between his young lordship and his younglordship's mother, the Earl might be changed in time into quite awell-behaved old nobleman, and everybody might be happier and betteroff. 

What scores and scores of people there were under the trees, and inthe tents, and on the lawns! Farmers and farmers' wives in their Sundaysuits and bonnets and shawls; girls and their sweethearts; childrenfrolicking and chasing about; and old dames in red cloaks gossipingtogether. At the Castle, there were ladies and gentlemen who had come tosee the fun, and to congratulate the Earl, and to meet Mrs. Errol. Lady Lorredaile and Sir Harry were there, and Sir Thomas Asshe and hisdaughters, and Mr. Havisham, of course, and then beautiful Miss VivianHerbert, with the loveliest white gown and lace parasol, and a circleof gentlemen to take care of her--though she evidently liked Fauntleroybetter than all of them put together. And when he saw her and ran to herand put his arm around her neck, she put her arms around him, too, andkissed 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 soglad!"

And afterward she walked about the grounds with him, and let him showher 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, "--sheshook hands with them both, and stood and talked to them in herprettiest way, asking them about America and their voyage and their lifesince they had been in England; while Fauntleroy stood by, looking up ather with adoring eyes, and his cheeks quite flushed with delight becausehe saw that Mr. Hobbs and Dick liked her so much. 

"Well, " said Dick solemnly, afterward, "she's the daisiest gal Iever saw! She's--well, she's just a daisy, that's what she is, 'n' nomistake!"

Everybody looked after her as she passed, and every one looked afterlittle Lord Fauntleroy. And the sun shone and the flags fluttered andthe games were played and the dances danced, and as the gayeties wenton and the joyous afternoon passed, his little lordship was simplyradiantly happy. 

The whole world seemed beautiful to him. 

There was some one else who was happy, too, --an old man, who, though hehad been rich and noble all his life, had not often been very honestlyhappy. Perhaps, indeed, I shall tell you that I think it was because hewas rather better than he had been that he was rather happier. He hadnot, indeed, suddenly become as good as Fauntleroy thought him; but, atleast, he had begun to love something, and he had several times founda sort of pleasure in doing the kind things which the innocent, kindlittle heart of a child had suggested, --and that was a beginning. Andevery day he had been more pleased with his son's wife. It was true, asthe people said, that he was beginning to like her too. He liked tohear her sweet voice and to see her sweet face; and as he sat in hisarm-chair, he used to watch her and listen as she talked to her boy; andhe heard loving, gentle words which were new to him, and he began to seewhy the little fellow who had lived in a New York side street and knowngrocery-men and made friends with boot-blacks, was still so well-bredand manly a little fellow that he made no one ashamed of him, even whenfortune changed him into the heir to an English earldom, living in anEnglish castle. 

It was really a very simple thing, after all, --it was only that he hadlived near a kind and gentle heart, and had been taught to think kindthoughts 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 andcastles; he was quite ignorant of all grand and splendid things; but hewas always lovable because he was simple and loving. To be so is likebeing born a king. 

As the old Earl of Dorincourt looked at him that day, moving about thepark among the people, talking to those he knew and making his readylittle bow when any one greeted him, entertaining his friends Dick andMr. Hobbs, or standing near his mother or Miss Herbert listening totheir conversation, the old nobleman was very well satisfied with him. And he had never been better satisfied than he was when they went downto the biggest tent, where the more important tenants of the Dorincourtestate were sitting down to the grand collation of the day. 

They were drinking toasts; and, after they had drunk the health of theEarl, with much more enthusiasm than his name had ever been greeted withbefore, they proposed the health of "Little Lord Fauntleroy. " And ifthere had ever been any doubt at all as to whether his lordship waspopular or not, it would have been set that instant. Such a clamor ofvoices, and such a rattle of glasses and applause! They had begun tolike him so much, those warm-hearted people, that they forgot to feelany restraint before the ladies and gentlemen from the castle, whohad come to see them. They made quite a decent uproar, and one or twomotherly women looked tenderly at the little fellow where he stood, withhis mother on one side and the Earl on the other, and grew quite moistabout the eyes, and said to one another:

"God bless him, the pretty little dear!"

Little Lord Fauntleroy was delighted. He stood and smiled, and madebows, and flushed rosy red with pleasure up to the roots of his brighthair. 

"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 MissHerbert, and they both nodded. And so he made a little step forward, and everybody looked at him--such a beautiful, innocent little fellow hewas, too, with his brave, trustful face!--and he spoke as loudly as hecould, 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 mybirthday--because I've enjoyed it so much--and--I'm very glad I'm goingto be an earl; I didn't think at first I should like it, but now Ido--and I love this place so, and I think it is beautiful--and--and--andwhen 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 alittle sigh of relief, and put his hand into the Earl's and stood closeto him, smiling and leaning against his side. 

And that would be the very end of my story; but I must add one curiouspiece of information, which is that Mr. Hobbs became so fascinatedwith high life and was so reluctant to leave his young friend that heactually sold his corner store in New York, and settled in the Englishvillage of Erlesboro, where he opened a shop which was patronized by theCastle and consequently was a great success. And though he and theEarl never became very intimate, if you will believe me, that man Hobbsbecame in time more aristocratic than his lordship himself, and he readthe Court news every morning, and followed all the doings of the Houseof Lords! And about ten years after, when Dick, who had finished hiseducation and was going to visit his brother in California, asked thegood grocer if he did not wish to return to America, he shook his headseriously. 

"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'syoung an' stirrin'--but there's faults in it. There's not an auntsisteramong 'em--nor an earl!"