LORD 
 
 
 
 
University of California Berkeley 
 
 Gift of 
 Robert B. & Marian S. Honeyman 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
'ARE YOU THE EARL?' SAID CEDRIC. 'I 'M YOUR GRANDSON. I *M LORD FAUNTLEROY.' " 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT 
 
 NEW-YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1886 
 
Copyright, 1886, by 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 
 
 Press of J. J. Little & Co. 
 Astor Place, New York. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 FROM DRAWINGS BY REGINALD B. BIRCH. 
 
 t( Are you the Earl?" said Cedric; "I'm your grandson. I'm 
 
 Lord Fauntleroy." Frontispiece. 
 
 Vignette Title-page. 
 
 "So this is little Lord Fauntleroy." Page 11 
 
 "Mr. Hobbs," said Cedric, "an Earl is sitting on this box now! " . " 75 
 
 The Race " 27 
 
 " I used to think I might perhaps be a President, but I never thought 
 
 of being an Earl " said Ceddie ' 30 
 
 " / have to go to England and be a Lord." " 41 
 
 Dick boards the steamer to bid good-bye to Lord Fauntleroy. . "45 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Vignette Page 48 
 
 Jerry narrates some of 1m Adventures " 55 
 
 The big cat was purring in drowsy content ; she liked tbe caressing 
 
 touch of tbe hind little band " 57 
 
 Tbe gates were opened by a woman and two children who came out 
 
 of a pretty ivy-covered lodge " 65 
 
 "Just lean on me/' said little Lord Fauntleroy. I 'II walk very 
 
 slowly." ' 80 
 
 Lord Fauntleroy writes a letter tf 103 
 
 Here lyetb ye bodye of Gregorye Arthur e Fyrst Earle of Dorm- 
 court Allsoe of Alisone Hildegarde bys wyfe " //6 
 
 " I've a great deal to thank your Lordship for, ' ' sa id Higgins . . (f / / 8 
 
 Wilhins was carrying bis bat for him, and Us hair was fly ing, but 
 
 he came back at a brisk canter. " /o^ 
 
 ' ' Up the lad has to get, and my Lord trudges alongside of him with 
 
 his bands in his pockets." " / 30 
 
 The workmen liked to see him stand among them, talking away, 
 
 with his bands in bis pockets /^ 
 
 " / was thinking bow beautiful you are," said Lord Fauntleroy. . i 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xi 
 
 " Why, Boss!" exclaimed Dick, " do you know Mm yourself?" . Page 166 
 
 <f Shall I be your boy, even if I 'm not going to be an Earl?" said 
 
 Cedric ............. ... " 178 
 
 She was told by the footman at the door that the Earl would not 
 
 see her ................. " 181 
 
 <( Are you quite sure you want me?" said Mrs. Errol ..... " 
 
 " My grandfather says these are my ancestors," said Faimtleroy. " 202 
 
 Lord Fauntleroy makes a Speech to the tenants. ..... 6t 207 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 I 
 
 CEDRIC himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never 
 been even mentioned to him. He knew that his papa had 
 been an Englishman, because his mamma had told him so ; 
 but then his papa had died when he was so little a boy that he could 
 not remember very much about him, except that he was big, and 
 had blue eyes and a long mustache, and that it was a splendid thing 
 to be carried around the room on his shoulder. Since his papa's 
 death, Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to his 
 mamma about him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent 
 away, and when he had returned, everything was over ; and his 
 mother, who had been very ill, too, was only just beginning to sit 
 in her chair by the window. She was pale and thin, and all the 
 dimples had gone from her pretty face, and her eyes looked large 
 and mournful, and she was dressed in black. 
 
 " Dearest," said Cedric (his papa had called her that always, and 
 so the little boy had learned to say it), " dearest, is my papa 
 better?" 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 He felt her arms tremble, and so he turned his curly head and 
 looked in her face. There was something in it that made him 
 feel that he was going to cry. 
 
 "Dearest," he said, "is he well?" 
 
 Then suddenly his loving little heart told him that he 'd better 
 put both his arms around her neck and kiss her again and again, 
 and keep his soft cheek close to hers ; and he did so, and she laid 
 her face on his shoulder and cried bitterly, holding him as if she 
 could never let him go again. 
 
 " Yes, he is well," she sobbed ; " he is quite, quite well, but we 
 we have no one left but each other. No one at all." 
 
 Then, little as he was, he understood that his big, handsome 
 young papa would not come back any more ; that he was dead, as 
 he had heard of other people being, although he could not compre- 
 hend exactly what strange thing had brought all this sadness about 
 It was because his mamma always cried when he spoke of his papa 
 that he secretly made up his mind it was better not to speak of him 
 very often to her, and he found out, too, that it was better not to let 
 her sit still and look into the fire or out of the window without 
 moving or talking. He and his mamma knew very few people, and 
 lived what might have been thought very lonely lives, although 
 Cedric did not know it was lonely until he grew older and heard 
 why it was they had no visitors. Then he was told that his mamma 
 was an orphan, and quite alone in the world when his papa had 
 married her. She was very pretty, and had been living as compan- 
 ion to a rich old lady who was not kind to her, and one day Captain 
 Cedric Errol, who was calling at the house, saw her run up the 
 stairs with tears on her eyelashes; and she looked so sweet and 
 innocent and sorrowful that the Captain could not forget her. And 
 after many strange things had happened, they knew each other well 
 and loved each other dearly, and were married, although their mar- 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 riage brought them the ill-will of several persons. The one who 
 was most angry of all, however, was the Captain's father, who lived 
 in England, and was a very rich and important old nobleman, with 
 a very bad temper and a very violent dislike to America and Amer- 
 icans. He had two sons older than Captain Cedric ; and it was the 
 law that the elder of these sons should inherit the family title and 
 estates, which were very rich and splendid ; if the eldest son died, 
 the next one would be heir ; so, though he was a member of such a 
 great family, there was little chance that Captain Cedric would be 
 very rich himself. 
 
 But it so happened that Nature had given to the youngest son 
 gifts which she had not bestowed upon his elder brothers. He had 
 a beautiful face and a fine, strong, graceful figure ; he had a bright 
 smile and a sweet, gay voice ; he was brave and generous, and had 
 the kindest heart in the world, and seemed to have the power to 
 make every one love him. And it was not so with his elder brothers; 
 neither of them was handsome, or very kind, or clever. When they 
 were boys at Eton, they were not popular ; when they were at col- 
 lege, they cared nothing for study, and wasted both time and money, 
 and made few real friends. The old Earl, their father, was constantly 
 disappointed and humiliated by them ; his heir was no honor to his 
 noble name, and did not promise to end in being anything but a 
 selfish, wasteful, insignificant man, with no manly or noble qualities. 
 It was very bitter, the old Earl thought, that the son who was only 
 third, and would have only a very small fortune, should be the one 
 who had all the gifts, and all the charms, and all the strength and 
 beauty. Sometimes he almost hated the handsome young man 
 because he seemed to have the good things which should have gone 
 with the stately title and the magnificent estates ; and yet, in the 
 depths of his proud, stubborn old heart, he could not help caring 
 very much for his youngest son. It was in one of his fits of petu- 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 lance that he sent him off to travel in America; he thought he would 
 send him away for a while, so that he should not be made angry by 
 constantly contrasting him with his brothers, who were at that time 
 giving him a great deal of trouble by their wild ways. 
 
 But, after about six months, he began to feel lonely, and longed 
 in secret to see his son again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric and 
 ordered him home. The letter he wrote crossed on its way a letter 
 the Captain had just written to his father, telling of his love for the 
 pretty American girl, and of his intended marriage ; and when the 
 Earl received that letter he was furiously angry. Bad as his temper 
 was, he had never given way to it in his life as he gave way to it 
 when he read the Captain's letter. His valet, who was in the room 
 when it came, thought his lordship would have a fit of apoplexy, he 
 was so wild with anger. For an hour he raged like a tiger, and then 
 he sat down and wrote to his son, and ordered him never to come 
 near his old home, nor to write to his father or brothers again. He 
 told him he might live as he pleased, and die where he pleased, that 
 he should be cut off from his family forever, and that he need never 
 expect help from his father as long as he lived. 
 
 The Captain was very sad when he read the letter; he was very 
 fond of England, and he dearly loved the beautiful home where he 
 had been born ; he had even loved his ill-tempered old father, and 
 had sympathized with him in his disappointments ; but he knew he 
 need expect no kindness from him in the future. At first he scarcely 
 knew what to do ; he had not been brought up to work, and had no 
 business experience, but he had courage and plenty of determination. 
 So he sold his commission in the English army, and after some 
 trouble found a situation in New York, and married. The change 
 from his old life in England was very great, but he was young and 
 happy, and he hoped that hard work would do great things for him 
 in the future. He had a small house on a quiet street, and his little 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 boy was born there, and everything was so gay and cheerful, in a 
 simple way, that he was never sorry for a moment that he had mar- 
 ried the rich old lady's pretty companion just because she was so 
 sweet and he loved her and she loved him. She was very sweet, 
 indeed, and her little boy was like both her and his father. Though 
 he was born in so quiet and cheap a little home, it seemed as if there 
 never had been a more fortunate baby. In the first place, he was 
 always well, and so he never gave any one trouble ; in the second 
 place, he had so sweet a temper and ways so charming that he was 
 a pleasure to every one ; and in the third place, he was so beautiful 
 to look at that he was quite a picture. Instead of being a bald- 
 headed baby, he started in life with a quantity of soft, fine, gold- 
 colored hair, which curled up at the ends, and went into loose rings 
 by the time he was six months old ; he had big brown eyes and long 
 eyelashes and a darling little face ; he had so strong a back and 
 such splendid sturdy legs, that at nine months he learned suddenly to 
 walk ; his manners were so good, for a baby, that it was delightful 
 to make his acquaintance. He seemed to feel that every one was 
 his friend, and when any one spoke to him, when he was in his car- 
 riage in the street, he would give the stranger one sweet, serious 
 look with the brown eyes, and then follow it with a lovely, friendly 
 smile ; and the consequence was, that there was not a person in the 
 neighborhood of the quiet street where he lived even to the gro- 
 ceryman at the corner, who was considered the Grossest creature 
 alive who was not pleased to see him and speak to him. And 
 every month of his life he grew handsomer and more interesting. 
 
 When he was old enough to walk out with his nurse, dragging 
 a small wagon and wearing a short white kilt skirt, and a big white 
 hat set back on his curly yellow hair, he was so handsome and 
 strong and rosy that he attracted every one's attention, and his nurse 
 would come home and tell his mamma stories of the ladies who had 
 
6 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 stopped their carriages to look at and speak to him, and of how 
 pleased they were when he talked to them in his cheerful little way, 
 as if he had known them always. His greatest charm was this 
 cheerful, fearless, quaint little way of making friends with people. 
 I think it arose from his having a very confiding nature, and a kind 
 little heart that sympathized with every one, and wished to make 
 every one as comfortable as he liked to be himself. It made him 
 very quick to understand the feelings of those about him. Perhaps 
 this had grown on him, too, because he had lived so much with his 
 father and mother, who were always loving and considerate and 
 tender and well-bred. He had never heard an unkind or uncourt- 
 eous word spoken at home ; he had always been loved and caressed 
 and treated tenderly, and so his childish soul was full of kindness 
 and innocent warm feeling. He had always heard his mamma 
 called by pretty, loving names, and so he used them himself when 
 he spoke to her; he had always seen that his papa watched over 
 her and took great care of her, and so he learned, too, to be careful 
 of her. 
 
 So when he knew his papa would come back no more, and saw 
 how very sad his mamma was, there gradually came into his kind 
 little heart the thought 'that he must do what he could to make her 
 happy. He was not much more than a baby, but that thought was 
 in his mind whenever he climbed upon her knee and kissed her and 
 put his curly head on her neck, and when he brought his toys and 
 picture-books to show her, and when he curled up quietly by her 
 side as she used to lie on the sofa. He was not old enough to know 
 of anything else to do, so he did what he could, and was more of a 
 comfort to her than he could have understood. 
 
 " Oh, Mary ! " he heard her say once to her old servant ; " I 
 am sure he is trying to help me in his innocent way I know 
 he is. He looks at me sometimes with a loving, wondering little 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 look, as if he were sorry for me, and then he will come and pet me 
 or show me something. He is such a little man, I really think 
 he knows." 
 
 As he grew older, he had a great many quaint little ways which 
 amused and interested people greatly. 'He was so much of a com- 
 panion for his mother that she scarcely cared for any other. They 
 used to walk together and talk together and play together. When 
 he was quite a little fellow, he learned to read ; and after that he 
 used to lie on the hearth-rug, in the evening, and read aloud some- 
 times stories, and sometimes big books such as older people read, 
 and sometimes even the newspaper ; and often at such times Mary, 
 in the kitchen, would hear Mrs. Errol laughing with delight at the 
 quaint things he said. 
 
 " And, indade," said Mary to the groceryman, " nobody cud help 
 laughin' at the quare little ways of him and his ould-fashioned 
 sayin's ! Did n't he come into my kitchen the noight the new Prisi- 
 dent was nominated and shtand afore the fire, lookin' loike a pictur', 
 wid his hands in his shmall pockets, an' his innocent bit of a face as 
 sayrious as a jedge ? An' sez he to me : ' Mary/ sez he, ' I 'm very 
 much int'rusted in the 'lection,' sez he. ' I 'm a 'publican, an' so is 
 Dearest. Are you a 'publican, Mary ? ' ' Sorra a bit/ sez I ; * I 'm 
 the bist o' dimmycrats ! ' An' he looks up at me wid a look that ud 
 go to yer heart, an' sez he : ' Mary/ sez he, ' the country will go to 
 ruin/ An' nivver a day since thin has he let go by widout argyin' 
 wid me to change me polytics." 
 
 Mary was very fond of him, and very proud of him, too. She 
 had been with his mother ever since he was born ; and, after his 
 father's death, had been cook and housemaid and nurse and every- 
 thing else. She was proud of his graceful, strong little body and 
 his pretty manners, and especially proud of the bright curly hair 
 which waved over his forehead and fell in charming love-locks on 
 
8 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 his shoulders. She was willing to work early and late to help his 
 mamma make his small suits and keep them in order. 
 
 " 'Ristycratic, is it ? " she would say. " Faith, an' I 'd loike to see 
 the choild on Fifth Avey-noo as looks loike him an' shteps out as 
 handsome as himself. An' ivvery man, woman, and choild lookin' 
 afther him in his bit of a black velvet skirt made out of the mis- 
 thress's ould gownd ; an' his little head up, an' his curly hair flyin' 
 an' shinin'. It 's loike a young lord he .looks." 
 
 Cedric did not know that he looked like a young lord; he did 
 not know what a lord was. His greatest friend was the grocery man 
 at the corner the cfoss groceryman, who was never cross to him. 
 His name was Mr. Hobbs, and Cedric admired and respected him 
 very much. He thought him a very rich and powerful person, he 
 had so many things in his store, prunes and figs and oranges and 
 biscuits, and he had a horse and wagon. Cedric was fond of the 
 milkman and the baker and the apple-woman, but he liked Mr. 
 Hobbs best of all, and was on terms of such intimacy with him that 
 he went to see him every day, and often sat with him quite a long 
 time, discussing the topics of the hour. It was quite surprising how 
 many things they found to talk about the Fourth of July, for 
 instance. When they began to talk about the Fourth of July there 
 really seemed no end to it. Mr. Hobbs had a very bad opinion of 
 " the British," and he told the whole story of the Revolution, relat- 
 ing very wonderful and patriotic stories about the villainy of the 
 enemy and the bravery of the Revolutionary heroes, and he even 
 generously repeated part of the Declaration of Independence. 
 Cedric was so excited that his eyes shone and his cheeks were red 
 and his curls were all rubbed and tumbled into a yellow mop. He 
 could hardly wait to eat his dinner after he went home, he was so 
 anxious to tell his mamma. It was, perhaps, Mr. Hobbs who gave 
 him his first interest in politics. Mr. Hobbs was fond of reading the 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 newspapers, and so Cedric heard a great deal about what was going 
 on in Washington ; and Mr. Hobbs would tell him whether the 
 President was doing his duty or not. And once, when there was an 
 election, he found it all quite grand, and probably but for Mr. Hobbs 
 and Cedric the country might have been wrecked. Mr. Hobbs took 
 him to see a great torchlight procession, and many of the men who 
 carried torches remembered afterward a stout man who stood near 
 a lamp-post and held on his shoulder a handsome little shouting 
 boy, who waved his cap in the air. 
 
 It was not long after this election, when Cedric was between seven 
 and eight years old, that the very strange thing happened which made 
 so wonderful a change in his life. It was quite curious, too, that the 
 day it happened he had been talking to Mr. Hobbs about England 
 and the Queen, and Mr. Hobbs had said some very severe things 
 about the aristocracy, being specially indignant against earls and mar- 
 quises. It had been a hot morning ; and after playing soldiers with 
 some friends of his, Cedric had gone into the store to rest, and had 
 found Mr. Hobbs looking very fierce over a piece of the Illustrated 
 London News, which contained a picture of some court ceremony. 
 
 " Ah," he said, " that 's the way they go on now ; but they'll get 
 enough of it some day, when those they Ve trod on rise and blow 
 'em up sky-high, earls and marquises and all ! It 's coming, and 
 they may look out for it ! " 
 
 Cedric had perched himself as usual on the high stool and 
 pushed his hat back, and put his hands in his pockets in delicate 
 compliment to Mr. Hobbs. 
 
 " Did you ever know many marquises, Mr. Hobbs?" Cedric 
 inquired, " or earls ? " 
 
 "No," answered Mr. Hobbs, with indignation; "I guess not. 
 I 'd like to catch one of 'em inside here ; that 's all ! I '11 have no- 
 grasping tyrants sittin' 'round on my cracker-barrels ! " 
 
JO LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 And he was so proud of the sentiment that he looked around 
 proudly and mopped his forehead. 
 
 " Perhaps they would n't be earls if they knew any better," 
 said Cedric, feeling some vague sympathy for their unhappy 
 condition. 
 
 11 Would n'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, per- 
 haps, 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 '11 see you again." 
 
 He was surprised to see Mary staring at him in a dumfounded 
 fashion, and he wondered why she kept shaking her head. 
 
 " What 's the matter, Mary ? " he said. " Is it the hot weather ? " 
 
 " No," said Mary ; "but there 's strange things happenin' to us." 
 
 " Has the sun given Dearest a headache?" he inquired anxiously. 
 But it was not that. When he reached his own house there 
 was a coupe standing before the door, and some one was in the 
 little parlor talking to his mamma. Mary hurried him upstairs and 
 put on his best summer suit of cream-colored flannel, with the red 
 scarf around his waist, and combed out his curly locks. 
 
 " Lords, is it?" he heard her say. "An* the nobility an' gintry. 
 Och ! bad cess to them ! Lords, indade worse luck." 
 
 It was really very puzzling, but he felt sure his mamma would 
 tell him what all the excitement meant, so he allowed Mary to 
 bemoan herself without asking many questions. When he was 
 dressed, he ran downstairs and went into the parlor. A tall, thin 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 II 
 
 old gentleman with a sharp face was sitting in an arm-chair. His 
 mother was standing near by with a pale face, and he saw that 
 there were 
 tears in her 
 eyes. 
 
 -Oh! 
 Ced die ! " 
 she cried 
 out, and ran 
 to her little 
 boy and 
 caught him 
 in her arms 
 and kissed 
 him in a 
 frightened, 
 tro ubled 
 
 way. 
 
 Oh! 
 
 SO THIS IS LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY." 
 
 C e d d i e, 
 darling ! " 
 
 The tall 
 old gentle- 
 man rose from his chair and looked at 
 Cedric with his sharp eyes. He rubbed his thin chin with his bony 
 hand as he looked. 
 
 He seemed not at all displeased. 
 
 " And so," he said at last, slowly, "and so this is little Lord 
 Fauntleroy." 
 
II 
 
 THERE was never a more amazed little boy than Cedric during" 
 the week that followed ; there was never so strange or so 
 unreal a week. In the first place, the story his mamma 
 told him was a very curious one. He was obliged to hear it two or 
 three times before he could understand it. He could not imagine 
 what Mr. Hobbs would think of it. It began with earls: his grand- 
 papa, whom he had never seen, was an earl ; and his eldest uncle, 
 if he had not been killed by a fall from his horse, would have been 
 an earl, too, in time ; and after his death, his other uncle would have 
 been an earl, if he had not died suddenly, in Rome, of a fever. 
 After that, his own papa, if he had lived, would have been an earl ; 
 but, since they all had died and only Cedric was left, it appeared that 
 he was to be an earl after his grandpapa's death and for the pres- 
 ent he was Lord Fauntleroy. 
 
 He turned quite pale when he was first told of it. 
 " Oh ! Dearest ! " he said, " I should rather not be an earl. None 
 of the boys are earls. Can't I not be one ? " 
 
 But it seemed to be unavoidable. And when, that evening, 
 they sat together by the open window looking out into the shabby 
 street, he and his mother had a long talk about it. Cedric sat on 
 his footstool, clasping one knee in his favorite attitude and wearing 
 a bewildered little face rather red from the exertion of thinking. 
 His grandfather had sent for him to come to England, and his 
 mamma thought he must go. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 13 
 
 " Because," she said, looking out of the window with sorrowful 
 eyes, " I know your papa would wish it to be so, Ceddie. He loved 
 his home very much ; and there are many things to be thought of 
 that a little boy can't quite understand. I should be a selfish little 
 mother if I did not send you. When you are a man, you will see 
 why." 
 
 Geddie shook his head mournfully. 
 
 " I shall be very sorry to leave Mr. Hobbs," he said. " I 'm 
 afraid he '11 miss me, and I shall miss him. And I shall miss them 
 all." 
 
 When Mr. Havisham who was the family lawyer of the Earl 
 of Dorincourt, and who had been sent by him to bring Lord Faunt- 
 leroy to England came the next day, Cedric heard many things. 
 But, somehow, it did not console him to hear that he was to be a 
 very rich man when he grew up, and that he would have castles 
 here and castles there, and great parks and deep mines and grand 
 estates and tenantry. He was troubled about his friend, Mr. Hobbs, 
 and he went to see him at the store soon after breakfast, in great 
 anxiety of mind. 
 
 He found him reading the morning paper, and he approached 
 him with a grave demeanor. He really felt it would be a great 
 shock to Mr. Hobbs to hear what had befallen him, and on his way 
 to the store he had been thinking how it would be best to break the 
 news. 
 
 " Hello ! " said Mr. Hobbs. " Mornin' ! " 
 
 " Good-morning," said Cedric. 
 
 He did not climb up on the high stool as usual, but sat down on 
 a cracker-box and clasped his knee, and was so silent for a few 
 moments that Mr. Hobbs finally looked up inquiringly over the top 
 of his newspaper. 
 
 " Hello ! " he said again. 
 
14 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 Cedric gathered all his strength of mind together. 
 
 " Mr. Hobbs," he said, "do you remember what we were talking 
 about yesterday morning ? " 
 
 "Well," replied Mr. Hobbs, "seems to me it was England." 
 
 "Yes," said Cedric; "but just when Mary came for me, you 
 know ? " 
 
 Mr. Hobbs rubbed the back of his head. 
 
 " We was mentioning Queen Victoria and the aristocracy." 
 
 " Yes," said Cedric, rather hesitatingly, "and and earls; don't 
 you know ? " 
 
 " Why, yes," returned Mr. Hobbs ; "we did touch 'em up a little ; 
 that 's so ! " 
 
 Cedric flushed up to the curly bang on his forehead. Nothing 
 so embarrassing as this had ever happened to him in his life. He 
 was a little afraid that it might be a trifle embarrassing to Mr. 
 Hobbs, too. 
 
 " You said," he proceeded, "that you would n't have them sitting 
 'round on your cracker-barrels." 
 
 "So I did !" returned Mr. Hobbs, stoutly. "And I meant it. 
 Let 'em try it that 's all ! " 
 
 " Mr. Hobbs," said Cedric, "one is sitting on this box now ! " 
 Mr. Hobbs almost jumped out of his chair. 
 
 " What ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes," Cedric announced, with due modesty; "/ am one or I 
 am going to be. I wont deceive you." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs looked agitated. He rose up suddenly and went to 
 look at the thermometer. 
 
 " The mercury 's got into your head ! " he exclaimed, turning back 
 to examine his young friend's countenance. " It is a hot day F 
 How do you feel? Got any pain? When did you begin to feel 
 that way ? " 
 
"'MR. HOBBS,' SAID CEDRIC, 'AN EARL IS SITTING ON THIS BOX NOW ! '" 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. I/ 
 
 He put his big hand on the little boy's hair. This was more 
 embarrassing than ever. 
 
 ''Thank you," said Ceddie ; "I 'm all right. There is nothing 
 the matter with my head. I 'm sorry to say it 's true, Mr. Hobbs. 
 That was what Mary came to take me home for. Mr. Havisham 
 was telling my mamma, and he is a lawyer." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs sank into his chair and mopped his forehead with 
 his handkerchief. 
 
 " One of us has got a sunstroke ! " he exclaimed. 
 
 " No," returned Cedric, "we haven't. We shall have to make 
 the best of it, Mr. Hobbs. Mr. Havisham came all the way from 
 England to tell us about it. My grandpapa sent him." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs stared wildly at the innocent, serious little face 
 before him. 
 
 " Who is your grandfather? " he asked. 
 
 Cedric put his hand in his pocket and carefully drew out a piece 
 of paper, on which something was written in his own round, irregular 
 hand. 
 
 " I could n't easily remember it, so I wrote it down on this," he 
 said. And he read aloud slowly: "'John Arthur Molyneux Errol, 
 Earl of Dorincourt.' That is his name, and he lives in a castle in 
 two or three castles, I think. And my papa, who died, was his 
 youngest son ; and I should n't have been a lord or an earl if my 
 papa had n't died ; and my papa would n't have been an earl if his 
 two brothers had n't died. But they all died, and there is no one 
 but me, no boy, and so I have to be one ; and my grandpapa has 
 sent for me to come to England." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs seemed to grow hotter and hotter. He mopped 
 his forehead and his bald spot and breathed hard. He began to see 
 that something very remarkable had happened ; but when he looked 
 at the little boy sitting on the cracker-box, with the innocent, anxious 
 
1 8 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 expression in his childish eyes, and saw that he was not changed at 
 all, but was simply as he had been the day before, just a handsome, 
 cheerful, brave little fellow in a blue suit and red neck-ribbon, 
 all this information about the nobility bewildered him. He was all 
 the more bewildered because Cedric gave it with such ingenuous 
 simplicity, and plainly without realizing himself how stupendous 
 it was. 
 
 " Wha what did you say your name was?" Mr. Hobbs inquired. 
 
 " It 's Cedric Errol, Lord Fauntleroy," answered Cedric. "That 
 was what Mr. Havisham called me. He said when I went into the 
 room : 'And so this is little Lord Fauntleroy ! ' 
 
 - Well," said Mr. Hobbs, -I '11 be jiggered ! " 
 
 This was an exclamation he always used when he was very 
 much astonished or excited. He could think of nothing else to say 
 just at that puzzling moment. 
 
 Cedric felt it to be quite a proper and suitable ejaculation. His 
 respect and affection for Mr. Hobbs were so great that he admired 
 and approved of all his remarks. He had not seen enough of 
 society as yet to make him realize that sometimes Mr. Hobbs was 
 not quite conventional. He knew, of course, that he was different 
 from his mamma, but, then, his mamma was a lady, and he had an 
 idea that ladies were always different from gentlemen. 
 He looked at Mr. Hobbs wistfully. 
 
 " England is a long way off, is n't it ? " he asked. 
 
 " It's across the Atlantic Ocean," Mr. Hobbs answered. 
 
 " That 's the worst of it," said Cedric. " Perhaps I shall not 
 see you again for a long time. I don't like to think of that, Mr. 
 Hobbs." 
 
 " The best of friends must part," said Mr. Hobbs. 
 
 "Well," said Cedric, "we have been friends for a great many 
 years, have n't we ? " 
 
1 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 19 
 
 " Ever since you was born," Mr. Hobbs answered. " You was 
 about six weeks old when you was first walked out on this street." 
 
 " Ah," remarked Cedric, with a sigh, " I never thought I should 
 have to be an earl then ! " 
 
 " You think," said Mr. Hobbs, " there 's no getting out of it ? " 
 
 " I 'm afraid not," answered Cedric. " My mamma says that my 
 papa would wish me to do it. But if I have to be an earl, there 's 
 one thing I can do : I can try to be a good one. I 'm not going to 
 be a tyrant. And if there is ever to be another war with America, 
 I shall try to stop it." 
 
 His conversation with Mr. Hobbs was a long and serious one. 
 Once having got over the first shock, Mr. Hobbs was not so rancor- 
 ous as might have been expected ; he endeavored to resign himself 
 to the situation, and before the interview was at an end he had 
 asked a great many questions. As Cedric could answer but few of 
 them, he endeavored to answer them himself, and, being fairly 
 launched on the subject of earls and marquises and lordly estates, 
 explained many things in a way which would probably have aston- 
 ished Mr. Havisham, could that gentleman have heard it. 
 
 But then there were many things which astonished Mr. Hav- 
 isham. He had spent all his life in England, and was not accus- 
 tomed to American people and American habits. He had been 
 connected professionally with the family of the Earl of Dorincourt 
 for nearly forty years, and he knew all about its grand estates and 
 its great wealth and importance ; and, in a cold, business-like way, 
 he felt an interest in this little boy, who, in the future, was to be the 
 master and owner of them all, the future Earl of Dorincourt. He 
 had known all about the old Earl's disappointment in his elder sons 
 and all about his fierce rage at Captain Cedric's American marriage, 
 and he knew how he still hated the gentle little widow and would 
 not speak of her except with bitter and cruel words. He insisted 
 
20 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 that she was only a common American girl, who had entrapped his 
 son into marrying her because she knew he was an earl's son. The 
 old lawyer himself had more than half believed this was all true. 
 He had seen a great many selfish, mercenary people in his life, and 
 he had not a good opinion of Americans. When he had been 
 driven into the cheap street, and his coupe had stopped before the 
 cheap, small house, he had felt actually shocked. It seemed really 
 quite dreadful to think that the future owner of Dorincourt Castle and 
 Wyndham Towers and Chorlworth, and all the other stately splen- 
 dors, should have been born and brought up in an insignificant house 
 in a street with a sort of green-grocery at the corner. He wondered 
 what kind of a child he would be, and what kind of a mother he had. 
 He rather shrank from seeing them both. He had a sort of pride 
 in the noble family whose legal affairs he had conducted so long, 
 and it would have annoyed him very much to have found himself 
 obliged to manage a woman who would seem to him a vulgar, money- 
 loving person, with no respect for her dead husband's country and 
 the dignity of his name. It was a very old name and a very splen- 
 did one, and Mr. Havisham had a great respect for it himself, though 
 he was only a cold, keen, business-like old lawyer. 
 
 When Mary handed him into the small parlor, he looked around it 
 critically. It was plainly furnished, but it had a home-like look ; there 
 were no cheap, common ornaments, and no cheap, gaudy pictures ; the 
 few adornments on the walls were in good taste, and about the room 
 were many pretty things which a woman's hand might have made. 
 
 " Not at all bad so far," he had said to himself; "but perhaps the 
 Captain's taste predominated." But when Mrs. Errol came into the 
 room, he began to think she herself might have had something to 
 do with it. If he had not been quite a self-contained and stiff old 
 gentleman, he would probably have started when he saw her. She 
 looked, in the simple black dress, fitting closely to her slender figure, 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 21 
 
 more like a young girl than the mother of a boy of seven. She had 
 a pretty, sorrowful, young face, and a very tender, innocent look in 
 her large brown eyes, the sorrowful look that had never quite left 
 her face since her husband had died. Cedric was used to seeing it 
 there ; the only times he had ever seen it fade out had been when 
 he was playing with her or talking to her, and had said some old- 
 fashioned thing, or used some long word he had picked up out of 
 the newspapers or in his conversations with Mr. Hobbs. He was 
 fond of using long words, and he was always pleased when they 
 made her laugh, though he could not understand why they were 
 laughable ; they were quite serious matters with him. The lawyer's 
 experience taught him to read people's characters very shrewdly, 
 and as soon as he saw Cedric's mother he knew that the old Earl 
 had made a great mistake in thinking her a vulgar, mercenary 
 woman. Mr. Havisham had never been married, he had never 
 even been in love, but he divined that this pretty young creature 
 with the sweet voice and sad eyes had married Captain Errol 
 only because she loved him with all her affectionate heart, and that 
 she had never once thought it an advantage that he was an earl's son. 
 And he saw he should have no trouble with her, and he began to 
 feel that perhaps little Lord Fauntleroy might not be such a trial 
 to his noble family, after all. The Captain had been a handsome 
 fellow, and the young mother was very pretty, and perhaps the boy 
 might be well enough to look at. 
 
 When he first told Mrs. Errol what he had come for, she turned 
 very pale. 
 
 "Oh!" she said; " will he have to be taken away from me? 
 We love each other so much ! He is such a happiness to me ! He 
 is all I have. I have tried to be a good mother to him." And her 
 sweet young voice trembled, and the tears rushed into her eyes. 
 " You do not know what he has been to me ! " she said. 
 
22 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 The lawyer cleared his throat. 
 
 " I am obliged to tell you," he said, " that the Earl of Dorincourt 
 is not is not very friendly toward you. He is an old man, and 
 his prejudices are very strong. He has always especially disliked 
 America and Americans, and was very much enraged by his son's 
 marriage. I am sorry to be the bearer of so unpleasant a communi- 
 cation, but he is very fixed in his determination not to see you. 
 His plan is that Lord Fauntleroy shall be educated under his own 
 supervision ; that he shall live with him. The Earl is attached to 
 Dorincourt Castle, and spends a great deal of time there. He is a 
 victim to inflammatory gout, and is not fond of London. Lord 
 Fauntleroy will, therefore, be likely to live chiefly at Dorincourt. 
 The Earl offers you as a home Court Lodge, which is situated 
 pleasantly, and is not very far from the castle. He also offers you 
 a suitable income. Lord Fauntleroy will be permitted to visit you ; 
 the only stipulation is, that you shall not visit him or enter the park 
 gates. You see you will not be really separated from your son, and 
 I assure you, madam, the terms are not so harsh as as they might 
 have been. The advantage of such surroundings and education as 
 Lord Fauntleroy will have, I am sure you must see, will be very 
 great." 
 
 He felt a little uneasy lest she should begin to cry or make a 
 scene, as he knew some women would have done. It embarrassed 
 and annoyed him to see women cry. 
 
 But she did not. She went to the window and stood with her 
 face turned away for a few moments, and he saw she was trying to 
 steady herself. 
 
 " Captain Errol was very fond of Dorincourt," she said at last. 
 " He loved England, and everything English. It was always a 
 grief to him that he was parted from his home. He was proud of 
 his home, and of his name. He would wish I know he would wish 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 23 
 
 that his son should know the beautiful old places, and be brought 
 up in such a way as would be suitable to his future position." 
 
 Then she came back to the table and stood looking up at Mr. 
 Havisham very gently. 
 
 " My husband would wish it," she said. " It will be best for my 
 little boy. I know I am sure the Earl would not be so unkind as 
 to try to teach him not to love me; and I know even if he 
 tried that my little boy is too much like his father to be harmed. 
 He has a warm, faithful nature, and a true heart. He would love 
 me even if he did not see me ; and so long as we may see each 
 other, I ought not to suffer very much." 
 
 " She thinks very little of herself," the lawyer thought. " She 
 does not make any terms for herself." 
 
 " Madam," he said aloud, " I respect your consideration for your 
 son. He will thank you for it when he is a man. I assure you 
 Lord Fauntleroy will be most carefully guarded, and every effort 
 will be used to insure his happiness. The Earl of Dorincourt 
 will be as anxious for his comfort and well-being as you yourself 
 could be." 
 
 " I hope," said the tender little mother, in a rather broken voice, 
 " that his grandfather will love Ceddie. The little boy has a very 
 affectionate nature ; and he has always been loved." 
 
 Mr. Havisham cleared his throat again. He could not quite 
 imagine the gouty, fiery-tempered old Earl loving any one very 
 much ; but he knew it would be to his interest to be kind, in his 
 irritable way, to the child who was to be his heir. He knew, too, 
 that if Ceddie were at all a credit to his name, his grandfather would 
 be proud of him. 
 
 " Lord Eauntleroy will be comfortable, I am sure," he replied. 
 " It was with a view to his happiness that the Earl desired that you 
 should be near enough to him to see him frequently." 
 
24 LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 
 
 He did not think it would be discreet to repeat the exact words 
 the Earl had used, which were in fact neither polite nor amiable. 
 
 Mr. Havisham preferred to express his noble patron's offer in 
 smoother and more courteous language. 
 
 He had another slight shock when Mrs. Errol asked Mary to 
 find her little boy and bring him to her, and Mary told her where 
 he was. 
 
 " Sure I '11 foind him aisy enough, ma'am," she said; "for it's 
 wid Mr. Hobbs he is this minnit, settin' on his high shtool by the 
 counther an' talkin' pollytics, most loikely, or enj'yin' hisself among 
 the soap an' candles an' pertaties, as sinsible an' shwate as ye 
 plase." 
 
 " Mr. Hobbs has known him all his life," Mrs. Errol said to the 
 lawyer. " He is very kind to Ceddie, and there is a great friendship 
 between them." 
 
 Remembering the glimpse he had caught of the store as he 
 passed it, and having a recollection of the barrels of potatoes and 
 apples and the various odds and ends, Mr. Havisham felt his doubts 
 arise again. In England, gentlemen's sons did not make friends of 
 grocerymen, and it seemed to him a rather singular proceeding. It 
 would be very awkward if the child had bad manners and a disposi- 
 tion to like low company. One of the bitterest humiliations of the 
 old Earl's life had been that his two elder sons had been fond of low 
 company. Could it be, he thought, that this boy shared their bad 
 qualities instead of his father's good qualities ? 
 
 He was thinking uneasily about this as he talked to Mrs. Errol 
 until the child came into the room. When the door opened, he 
 actually hesitated a moment before looking at Cedric. It would, 
 perhaps, have seemed very queer to a great many people who knew 
 him, if they could have known the curious sensations that passed 
 through Mr. Havisham when he looked down at the boy, who ran 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 25 
 
 into his mother's arms. He experienced a revulsion of feeling which 
 was quite exciting. He recognized in an instant that here was one 
 of the finest and handsomest little fellows he had ever seen. His 
 beauty was something unusual. He had a strong, lithe, graceful 
 little body and a manly little face ; he held his childish head up, and 
 carried himself with a brave air; he was so like his father that 
 it was really startling ; he had his father's golden hair and his 
 mother's brown eyes, but there was nothing sorrowful or timid in 
 them. They were innocently fearless eyes ; he looked as if he had 
 never feared or doubted anything in his life. 
 
 " He is the best-bred-looking and handsomest little fellow I ever 
 saw," was what Mr. Havisham thought. What he said aloud was 
 simply, " And so this is little Lord Fauntleroy." 
 
 And, after this, the more he saw of little Lord Fauntleroy, the 
 more of a surprise he found him. He knew very little about chil- 
 dren, though he had seen plenty of them in England fine, hand- 
 some, rosy girls and boys, who were strictly taken care of by their 
 tutors and governesses, and who were sometimes shy, and sometimes 
 a trifle boisterous, but never very interesting to a ceremonious, rigid 
 old lawyer. Perhaps his personal interest in little Lord Fauntleroy's 
 fortunes made him notice Ceddie more than he had noticed other 
 children ; but, however that was, he certainly found himself noticing 
 him a great deal. 
 
 Cedric did not know he was being observed, and he only 
 behaved himself in his ordinary manner. He shook hands with Mr. 
 Havisham in his friendly way when they were introduced to each 
 other, and he answered all his questions with the unhesitating readi- 
 ness with which he answered Mr. Hobbs. He was neither shy nor 
 bold, and when Mr. Havisham was talking to his mother, the lawyer 
 noticed that he listened to the conversation with as much interest as 
 if he had been quite grown up. 
 
26 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 44 He seems to be a very mature little fellow," Mr. Havisham said 
 to the mother. 
 
 " I think he is, in some things," she answered. " He has always 
 been very quick to learn, and he has lived a great deal with grown- 
 up people. He has a funny little habit of using long words and 
 expressions he has read in books, or has heard others use, but he is 
 very fond of childish play. I think he is rather clever, but he is a 
 very boyish little boy, sometimes." 
 
 The next time Mr. Havisham met him, he saw that this last was 
 quite true. As his coupe turned the corner, he caught sight of a 
 group of small boys, who were evidently much excited. Two of 
 them were about to run a race, and one of them was his young lord- 
 ship, and he was shouting and making as much noise as the noisiest 
 of his companions. He stood side by side with another boy, one 
 little red leg advanced a step. 
 
 44 One, to make ready ! " yelled the starter. " Two, to be steady. 
 Three and away ! " 
 
 Mr. Havisham found himself leaning out of the window of his 
 coupe with a curious feeling of interest. He really never remem- 
 bered having seen anything quite like the way in which his lordship's 
 lordly little red legs flew up behind his knickerbockers and tore over 
 the ground as he shot out in the race at the signal word. He shut 
 his small hands and set his face against the wind ; his bright hair 
 streamed out behind. 
 
 44 Hooray, Ced Errol ! " all the boys shouted, dancing and shriek- 
 ing with excitement. 44 Hooray, Billy Williams ! Hooray, Ceddie ! 
 Hooray, Billy ! Hooray ! 'Ray ! 'Ray ! " 
 
 44 1 really believe he is going to win," said Mr. Havisham. The 
 way in which the red legs flew and flashed up and down, the shrieks 
 of the boys, the wild efforts of Billy Williams, whose brown legs 
 were not to be despised, as they followed closely in the rear of the 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 red legs, made him feel some excitement. "I really I really can't 
 help hoping he will win ! " he said, with an apologetic sort of cough. 
 At that moment, the wildest yell of all went up from the dancing, 
 hopping boys. With one last frantic leap the future Earl of Dorin- 
 court had reached the lamp-post at the end of /, , ^; 
 the block and touched it, just two seconds be- 
 fore Billy Williams flung himself at it, panting. 
 
 " Three cheers for Ceddie Errol ! " yelled 
 
 the little boys. " Hooray for Ceddie Errol ! " 
 
 Mr. Havisham drew his head in at the 
 
 window of his coupe and leaned back with 
 
 a dry smile. 
 
 " Bravo, Lord Fauntleroy ! " he said. 
 
 As his carriage stopped before the door 
 of Mrs. Errol's house, the victor and the 
 vanquished were coming toward it, attended 
 by the clamoring crew. Cedric walked by 
 Billy Williams and was speaking to him. His 
 elated little face was very red, his curls clung 
 to his hot, moist forehead, his hands were in 
 his pockets. 
 
 " You see," he was saying, evidently with the intention of making 
 defeat easy for his unsuccessful rival, " I guess I won because my 
 legs are a little longer than yours. I guess that was it. You see, 
 I 'm three days older than you, and that gives me a 'vantage. I 'm 
 three days older." 
 
 And this view of the case seemed to cheer Billy Williams so 
 much that he began to smile on the world again, and felt able to 
 swagger a little, almost as if he had won the race instead of losing 
 it. Somehow, Ceddie Errol had a way of making people feel com- 
 fortable. Even in the first flush of his triumphs, he remembered 
 
 THE 
 
28 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 that the person who was beaten might not feel so gay as he did, and 
 might like to think that he might have been the winner under differ- 
 ent circumstances. 
 
 That morning Mr. Havisham had quite a long conversation with 
 the winner of the race a conversation which made him smile his 
 dry smile, and rub his chin with his bony hand several times. 
 
 Mrs. Errol had been called out of the parlor, and the lawyer 
 and Cedric were left together. At first Mr. Havisham wondered 
 what he should say to his small companion. He had an idea that 
 perhaps it would be best to say several things which might prepare 
 Cedric for meeting his grandfather, and, perhaps, for the great 
 change that was to come to him. He could see that Cedric had not 
 the least idea of the sort of thing he was to see when he reached 
 England, or of the sort of home that waited for him there. He did 
 not even know yet that his mother was not to live in the same house 
 with him. They had thought it best to let him get over the first 
 shock before telling him. 
 
 Mr. Havisham sat in an arm-chair on one side of the open win- 
 dow ; on the other side was another still larger chair, and Cedric 
 sat in that and looked at Mr. Havisham. He sat well back in the 
 depths of his big seat, his curly head against the cushioned back, his 
 legs crossed, and his hands thrust deep into his pockets, in a quite 
 Mr. Hobbs-like way. He had been watching Mr. Havisham very 
 steadily when his mamma had been in the room, and after she was 
 gone he still looked at him in respectful thoughtfulness. There was 
 a short silence after Mrs. Errol went out, and Cedric seemed to be 
 studying Mr. Havisham, and Mr. Havisham was certainly studying 
 Cedric. He could not make up his mind as to what an elderly 
 gentleman should say to a little boy who won races, and wore 
 short knickerbockers and red stockings on legs which were not 
 long enough to hang over a big chair when he sat well back in it. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 29 
 
 But Cedric relieved him by suddenly beginning the conversation 
 himself. 
 
 " Do you know," he said, " I don't know what an earl is? " 
 
 " Don't you ? " said Mr. Havisham. 
 
 " No," replied Ceddie. "And I think when a boy is going to be 
 one, he ought to know. Don't you ? " 
 
 " Well yes," answered Mr. Havisham. 
 
 "Would you mind," said Ceddie respectfully "would you mind 
 'splaining it to me ? " (Sometimes when he used his long words he 
 did not pronounce them quite correctly.) " What made him an 
 earl ? " 
 
 " A king or queen, in the first place," said Mr. Havisham. 
 " Generally, he is made an earl because he has done some service to 
 his sovereign, or some great deed." 
 
 " Oh ! " said Cedric ; " that 's like the President." 
 
 " Is it?" said Mr. Havisham. " Is that why your presidents are 
 elected ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Ceddie cheerfully. " When a man is very good 
 and knows a great deal, he is elected president. They have torch- 
 light processions and bands, and everybody makes speeches. I used 
 to think I might perhaps be a president, but I never thought of being 
 an earl. I did n't know about earls," he said, rather hastily, lest Mr. 
 Havisham might feel it impolite in him not to have wished to be 
 one, " if I 'd known about them, I dare say I should have thought 
 I should like to be one." 
 
 " It is rather different from being a president," said Mr. Havisham. 
 
 "Is it?" asked Cedric. "How? Are there no torch-light 
 processions ? " 
 
 Mr. Havisham crossed his own legs and put the tips of his 
 fingers carefully together. He thought perhaps the time had come 
 to explain matters rather more clearly. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " An earl is is a very important person," he began. 
 " So is a president !" put in Ceddie. "The torch-light proces- 
 sions are five miles long, and they shoot up rockets, and the band 
 
 plays! Mr. Hobbs 
 
 took me to see 
 them." 
 
 " An earl," Mr. 
 Havisham went 
 on, feeling rather 
 uncertain of his 
 ground, " is fre- 
 quently of very 
 ancient lineage 
 
 ) 
 
 -What's that?" 
 asked Ceddie. 
 
 " Of very old 
 family extreme- 
 ly old." 
 
 " Ah ! " said 
 Cedric, thrusting 
 his hands deeper 
 into his pockets. 
 " I suppose that 
 is the way with 
 the apple-woman near the park. I dare say she is of ancient lin- 
 lenage. She is so old it would surprise you how she can stand up. 
 She 's a hundred, I should think, and yet she is out there when it 
 rains, even. I 'm sorry for her, and so are the other boys. Billy 
 Williams once had nearly a dollar, and I asked him to buy five cents' 
 worth of apples from her every day until he had spent it all. That 
 
 "'I USED TO THINK I MIGHT PERHAPS BE A PRESIDENT, BUT I 
 NEVER THOUGHT OF BEING AN EARL,' SAID CEDDIE." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 31 
 
 made twenty days, and he grew tired of apples after a week ; but 
 then it was quite fortunate a gentleman gave me fifty cents and 
 I bought apples from her instead. You feel sorry for any one that 's 
 so poor and has such ancient lin-lenage. She says hers has gone 
 into her bones and the rain makes it worse." 
 
 Mr. Havisham felt rather at a loss as he looked at his com- 
 panion's innocent, serious little face. 
 
 " I am afraid you did not quite understand me," he explained. 
 "When I said 'ancient lineage' I did not mean old age; I meant 
 that the name of such a family has been known in the world a long 
 time ; perhaps for hundreds of years persons bearing that name have 
 been known and spoken of in the history of their country." 
 
 " Like George Washington," said Ceddie. " I Ve heard of him 
 ever since I was born, and he was known about, long before that. 
 Mr. Hobbs says he will never be forgotten. That 's because of the 
 Declaration of Independence, you know, and the Fourth of July. 
 You see, he was a very brave man." 
 
 " The first Earl of Dorincourt," said Mr. Havisham solemnly, 
 " was created an earl four hundred years ago." 
 
 " Well, well ! " said Ceddie: " That was a long time ago ! Did 
 you tell Dearest that ? It would int'rust her very much. We '11 tell 
 her when she comes in. She always likes to hear cur'us things. 
 What else does an earl do besides being created ? " 
 
 " A great many of them have helped to govern England. Some 
 of them have been brave men and have fought in great battles in 
 the old days." 
 
 " I should like to do that myself," said Cedric. " My papa was a 
 soldier, and he was a very brave man as brave as George Wash- 
 ington. Perhaps that was because he would have been an earl if he 
 had n't died. I am glad earls are brave. That 's a great 'van- 
 tage to be a brave man. Once I used to be rather afraid of 
 
32 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 things in the dark, you know ; but when I thought about the 
 soldiers in the Revolution and George Washington it cured me." 
 
 " There is another advantage in being an earl, sometimes," said 
 Mr. Havisham slowly, and he fixed his shrewd eyes on the little boy 
 with a rather curious expression. " Some earls have a great deal 
 of money." 
 
 He was curious because he wondered if his young friend knew 
 what the power of money was. 
 
 " That 's a good thing to have," said Ceddie innocently. " I wish 
 I had a great deal of money." 
 
 " Do you ? " said Mr. Havisham. " And why ? " 
 
 " Well," explained Cedric, " there are so many things a person 
 can do with money. You see, there 's the apple-woman. If I were 
 very rich I should buy her a little tent to put her stall in, and a little 
 stove, and then I should give her a dollar every morning it rained, 
 so that she could afford to stay at home. And then oh ! I 'd give 
 her a shawl. And, you see, her bones would n't feel so badly. Her 
 bones are not like our bones ; they hurt her when she moves. It 's 
 very painful when your bones hurt you. If I were rich enough 
 to do all those things for her, I guess her bones would be all 
 right." 
 
 " Ahem ! " said Mr. Havisham. "And what else would you do 
 if you were rich ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I 'd do a great many things. Of course I should buy 
 Dearest all sorts of beautiful things, needle-books and fans and gold 
 thimbles and rings, and an encyclopedia, and a carriage, so that she 
 need n't have to wait for the street-cars. If she liked pink silk 
 dresses, I should buy her some, but she likes black best. But I 'd 
 take her to the big stores, and tell her to look 'round and choose for 
 herself. And then Dick - 
 
 " Who is Dick ? " asked Mr. Havisham. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 33 
 
 " Dick is a boot-black," said his young lordship, quite warming 
 up in his interest in plans so exciting. " He is one of the nicest 
 boot-blacks you ever knew. He stands at the corner of a street 
 down-town. I Ve known him for years. Once when I was very 
 little, I was walking out with Dearest, and she bought me a beauti- 
 ful ball that bounced, and I was carrying it and it bounced into the 
 middle of the street where the carriages and horses were, and I was 
 so disappointed, I began to cry I was very little. I had kilts on. 
 And Dick was blacking a man's shoes, and he said * Hello ! ' and he 
 ran in between the horses and caught the ball for me and wiped it 
 off with his coat and gave it to me and said, * It 's all right, young 
 un.' So Dearest admired him very much, and so did I, and ever 
 since then, when we go down-town, we talk to him. He says 
 ' Hello ! ' and I say ' Hello ! ' and then we talk a little, and he tells 
 me how trade is. It 's been bad lately." 
 
 " And what would you like to do for him ? " inquired the lawyer, 
 rubbing his chin and smiling a queer smile. 
 
 " Well," said Lord Fauntleroy, settling himself in his chair with a 
 business air, " I 'd buy Jake out." 
 
 " And who is Jake? " Mr. Havisham asked. 
 
 " He 's Dick's partner, and he is the worst partner a fellow 
 could have ! Dick says so. He is n't a credit to the business, 
 and he is n't square. He cheats, and that makes Dick mad. 
 It would make you mad, you know, if you were blacking boots 
 as hard as you could, and being square all the time, and your 
 partner was n't square at all. People like Dick, but they don't 
 like Jake, and so sometimes they don't come twice. So if I were 
 rich, I 'd buy Jake out and get Dick a 'boss' sign he says a 
 ' boss ' sign goes a long way ; and I 'd get him some new clothes 
 and new brushes, and start him out fair. He says all he wants is 
 to start out fair." 
 
 3 
 
34 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 There could have been nothing more confiding and innocent 
 than the way in which his small lordship told his little story, quoting 
 his friend Dick's bits of slang in the most candid good faith. He 
 seemed to feel not a shade of a doubt that his elderly companion 
 would be just as interested as he was himself. And in truth Mr. 
 Havisham was beginning to be greatly interested ; but perhaps not 
 quite so much in Dick and the apple-woman as in this kind little 
 lordling, whose curly head was so busy, under its yellow thatch, with 
 good-natured plans for his friends, and who seemed somehow to have 
 forgotten himself altogether. 
 
 " Is there anything " he began. " What would you get for 
 
 yourself, if you were rich ? " 
 
 " Lots of things!" answered Lord Fauntleroy briskly; "but first 
 I 'd give Mary some money for Bridget -that 's her sister, with 
 twelve children, and a husband out of work. She comes here and 
 cries, and Dearest gives her things in a basket, and then she cries 
 again, and says: * Blessin's be on yez, for a beautiful lady.' And I 
 think Mr. Hobbs would like a gold watch and chain to remember me 
 by, and a meerschaum pipe. And then I 'd like to get up a company." 
 
 " A company ! " exclaimed Mr. Havisham. 
 
 11 Like a Republican rally," explained Cedric, becoming quite 
 excited. " I 'd have torches and uniforms and things for all the boys 
 and myself, too. And we 'd march, you know, and drill. That 's 
 what I should like for myself, if I were rich." 
 The door opened and Mrs. Errol came in. 
 
 " I am sorry to have been obliged to leave you so long," she said 
 to Mr. Havisham; "but a poor woman, who is in great trouble, 
 came to see me." 
 
 ' This young gentleman," said Mr. Havisham, " has been telling 
 me about some of his friends, and what he would do for them if he 
 were rich." 
 
LITTLE LORD I^AUNTLEROY. 35 
 
 "Bridget is one of his friends," said Mrs. Errol ; "and it is 
 Bridget to whom I have been talking in the kitchen. She is in 
 creat trouble now because her husband has rheumatic fever." 
 
 o 
 
 Cedric slipped down out of his big chair. 
 
 " I think I '11 go and see her," he said, "and ask her how he is. 
 He 's a nice man when he is well. I 'm obliged to him because he 
 once made me a sword out of wood. He 's a very talented man." 
 
 He ran out of the room, and Mr. Havisham rose from his chair. 
 He seemed to have something in his mind which he wished to speak 
 of. He hesitated a moment, and then said, looking down at Mrs. 
 Errol : 
 
 " Before I left Dorincourt Castle, I had an interview with the 
 Earl, in which he gave me some instructions. He is desirous that 
 his grandson should look forward with some pleasure to his future 
 life in England, and also to his acquaintance with himself. He said 
 that I must let his lordship know that the change in his life would 
 bring him money and the pleasures children enjoy ; if he expressed 
 any wishes, I was to gratify them, and to tell him that his grand- 
 father had given him what he wished. I am aware that the Earl did 
 not expect anything quite like this ; but if it would give Lord Faunt- 
 leroy pleasure to assist this poor woman, I should feel that the Earl 
 would be displeased if he were not gratified." 
 
 For the second time, he did not repeat the Earl's exact words. 
 His lordship had, indeed, said : 
 
 " Make the lad understand that I can give him anything he 
 wants. Let him know what it is to be the grandson of the Earl of 
 Dorincourt. Buy him everything he takes a fancy to ; let him have 
 money in his pockets, and tell him his grandfather put it there." 
 
 His motives were far from being good, and if he had been 
 dealing with a nature less affectionate and warm-hearted than little 
 Lord Fauntleroy's, great harm might have been done. And Cedric's 
 
36 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 mother was too gentle to suspect any harm. She thought that per- 
 haps this meant that a lonely, unhappy old man, whose children were 
 dead, wished to be kind to her little boy, and win his love and confi- 
 dence. And it pleased her very much to think that Ceddie would 
 be able to help Bridget. It made her happier to know that the very 
 first result of the strange fortune which had befallen her little boy 
 was that he could do kind things for those who needed kindness. 
 Quite a warm color bloomed on her pretty young face. 
 
 " Oh ! " she said, " that was very kind of the Earl ; Cedric will be 
 so glad ! He has always been fond of Bridget and Michael. They 
 are quite deserving. I have often wished I had been able to help 
 them more. Michael is a hard-working man when he is well, but 
 he has been ill a long time and needs expensive medicines and warm 
 clothing and nourishing food. He and Bridget will not be wasteful 
 of what is given them." 
 
 Mr. Havisham put his thin hand in his breast pocket and drew 
 forth a large pocket-book. There was a queer look in his keen face. 
 The truth was, he was wondering what the Earl of Dorinccurt would 
 say when he was told what was the first wish of his grandson that 
 had been granted. He wondered what the cross, worldly, selfish old 
 nobleman would think of it. 
 
 " I do not know that you have realized," he said, "that the Earl 
 of Dorincourt is an exceedingly rich man. He can afford to gratify 
 any caprice. I think it would please him to know that Lord Faunt- 
 leroy had been indulged in any fancy. If you will call him back and 
 allow me, I shall give him five pounds for these people." 
 
 " That would be twenty-five dollars ! " exclaimed Mrs. Errol. " It 
 will seem like wealth to them. " I can scarcely believe that it is true."" 
 
 " It is quite true," said Mr. Havisham, with his dry smile. " A 
 great change has taken place in your son's life, a great deal of power 
 will lie in his hands." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 11 Oh !" cried his mother. " And he is such a little boy a very 
 little boy. How can I teach him to use it well? It makes me half 
 afraid. My pretty little Ceddie ! " 
 
 The lawyer slightly cleared his throat. It touched his worldly, 
 hard old heart to see the tender, timid look in her brown eyes. 
 
 " I think, madam," he said, "that if I may judge from my inter- 
 view with Lord Fauntleroy this morning, the next Earl of Dorin- 
 court will think for others as well as for his noble self. He is only a 
 child yet, but I think he may be trusted." 
 
 Then his mother went for Cedric and brought him back into the 
 parlor. Mr. Havisham heard him talking before he entered the room. 
 
 "It's infam-natory rheumatism," he was saying, "and that's a 
 kind of rheumatism that 's dreadful. And he thinks about the rent 
 not being paid, and Bridget says that makes the inf 'animation worse. 
 And Pat could get a place in a store if he had some clothes." 
 
 His little face looked quite anxious when he came in. He was 
 very sorry for Bridget. 
 
 " Dearest said you wanted me," he said to Mr. Havisham. " I Ve 
 been talking to Bridget." 
 
 Mr. Havisham looked down at him a moment. He felt a little 
 awkward and undecided. As Cedric's mother had said, he was a 
 very little boy. 
 
 " The Earl of Dorincourt " he began, and then he glanced 
 involuntarily at Mrs. Errol. 
 
 Little Lord Fauntleroy's mother suddenly kneeled down by him 
 and put both her tender arms around his childish body. 
 
 " Ceddie," she said, " the Earl is your grandpapa, your own 
 papa's father. He is very, very kind, and he loves you and wishes 
 you to love him, because the sons who were his little boys are dead. 
 He wishes you to be happy and to make other people happy. He is 
 very rich, and he wishes you to have everything you would like to 
 
38 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEXOY. 
 
 have. He told Mr. Havisham so, and gave him a great deal of 
 money for you. You can give some to Bridget now ; enough to pay 
 her rent and buy Michael everything. Is n't that fine, Ceddie ? 
 Is n't he good ? " And she kissed the child on his round cheek, 
 where the bright color suddenly flashed up in his excited amazement. 
 
 He looked from his mother to Mr. Havisham. 
 " Can I have it now ? " he cried. " Can I give it to her this 
 minute ? She 's just going." 
 
 Mr. Havisham handed him the money. It was in fresh, clean 
 greenbacks and made a neat roll. 
 
 Ceddie flew out of the room with it. 
 
 " Bridget ! " they heard him shout, as he tore into the kitchen. 
 " Bridget, wait a minute ! Here 's some money. It 's for you, and 
 you can pay the rent. My grandpapa gave it to me. It 's for you 
 and Michael ! " 
 
 " Oh, Master Ceddie ! " cried Bridget, in an awe-stricken voice. 
 " It 's twinty-foive dollars is here. Where be's the misthress ? " 
 '" I think I shall have to go and explain it to her," Mrs. Errol said. 
 
 So she, too, went out of the room and Mr. Havisham was left 
 alone for a while. He went to the window and stood looking out 
 into the street reflectively. He was thinking of the old Earl of 
 Dorincourt, sitting in his great, splendid, gloomy library at the 
 castle, gouty and lonely, surrounded by grandeur and luxury, but 
 not really loved by any one, because in all his long life he had never 
 really loved any one but himself; he had been selfish and self-indul- 
 gent and arrogant and passionate ; he had cared so much for the 
 Earl of Dorincourt and his pleasures that there had been no time for 
 him to think of other people; all his wealth and power, all the bene- 
 fits from his noble name and high rank, had seemed to him to be 
 things only to be used to amuse and give pleasure to the Earl of 
 Dorincourt ; and now that he was an old man, all this excitement 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 39 
 
 and self-indulgence had only brought him ill health and irritability 
 and a dislike of the world, which certainly disliked him. In spite of 
 all his splendor, there was never a more unpopular old nobleman 
 than the Earl of Dorincourt, and there could scarcely have been a 
 more lonely one. He could fill his castle with guests if he chose. 
 He could give great dinners and splendid hunting parties; but he 
 knew that in secret the people who would accept his invitations were 
 afraid of his frowning old face and sarcastic, biting speeches. He 
 had a cruel tongue and a bitter nature, and he took pleasure in 
 sneering at people and making them feel uncomfortable, when he had 
 the power to do so, because they were sensitive or proud or timid. 
 
 Mr. Havisham knew his hard, fierce ways by heart, and he was 
 thinking of him as he looked out of the window into the narrow, 
 quiet street. And there rose in his mind, in sharp contrast, the 
 picture of the cheery, handsome little fellow sitting in the big chair 
 and telling his story of his friends, Dick and the apple-woman, in 
 his generous, innocent, honest way. And he thought of the immense 
 income, the beautiful, majestic estates, the wealth, and power for 
 good or evil, which in the course of time would lie in the small, 
 chubby hands little Lord Fauntleroy thrust so deep into his pockets. 
 
 " It will make a great difference," he said to himself. " It will 
 make a great difference." 
 
 Cedric and his mother came back soon after. Cedric was in high 
 spirits. He sat down in his own chair, between his mother and the 
 lawyer, and fell into one of his quaint attitudes, with his hands on his 
 knees. He was glowing with enjoyment of Bridget's relief and rapture. 
 
 " She cried ! " he said. " She said she was crying for joy ! I 
 never saw any one cry for joy before. My grandpapa must be a 
 very good man. I did n't know he was so good a man. It 's 
 more more agreeabler to be an earl than I thought it was. I 'm 
 almost glad I 'm almost quite glad I 'm going to be one." 
 
Ill 
 
 CEDRIC'S good opinion of the advantages of being an earl 
 increased greatly during the next week. It seemed almost 
 impossible for him to realize that there was scarcely anything 
 he might wish to do which he could not do easily ; in fact, I think it 
 may be said that he did not fully realize it at all. But at least he 
 understood, after a few conversations with Mr. Havisham, that he 
 could gratify all his nearest wishes, and he proceeded to gratify 
 them with a simplicity and delight which caused Mr. Havisham much 
 diversion. In the week before they sailed for England he did many 
 curious things. The lawyer long after remembered the morning 
 they went down-town together to pay a visit to Dick, and the after- 
 noon they so amazed the apple-woman of ancient lineage by stop- 
 ping before her stall and telling her she was to have a tent, and a 
 stove, and a shawl, and a sum of money which seemed to her quite 
 wonderful. 
 
 " For I have to go to England and be a lord," explained Cedric, 
 sweet-temperedly. "And I should n't like to have your bones on 
 my mind every time it rained. My own bones never hurt, so I think 
 I don't know how painful a person's bones can be, but I Ve sympa- 
 thized with you a great deal, and I hope you '11 be better." 
 
 " She 's a very good apple-woman," he said to Mr. Havisham, as 
 they walked away, leaving the proprietress of the stall almost gasp- 
 ing for breath, and not at all believing in her great fortune. " Once, 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 when I fell down and cut my knee, she gave me an apple for noth- 
 ing. I Vc always remembered her for it. You know you always 
 remember people who are kind to you." 
 
 It had never occurred to his honest, simple little mind that there 
 were people who, could forget 
 kindnesses. 
 
 The interview with Dick 
 was quite exciting. Dick had 
 just been having a great deal of 
 trouble with Jake, and was in 
 low spirits when they saw him. 
 His amazement when Cedric 
 calmly announced that they had 
 come to give him what seemed a 
 very great thing to him, and would 
 set all his troubles right, almost 
 struck him dumb. Lord Faunt- 
 leroy's manner of announcing 
 the object of his visit was very 
 simple and unceremonious. Mr. 
 Havisham was much impressed 
 by its directness as he stood by 
 and listened. The statement that 
 his old friend had become a lord, 
 and was in danger of being an 
 earl if he lived long enough, 
 caused Dick to so open his eyes 
 and mouth, and start, that his 
 cap fell off. When he picked 
 it up, he uttered a rather singular exclamation, 
 thought it singular, but Cedric had heard it before. 
 
 ' I HAVE TO GO TO KXG- 
 LAND AND BE A LORD." 
 
 Mr. Havisham 
 
42 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " I soy ! " he said, " what 're yer givin' us ? " This plainly embar- 
 rassed his lordship a little, but he bore himself bravely. 
 
 "Everybody thinks it not true at first," he said. "Mr. Hobbs 
 thought I 'd had a sunstroke. I did n't think I was going to like it 
 myself, but I like it better now I 'm used to it. The one who is the 
 earl now, he 's my grandpapa ; and he wants me to do anything I 
 like. He 's very kind, if he is an earl ; and he sent me a lot of 
 money by Mr. Havisham, and I 've brought some to you to buy 
 Jake out." 
 
 And the end of the matter was that Dick actually bought Jake 
 out, and found himself the possessor of the business and some new 
 brushes and a most astonishing sign and outfit. He could not 
 believe in his good luck any more easily than the apple-woman of 
 ancient lineage could believe in hers ; he walked about like a boot- 
 black in a dream ; he stared at his young benefactor and felt as if he 
 might wake up at any moment. He scarcely seemed to realize any- 
 thing until Cedric put out his hand to shake hands with him before 
 going away. 
 
 " Well, good-bye," he said ; and though he tried to speak steadily, 
 there was a little tremble in his voice and he winked his big brown 
 eyes. " And I hope trade '11 be good. I 'm sorry I 'm going away 
 to leave you, but perhaps I shall come back again when I 'm an earl. 
 And I wish you 'd write to me, because we were always good friends. 
 And if you write to me, here 's where you must send your letter." 
 And he gave him a slip of paper. " And my name is n't Cedric 
 Errol any more; it 's Lord Fauntleroy and and good-bye, Dick." 
 
 Dick winked his eyes also, and yet they looked rather moist 
 about the lashes. He was not an educated boot-black, and he would 
 have found it difficult to tell what he felt just then if he had tried ; 
 perhaps that was why he did n't try, and only winked his eyes and 
 swallowed a lump in his throat. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 43 
 
 " I wish ye was n't goin' away," he said in a husky voice. Then 
 he winked his eyes again. Then he looked at Mr. Havisham, and 
 touched his cap, " Thanky, sir, fur bringin' him down here an' fur 
 wot ye Ve done, He 's he 's a queer little feller," he added. 
 " I Ve allers thort a heap of him. He 's such a game little feller, 
 an' an' such a queer little un." 
 
 And when they turned away he stood and looked after them 
 in a dazed kind of way, and there was still a mist in his eyes, and a 
 lump in his throat, as he watched the gallant little figure marching 
 gayly along by the side of its tall, rigid escort. 
 
 Until the day of his departure, his lordship spent as much time 
 as possible with Mr. Hobbs in the store. Gloom had settled upon 
 Mr. Hobbs ; he was much depressed in spirits. When his young friend 
 brought to him in triumph the parting gift of a gold watch and chain, 
 Mr. Hobbs found it difficult to acknowledge it properly. He laid the 
 case on his stout knee, and blew his nose violently several times. 
 
 "There's something written on it," said Cedric, "inside the 
 case. I told the man myself what to say. ' From his oldest friend, 
 Lord Fauntleroy, to Mr. Hobbs. When this you see, remember me/ 
 I don't want you to forget me." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs blew his nose very loudly again. 
 
 " I sha'n't forget you," he said, speaking a trifle huskily, as Dick 
 had spoken ; " nor don't you go and forget me when you get among 
 the British arrystocracy." 
 
 " I should n't forget you, whoever I was among," answered his 
 lordship, " I Ve spent my happiest hours with you ; at least, some 
 of my happiest hours. I hope you '11 come to see me sometime. 
 I 'm sure my grandpapa would be very much pleased. Perhaps he '11 
 write and ask you, when I tell him about you. You you would n't 
 mind his being an earl, would you? I mean you would n't stay 
 away just because he was one, if he invited you to come ? " 
 
44 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " I 'd come to see you," replied Mr. Hobbs, graciously. 
 
 So it seemed to be agreed that if he received a pressing invita- 
 tion from the earl to come and spend a few months at Dorincourt 
 Castle, he was to lay aside his republican prejudices and pack his 
 valise at once. 
 
 At last all the preparations were complete ; the day came when 
 the trunks were taken to the steamer, and the hour arrived when the 
 carriage stood at the door. Then a curious feeling of loneliness 
 came upon the little boy. His mamma had been shut up in her 
 room for some time ; when she came down the stairs, her eyes looked 
 large and wet, and her sweet mouth was trembling. Cedric went to 
 her, and she bent down to him, and he put his arms around her, and 
 they kissed each other. He knew something made them both sorry, 
 though he scarcely knew what it was ; but one tender little thought 
 rose to his lips. 
 
 " We liked this little house, Dearest, did n't we ? " he said. " We 
 always will like it, wont we ? " 
 
 " Yes yes," she answered, in a low, sweet voice. " Yes, 
 darling." 
 
 And then they went into the carriage and Cedric sat very close 
 to her, and as she looked back out of the window, he looked at her 
 and stroked her hand and held it close. 
 
 And then, it seemed almost directly, they were on the steamer 
 in the midst of the wildest bustle and confusion ; carriages were 
 driving down and leaving passengers ; passengers were getting into 
 a state of excitement about baggage which had not arrived and 
 threatened to be too late ; big trunks and cases were being bumped 
 down and dragged about ; sailors were uncoiling ropes and hurrying 
 to and fro ; officers were giving orders ; ladies and gentlemen and 
 children and nurses were coming on board, some were laughing 
 and looked gay, some were silent and sad, here and there two or 
 
DICK BOARDS THK STEAMER TO BID GOOD-BYK TO LORI, FAUNTT.KKOY. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 47 
 
 three were crying and touching their eyes with their handkerchiefs. 
 Cedric found something to interest him on every side ; he looked at 
 the piles of rope, at the furled sails, at the tall, tall masts which 
 seemed almost to touch the hot blue sky ; he began to make plans 
 for conversing with the sailors and gaining some information on the 
 subject of pirates. 
 
 It was just at the very last, when he was standing leaning on 
 the railing of the upper deck and watching the final preparations, 
 enjoying the excitement and the shouts of the sailors and wharfmen, 
 that his attention was called to a slight bustle in one of the groups 
 not far from him. Some one was hurriedly forcing his way through 
 this group and coming toward him. It was a boy, with something 
 red in his hand. It was Dick. He came up to Cedric quite 
 breathless. 
 
 " I Ve run all the way," he said. " I Ve come down to see ye off. 
 Trade 's been prime ! I bought this for ye out o' what I made 
 yesterday. Ye kin wear it when ye get among the swells. I lost 
 the paper when I was tryin' to get through them fellers downstairs. 
 They did n't want to let me up. It 's a hankercher." 
 
 He poured it all forth as if in one sentence. A bell rang, and 
 he made a leap away before Cedric had time to speak. 
 
 " Good-bye ! " he panted. " Wear it when ye get among the 
 swells." And he darted off and was gone. 
 
 A few seconds later they saw him struggle through the crowd 
 on the lower deck, and rush on shore just before the gang-plank was 
 drawn in. He stood on the wharf and waved his cap. 
 
 Cedric held the handkerchief in his hand. It was of bright red 
 silk ornamented with purple horseshoes and horses' heads. 
 
 There was a great straining and creaking and confusion. The 
 people on the wharf began to shout to their friends, and the people 
 on the steamer shouted back : 
 
4 8 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Good-bye ! Good-bye ! Good-bye, old fellow ! " Every one 
 seemed to be saying, " Don't forget us. Write when you get to 
 Liverpool. Good-bye ! Good-bye ! " 
 
 Little Lord Fauntleroy leaned forward and waved the red 
 handkerchief. 
 
 " Good-bye, Dick ! " he shouted, lustily. " Thank you ! Good- 
 bye, Dick ! " 
 
 And the big steamer moved away, and the people cheered 
 again, and Cedric's mother drew the veil over her eyes, and on the 
 shore there was left great confusion; but Dick saw nothing save that 
 bright, childish face and the bright hair that the sun shone on and 
 the breeze lifted, and he heard nothing but the hearty childish voice 
 calling " Good-bye, Dick ! " as little Lord Fauntleroy steamed slowly 
 away from the home of his birth to the unknown land of his ancestors. 
 
IV 
 
 IT was during the voyage that Cedric's mother told him that his 
 home was not to be hers ; and when he first understood it, his 
 grief was so great that Mr. Havisham saw that the Earl had 
 been wise in making the arrangements that his mother should be 
 quite near him, and see him often ; for it was very plain he could 
 not have borne the separation otherwise. But his mother managed 
 the little fellow so sweetly and lovingly, and made him feel that she 
 would be so near him, that, after a while, he ceased to be oppressed 
 by the fear of any real parting. 
 
 " My house is not far from the Castle, Ceddie," she repeated each 
 time the subject was referred to " a very little way from yours, and 
 you can always run in and see me every day, and you will have so 
 many things to tell me ! and we shall be so happy together ! It is a 
 beautiful place. Your papa has often told me about it. He loved 
 it very much ; and you will love it too." 
 
 " I should love it better if you were there," his small lordship said, 
 with a heavy little sigh. 
 
 He could not but feel puzzled by so strange a state of affairs, 
 which could put his " Dearest" in one house and himself in another. 
 The fact was that Mrs, Errol had thought it better not to tell 
 him why this plan had been made. 
 
 " I should prefer he should not be told," she said to Mr. Hav- 
 isham. " He would not really understand ; he would only be 
 -shocked and hurt; and I feel sure that his feeling for the Earl will 
 
 4 49 
 
50 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 be a more natural and affectionate one if he does not know that his 
 grandfather dislikes me so bitterly. He has never seen hatred or 
 hardness, and it would be a great blow to him to find out that any 
 one could hate me. He is so loving himself, and I am so dear to 
 him! It is better for him that he should not be told until he is much 
 older, and it is far better for the Earl. It would make a barrier 
 between them, even though Ceddie is such a child." 
 
 So Cedric only knew that there was some mysterious reason for 
 the arrangement, some reason which he was not old enough to 
 understand, but which would be explained when he was older. He 
 was puzzled ; but, after all, it was not the reason he cared about so 
 much ; and after many talks with his mother, in which she comforted 
 him and placed before him the bright side of the picture, the dark 
 side of it gradually began to fade out, though now and then Mr. 
 Havisham saw him sitting in some queer little old-fashioned attitude, 
 watching the sea, with a very grave face, and more than once he 
 heard an unchildish sigh rise to his lips. 
 
 " I don't like it," he said once as he was having one of his almost 
 venerable talks with the lawyer. " You don't know how much I 
 don't like it ; but there are a great many troubles in this world, and 
 you have to bear them. Mary says so, and I Ve heard Mr. Hobbs 
 say it too. And Dearest wants me to like to live with my grandpapa, 
 because, you see, all his children are dead, and that 's very mourn- 
 ful. It makes you sorry for a man, when all his children have died 
 and one was killed suddenly." 
 
 One of the things which always delighted the people who made 
 the acquaintance of his young lordship was the sage little air he 
 wore at times when he gave himself up to conversation ; combined 
 with his occasionally elderly remarks and the extreme innocence and 
 seriousness of his round childish face, it was irresistible. He was 
 such a handsome, blooming, curly-headed little fellow, that, when he 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 51 
 
 sat down and nursed his knee with his chubby hands, and conversed 
 with much gravity, he was a source of great entertainment to his 
 hearers. Gradually Mr. Havisham had begun to derive a great deal 
 of private pleasure and amusement from his society. 
 
 " And so you are going to try to like the Earl," he said. 
 
 " Yes," answered his lordship. " He 's my relation, and of course 
 you have to like your relations ; and besides, he 's been very kind 
 to me. When a person does so many things for you, and wants you 
 to have everything you wish for, of course you 'd like him if he was 
 n't your relation; but when he 's your relation and does that, why, 
 you 're very fond of him." 
 
 " Do you think," suggested Mr. Havisham, "that he will be fond 
 of you ? " 
 
 " Well," said Cedric, " I think he will, because, you see, I 'm his 
 relation, too, and I 'm his boy's little boy besides, and, well, don't 
 you see of course he must be fond of me now, or he would n't 
 want me to have everything that I like, and he would n't have sent 
 you for me." 
 
 " Oh ! " remarked the lawyer, " that 's it, is it? " 
 
 " Yes," said Cedric, " that 's it. Don't you think that 's it, too? 
 Of course a man would be fond of his grandson." 
 
 The people who had been seasick had no sooner recovered from 
 their seasickness, and come on deck to recline in their steamer-chairs 
 and enjoy themselves, than every one seemed to know the romantic 
 story of little Lord Fauntleroy, and every one took an interest in the 
 little fellow, who ran about the ship or walked with his mother or the 
 tall, thin old lawyer, or talked to the sailors. Every one liked him ; 
 he made friends everywhere. He was ever ready to make friends. 
 When the gentlemen walked up and down the deck, and let him 
 walk with them, he stepped out with a manly, sturdy little tramp, 
 and answered all their jokes with much gay enjoyment ; when the 
 
52 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 ladies talked to him, there was always laughter in the group of which 
 he was the center; when he played with the children, there was 
 always magnificent fun on hand. Among the sailors he had the 
 heartiest friends; he heard miraculous stories about pirates and ship- 
 wrecks and desert islands; he learned to splice ropes and rig toy 
 ships, and gained an amount of information concerning "tops'ls" and 
 " mains'ls," quite surprising. His conversation had, indeed, quite a 
 nautical flavor at times, and on one occasion he raised a shout of 
 laughter in a group of ladies and gentlemen who were sitting on 
 deck, wrapped in shawls and overcoats, by saying sweetly, and with 
 a very engaging expression : 
 
 " Shiver my timbers, but it 's a cold day ! " 
 
 It surprised him when they laughed. He had picked up this 
 sea-faring remark from an "elderly naval man" of the name of 
 Jerry, who told him stories in which it occurred frequently. To judge 
 from his stories of his own adventures, Jerry had made some two or 
 three thousand voyages, and had been invariably shipwrecked on 
 each occasion on an island densely populated with bloodthirsty canni- 
 bals. Judging, also, by these same exciting adventures, he had been 
 partially roasted and eaten frequently and had been scalped some 
 fifteen or twenty times. 
 
 " That is why he is so bald," explained Lord Fauntleroy to his 
 mamma. " After you have been scalped several times the hair never 
 grows again. Jerry's never grew again after that last time, when the 
 King of the Parromachaweekins did it with the knife made out of the 
 skull of the Chief of the Wopslemumpkies. He says it was one of the 
 most serious times he ever had. He was so frightened that his hair 
 stood right straight up when the king flourished his knife, and it never 
 would lie down, and the king wears it that way now, and it looks some- 
 thing like a hair-brush. I never heard anything like the asperiences 
 Jerry has had ! I should so like to tell Mr. Hobbs about them ! " 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 53 
 
 Sometimes, when the weather was very disagreeable and people 
 were kept below decks in the saloon, a party of his grown-up friends 
 would persuade him to tell them 
 some of these " asperiences " of 
 Jerry's, and as he sat relating 
 them with great delight and 
 fervor, there was certainly no 
 more popular voyager on any 
 ocean steamer crossing the At- 
 lantic than little Lord Faunt- 
 leroy. He was always innocently 
 and good-naturedly ready to do 
 his small best to add to the gen- 
 eral entertainment, and there 
 was a charm in the very uncon- 
 sciousness of his own childish 
 importance. 
 
 "Jerry's stories int'rust them 
 very much," he said to his 
 mamma. " For my part you 
 must excuse me, Dearest 
 but sometimes I should have 
 thought they could n't be all 
 quite true, if they had n't hap- 
 pened to Jerry himself; but 
 as they all happened to Jerry 
 well, it 's very strange, you 
 know, and perhaps sometimes 
 
 1 r 11 1-1 TERRY NARRATES SOME OF HIS ADVENTURES. 
 
 he may forget and be a little 
 
 mistaken, as he 's been scalped so often. Being scalped a great 
 
 many times might make a person forgetful." 
 
54 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 It was eleven days after he had said good-bye to his friend Dick 
 before he reached Liverpool ; and it was on the night of the twelfth 
 day that the carriage in which he and his mother and Mr. Havisham 
 had driven from the station stopped before the gates of Court Lodge. 
 They could not see much of the house in the darkness. Cedric only 
 saw that there was a drive-way under great arching trees, and after 
 the carriage had rolled down this drive-way a short distance, he 
 saw an open door and a stream of bright light coming through it. 
 
 Mary had come with them to attend her mistress, and she had 
 reached the house before them. When Cedric jumped out of the 
 carriage he saw one or two servants standing in the wide, bright 
 hall, and Mary stood in the door-way. 
 
 Lord Fauntleroy sprang at her with a gay little shout. 
 " Did you get here, Mary?" he said. " Here 's Mary, Dearest," 
 and he kissed the maid on her rough red cheek. 
 
 " I am glad you are here, Mary," Mrs. Errol said to her in a low 
 voice. " It is such a comfort to me to see you. It takes the strange- 
 ness away." And she held out her little hand, which Mary squeezed 
 encouragingly. She knew how this first " strangeness " must feel to 
 this little mother who had left her own land and was about to give 
 up her child. 
 
 The English servants looked with curiosity at both the boy and 
 his mother. They had heard all sorts of rumors about them both ; 
 they knew how angry the old Earl had been, and why Mrs. Errol 
 was to live at the lodge and her little boy at the castle ; they knew 
 all about the great fortune he was to inherit, and about the savage 
 old grandfather and his gout and his tempers. 
 
 " He '11 have no easy time of it, poor little chap," they had said 
 among themselves. 
 
 But they did not know what sort of a little lord had come 
 among them ; they did not quite understand the character of the 
 next Earl of Dorincourt. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 55 
 
 He pulled off his overcoat quite as if he were used to doing 
 things for himself, and began to look about him. He looked about 
 the broad hall, at the pictures and stags' antlers and curious things 
 that ornamented it. They seemed curious to him because he had 
 never seen such things before in a private house. 
 
 " Dearest," he said, " this is a very pretty house, is n't it ? I am 
 glad you are going to live here. It's quite a large house." 
 
 It was quite a large house compared to the one in the shabby 
 New York street, and it was very pretty and cheerful. Mary led 
 them upstairs to a bright chintz-hung bedroom where a fire was 
 burning, and a large snow-white Persian cat was sleeping luxuriously 
 on the white fur hearth-rug. 
 
 " It was the house-kaper up at the Castle, ma'am, sint her to yez," 
 explained Mary. " It 's herself is a kind-hearted lady an' has had 
 iverything done to prepar' fur yez. I seen her meself a few minnits, 
 an' she was fond av the Capt'in, ma'am, an' graivs fur him ; and she 
 said to say the big cat slapin' on the rug moight make the room 
 same homeloike to yez. She knowed Capt'in Errol whin he was a 
 bye an' a foine handsum' bye she ses he was, an' a foine young 
 man wid a plisint word fur every one, great an' shmall. An* ses I to 
 her, ses I : ' He 's lift a bye that 's loike him, ma'am, fur a foiner 
 little felly niver sthipped in shoe-leather/ ' 
 
 When they were ready, they went downstairs into another big 
 bright room ; its ceiling was low, and the furniture was heavy and 
 beautifully carved, the chairs were deep and had high massive backs, 
 and there were queer shelves and cabinets with strange, pretty 
 ornaments on them. There was a great tiger-skin before the fire, 
 and an arm-chair on each side of it. The stately white cat had 
 responded to Lord Fauntleroy's stroking and followed him down- 
 stairs, and when he threw himself down upon the rug, she curled 
 herself up grandly beside him as if she intended to make friends. 
 Cedric was so pleased that he put his head down by hers, and lay 
 
56 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 stroking her, not noticing what his mother and Mr. Havisham 
 were saying. 
 
 They were, indeed, speaking in a rather low tone. Mrs. Errol 
 looked a little pale and agitated. 
 
 " He need not go to-night ? " she said. " He will stay with 
 me to-night ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered Mr. Havisham in the same low tone ; "it will 
 not be necessary for him to go to-night. I myself will go to the 
 Castle as soon as we have dined, and inform the Earl of our 
 arrival." 
 
 Mrs. Errol glanced down at Cedric. He was lying in a grace- 
 ful, careless attitude upon the black-and-yellow skin ; the fire shone 
 on his handsome, flushed little face, and on the tumbled, curly hair 
 spread out on the rug ; the big cat was purring in drowsy content, 
 she liked the caressing touch of the kind little hand on her fur. 
 Mrs. Errol smiled faintly. 
 
 " His lordship does not know all that he is taking from me," she 
 said rather sadly. Then she looked at the lawyer. " Will you tell 
 him, if you please," she said, " that I should rather not have the 
 money ? " 
 
 " The money ! " Mr. Havisham exclaimed. " You can not mean 
 the income he proposed to settle upon you ! " 
 
 " Yes," she answered, quite simply; " I think I should rather not 
 have it. I am obliged to accept the house, and I thank him for it, 
 because it makes it possible for me to be near my child ; but I have 
 a little money of my own, enough to live simply upon, and I 
 should rather not take the other. As he dislikes me so much, I 
 should feel a little as if I were selling Cedric to him. I am giving 
 him up only because I love him enough to forget myself for his good, 
 and because his father would wish it to be so." 
 Mr. Havisham rubbed his chin. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 59 
 
 " This is very strange," he said. " He will be very angry. He 
 wont understand it." 
 
 " I think he will understand it after he thinks it over," she said. 
 " I do not really need the money, and why should I accept luxuries 
 from the man who hates me so much that he takes my little boy 
 from me his son's child ? " 
 
 Mr. Havisham looked reflective for a few moments. 
 
 " I will deliver your message," he said afterward. 
 
 And then the dinner was brought in and they sat down together, 
 the big cat taking a seat on a chair near Cedric's and purring 
 majestically throughout the meal. 
 
 When, later in the evening, Mr. Havisham presented himself at 
 the Castle, he was taken at once to the Earl. He found him sitting 
 by the fire in a luxurious easy-chair, his foot on a gout-stool. He 
 looked at the lawyer sharply from under his shaggy eyebrows, but 
 Mr. Havisham could see that, in spite of his pretense at calmness, 
 he was nervous and secretly excited. 
 
 "Well," he said; "well, Havisham, come back, have you? 
 What 's the news ? " 
 
 " Lord Fauntleroy and his mother are at Court Lodge," replied 
 Mr. Havisham. "They bore the voyage very well and are in excel- 
 lent health." 
 
 The Earl made a half-impatient sound and moved his hand 
 restlessly. 
 
 " Glad to hear it," he said brusquely. " So far, so good. Make 
 yourself comfortable. Have a glass of wine and settle down. What 
 else ? " 
 
 " His lordship remains with his mother to-night. To-morrow I 
 will bring him to the Castle." 
 
 The Earl's elbow was resting on the arm of his chair ; he put 
 his hand up and shielded his eyes with it. 
 
60 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Well," he said ; " go on. You know I told you not to write to 
 me about the matter, and I know nothing whatever about it. What 
 kind of a lad is he ? I don't care about the mother ; what sort of a 
 lad is he ? " 
 
 Mr. Havisham drank a little of the glass of port he had poured 
 out for himself, and sat holding it in his hand. 
 
 " It is rather difficult to judge of the character of a child of seven/' 
 he said cautiously. 
 
 The Earl's prejudices were very intense. He looked up quickly 
 and uttered a rough word. 
 
 "A fool, is he?" he exclaimed. "Or a clumsy cub? His 
 American blood tells, does it ? " 
 
 " I do not think it has injured him, my lord," replied the lawyer 
 in his dry, deliberate fashion. " I don't know much about children, 
 but I thought him rather a fine lad." 
 
 His manner of speech was always deliberate and unenthusiastic, 
 but he made it a trifle more so than usual. He had a shrewd fancy 
 that it would be better that the Earl should judge for himself, and 
 be quite unprepared for his first interview with his grandson. 
 
 " Healthy and well-grown ? " asked my lord. 
 
 " Apparently very healthy, and quite well-grown," replied the 
 lawyer. 
 
 " Straight-limbed and well enough to look at ? " demanded the Earl. 
 A very slight smile touched Mr. Havisham's thin lips. There 
 rose up before his mind's eye the picture he had left at Court Lodge, 
 the beautiful, graceful child's body lying upon the tiger-skin in care- 
 less comfort the bright, tumbled hair spread on the rug the 
 bright, rosy boy's face. 
 
 " Rather a handsome boy, I think, my lord, as boys go," he said, 
 " though I am scarcely a judge, perhaps. But you will find him 
 somewhat different from most English children, I dare say." 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 6 1 
 
 " I have n't a doubt of that," snarled the Earl, a twinge of gout 
 seizing him. "A lot of impudent little beggars, those American 
 children ; I Ve heard that often enough." 
 
 " It is not exactly impudence in his case," said Mr. Havisham. 
 " I can scarcely describe what the difference is. He has lived more 
 with older people than with children, and the difference seems to be 
 a mixture of maturity and childishness." 
 
 " American impudence ! " protested the Earl. " I Ve heard of it 
 before. They call it precocity and freedom. Beastly, impudent bad 
 manners ; that 's what it is ! " 
 
 Mr. Havisham drank some more port. He seldom argued with 
 his lordly patron, never when his lordly patron's noble leg was 
 inflamed by gout. At such times it was always better to leave him 
 alone. So there was a silence of a few moments. It was Mr. Hav- 
 isham who broke it. 
 
 " I have a message to deliver from Mrs. Errol," he remarked. 
 
 " I don't want any of her messages ! " growled his lordship ; ''the 
 less I hear of her the better." 
 
 " This is a rather important one," explained the lawyer. " She 
 prefers not to accept the income you proposed to settle on her." 
 The Earl started visibly. 
 
 " What 's that ? " he cried out. " What 's that ? " 
 Mr. Havisham repeated his words. 
 
 " She says it is not necessary, and that as the relations between 
 you are not friendly 
 
 " Not friendly ! " ejaculated my lord savagely; " I should say they 
 were not friendly ! I hate to think of her ! A mercenary, sharp- 
 voiced American ! I don't wish to see her." 
 
 " My lord," said Mr. Havisham, "you can scarcely call her mer- 
 cenary. She has asked for nothing. She does not accept the 
 money you offer her." 
 
62 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 "All done for effect!" snapped his noble lordship. "She 
 wants to wheedle me into seeing her. She thinks I shall admire 
 her spirit. I don't admire it ! It 's only American independence ! 
 I wont have her living like a beggar at my park gates. As 
 she 's the boy's mother, she has a position to keep up, and she 
 
 shall keep it up. She shall have the money, whether she likes it 
 
 I 
 or not ! 
 
 " She wont spend it," said Mr. Havisham. 
 
 " I don't care whether she spends it or not !" blustered my lord. 
 " She shall have it sent to her. She sha'n't tell people that she has 
 to live like a pauper because I have done nothing for her ! She 
 wants to give the boy a bad opinion of me ! I suppose she has 
 poisoned his mind against me already ! " 
 
 " No," said Mr. Havisham. " I have another message, which 
 will prove to you that she has not done that." 
 
 " I don't want to hear it ! " panted the Earl, out of breath with 
 anger and excitement and gout. 
 
 But Mr. Havisham delivered it. 
 
 " She asks you not to let Lord Fauntleroy hear anything which 
 would lead him to understand that you separate him from her be- 
 cause of your prejudice against her. He is very fond of her, and 
 she is convinced that it would cause a barrier to exist between you. 
 She says he would not comprehend it, and it might make him fear 
 you in some measure, or at least cause him to feel less affection for 
 you. She has told him that he is too young to understand the rea- 
 son, but shall hear it when he is older. She wishes that there should 
 be no shadow on your first meeting." 
 
 The Earl sank back into his chair. His deep-set fierce old eyes 
 gleamed under his beetling brows. 
 
 " Come, now ! " he said, still breathlessly. " Come, now ! You 
 don't mean the mother has n't told him ? " 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 63 
 
 " Not one word, my lord," replied the lawyer coolly. "That I 
 can assure you. The child is prepared to believe you the most 
 amiable and affectionate of grandparents. Nothing rabsolutely 
 nothing has been said to him to give him the slightest doubt of your 
 perfection. And as I carried out your commands in every detail, 
 while in New York, he certainly regards you as a wonder of 
 generosity." 
 
 " He does, eh?" said the Earl. 
 
 " I give you my word of honor," said Mr. Havisham, ''that Lord 
 Fauntleroy's impressions of you will depend entirely upon yourself. 
 And if you will pardon the liberty I take in making the suggestion, 
 I think you will succeed better with him if you take the precaution 
 not to speak slightingly of his mother." 
 
 " Pooh, pooh!" said the Earl. "The youngster is only seven 
 years old ! " 
 
 " He has spent those seven years at his mother's side," returned 
 Mr. Havisham; "and she has all his affection." 
 
V 
 
 IT was late in the afternoon when the carriage containing little 
 Lord Fauntleroy and Mr. Havisham drove up the long avenue 
 which led to the castle. The Earl had given orders that his 
 grandson should arrive in time to dine with him ; and for some reason 
 best known to himself, he had also ordered that the child should be 
 sent alone into the room in which he intended to receive him. As 
 the carriage rolled up the avenue, Lord Fauntleroy sat leaning com- 
 fortably against the luxurious cushions, and regarded the prospect 
 with great interest. He was, in fact, interested in everything he 
 saw. He had been interested in the carriage, with its large, splendid 
 horses and their glittering harness ; he had been interested in the 
 tall coachman and footman, with their resplendent livery ; and he 
 had been especially interested in the coronet on the panels, and had 
 struck up an acquaintance with the footman for the purpose of 
 inquiring what it meant. 
 
 When the carriage reached the great gates of the park, he 
 looked out of the window to get a good view of the huge stone lions 
 ornamenting the entrance. The gates were opened by a motherly, 
 rosy-looking woman, who came out of a pretty, ivy-covered lodge. 
 Two children ran out of the door of the house and stood looking 
 with round, wide-open eyes at the little boy in the carriage, who 
 looked at them also. Their mother stood courtesying and smiling, 
 and the children, on receiving a sign from her, made bobbing little 
 courtesies too. 
 
THE GATES WERE OPENED BY A WOMAN AND TWO CHILDREN WHO CAME OUT 
 OF A PRETTY IVY-COVERED LODGE." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 67 
 
 " Does she know me?" asked Lord Fauntleroy. "I think she 
 must think she knows me." And he took off his black velvet cap to 
 her and smiled. 
 
 " How do you do ? " he said brightly. " Good-afternoon ! " 
 
 The woman seemed pleased, he thought. The smile broadened 
 on her rosy face and a kind look came into her blue eyes. 
 
 " God bless your lordship ! " she said. " God bless your pretty 
 face ! Good luck and happiness to your lordship ! Welcome to you ! " 
 Lord Fauntleroy waved his cap and nodded to her again as the 
 carnage rolled by her. 
 
 " I like that woman," he said. " She looks as if she liked boys. 
 I should like to come here and play with her children. I wonder if 
 she has enough to make up a company ? " 
 
 Mr. Havisham did not tell him that he would scarcely be allowed 
 to make playmates of the gate-keeper's children. The lawyer thought 
 there was time enough for giving him that information. 
 
 The carriage rolled on and on between the great, beautiful 
 trees which grew on each side of the avenue and stretched their 
 broad, swaying branches in an arch across it. Cedric had never 
 seen such trees, they were so grand and stately, and their branches 
 grew so low down on their huge trunks. He did not then know 
 that Dorincourt Castle was one of the most beautiful in all England; 
 that its park was one of the broadest and finest, and its trees and 
 avenue almost without rivals. But he did know that it was all very 
 beautiful. He liked the big, broad-branched trees, with the late 
 afternoon sunlight striking golden lances through them. He liked 
 the perfect stillness which rested on everything. He felt a great, 
 strange pleasure in the beauty of which he caught glimpses under 
 and between the sweeping boughs the great, beautiful spaces of 
 the park, with still other trees standing sometimes stately and alone, 
 and sometimes in groups. Now and then they passed places where 
 
68 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 tall ferns grew in masses, and again and again the ground was azure 
 with the bluebells swaying in the soft breeze. Several times he 
 started up with a laugh of delight as a rabbit leaped up from under 
 the greenery and scudded away with a twinkle of short white tail 
 behind it. Once a covey of partridges rose with a sudden whir and 
 flew away, and then he shouted and clapped his hands. 
 
 " It 's a beautiful place, is n't it? " he said to Mr. Havisham. " I 
 never saw such a beautiful place. It 's prettier even than Central 
 Park." 
 
 He was rather puzzled by the length of time they were on their 
 way. 
 
 " How far is it," he said, at length, " from the gate to the front 
 door ? " 
 
 " It is between three and four miles," answered the lawyer. 
 
 " That 's a long way for a person to live from his gate," remarked 
 his lordship. 
 
 Every few minutes he saw something new to wonder at and 
 admire. When he caught sight of the deer, some couched in the 
 grass, some standing with their pretty antlered heads turned with a 
 half-startled air toward the avenue as the carriage wheels disturbed 
 them, he was enchanted. 
 
 " Has there been a circus?" he cried; "or do they live here 
 always ? Whose are they ? " 
 
 " They live here," Mr. Havisham told him. " They belong to 
 the Earl, your grandfather." 
 
 It was not long after this that they saw the castle. It rose up 
 before them stately and beautiful and gray, the last rays of the sun 
 casting dazzling lights on its many windows. It had turrets and 
 battlements and towers ; a great deal of ivy grew upon its walls ; all 
 the broad, open space about it was laid out in terraces and lawns and 
 beds of brilliant flowers. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 69 
 
 " It 's the most beautiful place I ever saw !" said Cedric, his round 
 face flushing with pleasure. " It reminds any one of a king's palace. 
 I saw a picture of one once in a fairy-book." 
 
 He saw the great entrance-door thrown open and many servants 
 standing in two lines looking at him. He wondered why they were 
 standing there, and admired their liveries very much. He did not 
 know that they were there to do honor to the little boy to whom all 
 this splendor would one day belong, the beautiful castle like the 
 fairy king's palace, the magnificent park, the grand old trees, the 
 dells full of ferns and bluebells where the hares and rabbits played, 
 the dappled, large-eyed deer couching in the deep grass. It was 
 only a couple of weeks since he had sat with Mr. Hobbs among the 
 potatoes and canned peaches, with his legs dangling from the high 
 stool ; it would not have been possible for him to realize that he had 
 very much to do with all this grandeur. At the head of the line of 
 servants there stood an elderly woman in a rich, plain black silk 
 gown ; she had gray hair and wore a cap. As he entered the hall 
 she stood nearer than the rest, and the child thought from the look 
 in her eyes that she was going to speak to him. Mr. Havisham, who 
 held his hand, paused a moment. 
 
 "This is Lord Fauntleroy, Mrs. Mellon," he said. " Lord Faunt- 
 leroy, this is Mrs. Mellon, who is the housekeeper." 
 Cedric gave her his hand, his eyes lighting up. 
 
 " Was it you who sent the cat ? " he said. " I 'm much obliged to 
 you, ma'am." 
 
 Mrs. Mellon's handsome old face looked as pleased as the face 
 of the lodge-keeper's wife had done. 
 
 " I should know his lordship anywhere," she said to Mr. Havisham. 
 " He has the Captain's face and way. It 's a great day, this, sir." 
 
 Cedric wondered why it was a great day. He looked at Mrs. 
 Mellon curiouslv. It seemed to him for a moment as if there were 
 
70 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 tears in her eyes, and yet it was evident she was not unhappy. She 
 smiled down on him. 
 
 "The cat left two beautiful kittens here," she said; " they shall be 
 sent up to your lordship's nursery." 
 
 Mr. Havisham said a few words to her in a low voice. 
 
 " In the library, sir," Mrs. Mellon replied. " His lordship is to be 
 taken there alone." 
 
 A few minutes later, the very tall footman in livery, who had 
 escorted Cedric to the library door, opened it and announced : "Lord 
 Fauntleroy, my lord," in quite a majestic tone. If he was only a 
 footman, he felt it was rather a grand occasion when the heir came 
 home to his own land and possessions, and was ushered into the 
 presence of the old Earl, whose place and title he was to take. 
 
 Cedric crossed the threshold into the room. It was a very large 
 and splendid room, with massive carven furniture in it, and shelves 
 upon shelves of books ; the furniture was so dark, and the draperies 
 so heavy, the diamond-paned windows were so deep, and it seemed 
 such a distance from one end of it to the other, that, since the sun 
 had gone down, the effect of it all was rather gloomy. For a moment 
 Cedric thought there was nobody in the room, but soon he saw that 
 by the fire burning on the wide hearth there was a large easy-chair 
 and that in that chair some one was sitting some one who did not 
 at first turn to look at him. 
 
 But he had attracted attention in one quarter at least. On the 
 floor, by the arm-chair, lay a dog, a huge tawny mastiff, with body 
 and limbs almost as big as a lion's ; and this great creature rose 
 majestically and slowly, and marched toward the little fellow with a 
 heavy step. 
 
 Then the person in the chair spoke. " Dougal," he called, 
 " come back, sir." 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 71 
 
 But there was no more fear in little Lord Fauntleroy's heart 
 than there was unkindness he had been a brave little fellow all his 
 life. He put his hand on the big dog's collar in the most natural 
 way in the world, and they strayed forward together, Dougal sniffing 
 as he went. 
 
 And then the Earl looked up. What Cedric saw was a large 
 old man with shaggy white hair and eyebrows, and a nose like an 
 eagle's beak between his deep, fierce eyes. What the Earl saw was 
 a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, 
 and with love-locks waving about the handsome, manly little face, 
 whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship. If the 
 Castle was like the palace in a fairy story, it must be owned that little 
 Lord Fauntleroy was himself rather like a small copy of the fairy 
 prince, though he was not at all aware of the fact, and perhaps was 
 rather a sturdy young model of a fairy. But there was a sudden 
 glow of triumph and exultation in the fiery old Earl's heart as he 
 saw what a strong, beautiful boy this grandson was, and how unhesi- 
 tatingly he looked up as he stood with his hand on the big dog's 
 neck. It pleased the grim old nobleman that the child should show 
 no shyness or fear, either of the dog or of himself. 
 
 Cedric looked at him just as he had looked at the woman at the 
 lodge and at the housekeeper, and came quite close to him. 
 
 "Are you the Earl?" he said. "I 'm your grandson, you know, 
 that Mr. Havisham brought. I 'm Lord Fauntleroy." 
 
 He held out his hand because he thought it must be the polite and 
 proper thing to do even with earls. " I hope you are very well," he 
 continued, with the utmost friendliness. " I 'm very glad to see you." 
 
 The Earl shook hands with him, with a curious gleam in his 
 eyes ; just at first, he was so astonished that he scarcely knew what 
 to say. He stared at the picturesque little apparition from under his 
 shaggy brows, and took it all in from head to foot. 
 
72 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Glad to see me, are you ? " he said. 
 
 " Yes/' answered Lord Fauntleroy, "very." 
 
 There was a chair near him, and he sat down on it ; it was a 
 high-backed, rather tall chair, and his feet did not touch the floor 
 when he had settled himself in it, but he seemed to be quite com- 
 fortable as he sat there, and regarded his august relative intently 
 but modestly. 
 
 " I 've kept wondering what you would look like," he remarked. 
 " I used to lie in my berth in the ship and wonder if you would be 
 anything like my father." 
 
 " Am I ? " asked the Earl. 
 
 " Well," Cedric replied, " I was very young when he died, and I 
 may not remember exactly how he looked, but I don't think you are 
 like him." 
 
 " You are disappointed, I suppose ? " suggested his grandfather. 
 
 " Oh, no," responded Cedric politely. " Of course you would 
 like any one to look like your father ; but of course you would enjoy 
 the way your grandfather looked, even if he was n't like your father. 
 You know how it is yourself about admiring your relations." 
 
 The Earl leaned back in his chair and stared. He could not 
 be said to know how it was about admiring his relations. He had 
 employed most of his noble leisure in quarreling violently with them, 
 in turning them out of his house, and applying abusive epithets to 
 them ; and they all hated him cordially. 
 
 " Any boy would love his grandfather," continued Lord Fauntle- 
 roy, " 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 ? " 
 
 u Yes," answered Lord Fauntleroy brightly ; " I 'm ever so much 
 obliged to you about Bridget, and the apple-woman, and Dick." 
 
 " Bridget ! " exclaimed the Earl. " Dick ! The apple-woman ! " 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 73 
 
 " Yes !" explained Cedric; "the ones you gave me all that money 
 for the money you told Mr. Havisham to give me if I wanted it." 
 
 " Ha! " ejaculated his lordship. " That 's it, is it? The money 
 you were to spend as you liked. What did you buy with it ? I 
 should like to hear something about that." 
 
 He drew his shaggy eyebrows together and looked at the child 
 sharply. He was secretly curious to know in what way the lad had 
 indulged himself. 
 
 " Oh ! " said Lord Fauntleroy, " perhaps you did n't know about 
 Dick and the apple-woman and Bridget. I forgot you lived such a 
 long way off from them. They were particular friends of mine. 
 And you see Michael had the fever " 
 
 " Who 's Michael? " asked the Earl. 
 
 " Michael is Bridget's husband, and they were in great trouble. 
 When a man is sick and can't work and has twelve children, you 
 know how it is. And Michael has always been a sober man. And 
 Bridget used to come to our house and cry. And the evening Mr. 
 Havisham was there, she was in the kitchen crying, because they 
 had almost nothing to eat and could n't pay the rent ; and I went in 
 to see her, and Mr. Havisham sent for me and he said you had given 
 him some money for me. And I ran as fast as I could into the 
 kitchen and gave it to Bridget ; and that made it all right ; and 
 Bridget could scarcely believe her eyes. That 's why I 'm so 
 obliged to you." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the Earl in his deep voice, " that was one of the things 
 you did for yourself, was it ? What else ? " 
 
 Dougal had been sitting by the tall chair ; the great dog had 
 taken its place there when Cedric sat down. Several times it had 
 turned and looked up at the boy as if interested in the conversation. 
 Dougal was a solemn dog, who seemed to feel altogether too big to 
 take life's responsibilities lightly. The old Earl, who knew the dog 
 
74 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 well, had watched it with secret interest. Dougal was not a dog 
 whose habit it was to make acquaintances rashly, and the Earl won- 
 dered somewhat to see how quietly the brute sat under the touch of 
 the childish hand. And, just at this moment, the big dog gave little 
 Lord Fauntleroy one more look of dignified scrutiny, and deliberately 
 laid its huge, lion-like head on the boy's black-velvet knee. 
 
 The small hand went on stroking this new friend as Cedric 
 answered : 
 
 "Well, there was Dick," he said. " You 'd like Dick, he 's so 
 square." 
 
 This was an Americanism the Earl was not prepared for. 
 
 " What does that mean ? " he inquired. 
 
 Lord Fauntleroy paused a moment to reflect. He was not very 
 sure himself what it meant. He had taken it for granted as meaning 
 something very creditable because Dick had been fond of using it. 
 
 " I think it means that he would n't cheat any one," he exclaimed; 
 " or hit a boy who was under his size, and that he blacks people's 
 boots very well and makes them shine as much as he can. He 's a 
 perfessional bootblack." 
 
 " And he 's one of your acquaintances, is he ? " said the Earl. 
 
 " He is an old friend of mine," replied his grandson. " Not quite 
 as old as Mr. Hobbs, but quite old. He gave me a present just 
 before the ship sailed." 
 
 He put his hand into his pocket and drew forth a neatly folded 
 red object and opened it with an air of affectionate pride. It was 
 the red silk handkerchief with the large purple horse-shoes and 
 heads on it. 
 
 " He gave me this," said his young lordship. " I shall keep it 
 always. You can wear it round your neck or keep it in your pocket. 
 He bought it with the first money he earned after I bought Jake out 
 and gave him the new brushes. It 's a keepsake. I put some 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 75 
 
 poetry in Mr. Hobbs's watch. It was, 'When this you see, remember 
 me.' When this I see, I shall always remember Dick." 
 
 The sensations of the Right Honorable the Earl of Dorincourt 
 could scarcely be described. He was not an old nobleman who was 
 very easily bewildered, because he had seen a great deal of the 
 world; but here was something he found so novel that it almost took 
 his lordly breath away, and caused him some singular emotions. 
 He had never cared for children ; he had been so occupied with his 
 own pleasures that he had never had time to care for them. His 
 own sons had not interested him when they were very young 
 though sometimes he remembered having thought Cedric's father a 
 handsome and strong little fellow. He had been so selfish himself 
 that he had missed the pleasure of seeing unselfishness in others, and 
 he had not known how tender and faithful and affectionate a kind- 
 hearted little child can be, and how innocent and unconscious are its 
 simple, generous impulses. A boy had always seemed to him a 
 most objectionable little animal, selfish and greedy and boisterous 
 when not under strict restraint ; his own two eldest sons had given 
 their tutors constant trouble and annoyance, and of the younger one 
 he fancied he had heard few complaints because the boy was of no 
 particular importance. It had never once occurred to him that he 
 should like his grandson ; he had sent for the little Cedric because 
 his pride impelled him to do so. If the boy was to take his place 
 in the future, he did not wish his name to be made ridiculous by 
 descending to an uneducated boor. He had been convinced the boy 
 would be a clownish /ellow if he were brought up in America. He 
 had no feeling of affection for the lad ; his only hope was that he 
 should find him decently well-featured, and with a respectable share 
 of sense ; he had been so disappointed in his other sons, and had 
 been made so furious by Captain Errol's American marriage, that he 
 had never once thought that anything creditable could come of it. 
 
76 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 When the footman had announced Lord Faimtleroy, he had almost 
 dreaded to look at the boy lest he should find him all that he had 
 feared. It was because of this feeling that he had ordered that the 
 child should be sent to him alone. His pride could not endure that 
 others should see his disappointment if he was to be disappointed. 
 His proud, stubborn old heart therefore had leaped within him when 
 the boy came forward with his graceful, easy carriage, his fearless 
 hand on the big dog's neck. Even in the moments when he had 
 hoped the most, the Earl had never hoped that his grandson would 
 look like that. It seemed almost too good to be true that this should 
 be the boy he had dreaded to see the child of the woman he so 
 disliked this little fellow with so much beauty and such a brave, 
 childish grace ! The Earl's stern composure was quite shaken by 
 this startling surprise. 
 
 And then their talk began ; and he was still more curiously 
 moved, and more and more puzzled. In the first place, he was so 
 used to seeing people rather afraid and embarrassed before him, that 
 he had expected nothing else but that his grandson would be timid 
 or shy. But Cedric was no more afraid of the Earl than he had been 
 of Dougal. He was not bold ; he was only innocently friendly, and 
 he was not conscious that there could be any reason why he should 
 be awkward or afraid. The Earl could not help seeing that the 
 little boy took him for a friend and treated him as one, without hav- 
 ing any doubt of him at all. It was quite plain as the little fellow 
 sat there in his tall chair and talked in his friendly way that it had 
 never occurred to him that this large, fierce-looking old man could 
 be anything but kind to him, and rather pleased to see him there. 
 And it was plain, too, that, in his childish way, he wished to please 
 and interest his grandfather. Cross, and hard-hearted, and worldly 
 as the old Earl was, he could not help feeling a secret and novel 
 pleasure in this very confidence. After all, it was not disagree- 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 77 
 
 able to meet some one who did not distrust him or shrink from him, 
 or seem to detect the ugly part of his nature ; some one who looked 
 at him with clear, unsuspecting eyes, if it was only a little boy in 
 a black velvet suit. 
 
 So the old man leaned back in his chair, and led his young com- 
 panion on to telling him still more of himself, and with that odd 
 gleam in his eyes watched the little fellow as he talked. Lord 
 Fauntleroy was quite willing to answer all his questions and chatted 
 on in his genial little way quite composedly. He told him all about 
 Dick and Jake, and the apple-woman, and Mr. Hobbs; he described 
 the Republican Rally in all the glory of its banners and transpar- 
 encies, torches and rockets. In the course of the conversation, he 
 reached the Fourth of July and the Revolution, and was just becom- 
 ing enthusiastic, when he suddenly recollected something and stopped 
 very abruptly. 
 
 " What is the matter?" demanded his grandfather. ''Why don't 
 you go on ? " 
 
 Lord Fauntleroy moved rather uneasily in his chair. It was 
 evident to the Earl that he was embarrassed by the thought which 
 had just occurred to him. 
 
 " I was just thinking that perhaps you might n't like it," he 
 replied. " Perhaps some one belonging to you might have been 
 there. I forgot you were an Englishman." 
 
 " You can go on," said my lord. " No one belonging to me was 
 there. You forgot you were an Englishman, too." 
 
 " Oh ! no," said Cedric quickly. " I 'm an American !" 
 
 " You are an Englishman," said the Earl grimly. " Your father 
 was an Englishman." 
 
 It amused him a little to say this, but it did not amuse Cedric. 
 The lad had never thought of such a development as this. He felt 
 himself grow quite hot up to the roots of his hair. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 "I was born in America," he protested. "You have to be an 
 American if you are born in America. I beg your pardon," with 
 serious politeness and delicacy, " for contradicting you. Mr. Hobbs 
 told me, if there were another war, you know, I should have to to 
 be an American." 
 
 The Earl gave a grim half laugh it was short and grim, but 
 it was a laugh. 
 
 " You would, would you ? " he said. 
 
 He hated America and Americans, but it amused him to see 
 how serious and interested this small patriot was. He thought that 
 so good an American might make a rather good Englishman when 
 he was a man. 
 
 They had not time to go very deep into the Revolution 
 again and indeed Lord Fauntleroy felt some delicacy about 
 returning to the subject before dinner was announced. 
 
 Cedric left his chair and went to his noble kinsman. He looked 
 down at his gouty foot. 
 
 "Would you like me to help you?" he said politely. "You could 
 lean on me, you know. Once when Mr. Hobbs hurt his foot with a 
 potato-barrel rolling on it, he used to lean on me." 
 
 The big footman almost periled his reputation and his situation 
 by smiling. He was an aristocratic footman who had always lived 
 in the best of noble families, and he had never smiled ; indeed, he 
 would have felt himself a disgraced and vulgar footman if he had 
 allowed himself to be led by any circumstance whatever into such an 
 indiscretion as a smile. But he had a very narrow escape. He only 
 just saved himself by staring straight over the Earl's head at a very 
 ugly picture. 
 
 The Earl looked his valiant young relative over from head 
 to foot. 
 
 " Do you think you could do it ? " he asked gruffly. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 79 
 
 " I think I could," said Cedric. " I 'm strong. I 'm seven, you know. 
 You could lean on your stick on one side, and on me on the other. 
 Dick says I 've a good deal of muscle for a boy that 's only seven." 
 
 He shut his hand and moved it upward to his shoulder, so that 
 the Earl might see the muscle Dick had kindly approved of, and his 
 face was so grave and earnest that the footman found it necessary to 
 look very hard indeed at the ugly picture. 
 
 "Well," said the Earl, "you may try." 
 
 Cedric gave him his stick and began to assist him to rise. 
 Usually, the footman did this, and was violently sworn at when his 
 lordship had an extra twinge of gout. The Earl was not a very 
 polite person as a rule, and many a time the huge footmen about 
 him quaked inside their imposing liveries. 
 
 But this evening he did not swear, though his gouty foot gave 
 him more twinges than one. He chose to try an experiment. He 
 got up slowly and put his hand on the small shoulder presented to 
 him with so much courage. Little Lord Fau-ntleroy made a careful 
 step forward, looking down at the gouty foot. 
 
 "Just lean on me," he said, with encouraging good cheer. "I '11 
 walk very slowly." 
 
 If the Earl had been supported by the footman he would have 
 rested less on his stick and more on his assistant's arm. And yet it 
 was part of his experiment to let his grandson feel his burden as no 
 light weight. It was quite a heavy weight indeed, and after a few 
 steps his young lordship's face grew quite hot, and his heart beat 
 rather fast, but he braced himself sturdily, remembering his muscle 
 and Dick's approval of it. 
 
 " Don't be afraid of leaning on me," he panted. " I 'm all 
 right if if it is n't a very long way." 
 
 It was not really very far to the dining-room, but it seemed 
 rather a long way to Cedric, before they reached the chair at the 
 
8o 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 head of the table. The hand on his shoulder seemed to grow 
 heavier at every step, and his face grew redder and hotter, and his 
 
 breath shorter, but 
 he never thought of 
 giving up ; he stiff- 
 ened his childish 
 muscles, held his 
 head erect, and en- 
 couraged the Earl as 
 he limped along. 
 j!!iit " Does your foot 
 
 hurt you very much 
 when you stand on 
 it?" he asked. "Did 
 you ever put it in hot 
 water and mustard ? 
 Mr. Hobbs used to 
 put his in hot water. 
 Arnica is a very nice 
 thing, they tell me." 
 The big dog 
 stalked slowly beside 
 them, and the big 
 footman followed ; 
 several times he 
 looked very queer 
 as he watched the 
 little figure making 
 the very most of all 
 its strength, and bearing its burden with such good-will. The Earl, 
 too, looked rather queer, once, as he glanced sidewise down at the 
 
 "'JUST LEAN ON ME,' SAID LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY, 
 'I 'LL WALK VERY SLOWLY.' " 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 8 1 
 
 flushed little face. When they entered the room where they were 
 to dine, Cedric saw it was a very large and imposing one, and that 
 the footman who stood behind the chair at the head of the table 
 stared very hard as they came in. 
 
 But they reached the chair at last. The hand was removed 
 from his shoulder, and the Earl was fairly seated. 
 
 Cedric took out Dick's handkerchief and wiped his forehead. 
 " It 's a warm night, is n't it ? " he said. " Perhaps you need a fire 
 because because of your foot, but it seems just a little warm to me." 
 
 His -delicate consideration for his noble relative's feelings was 
 such that he did not wish to seem to intimate that any of his sur- 
 roundings were unnecessary. 
 
 " You have been doing some rather hard work," said the Earl. 
 " Oh, no ! " said Lord Fauntleroy, "it was n't exactly hard, but I 
 got a little warm. A person will get warm in summer time." 
 
 And he rubbed his damp curls rather vigorously with the gor- 
 geous handkerchief. His own chair was placed at the other end of 
 the table, opposite his grandfather's. It was a chair with arms, and 
 intended for a much larger individual than himself; indeed, every- 
 thing he had seen so far, the great rooms, with their high ceilings, 
 the massive furniture, the big footman, the big dog, the Earl him- 
 self, were all of proportions calculated to make this little lad feel 
 that he was very small, indeed. But that did not trouble him ; he 
 had never thought himself very large or important, and he was quite 
 willing to accommodate himself even to circumstances which rather 
 overpowered him. 
 
 Perhaps he had never looked so little a fellow as when seated 
 now in his great chair, at the end of the table. Notwithstanding 
 his solitary existence, the Earl chose to live in some state. He 
 was fond of his dinner, and he dined in a formal style. Cedric 
 looked at him across a glitter of splendid glass and plate, which to 
 6 
 
82 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 his unaccustomed eyes seemed quite dazzling. A stranger looking 
 on might well have smiled at the picture, the great stately room, 
 the big liveried servants, the bright lights, the glittering silver and 
 glass, the fierce-looking old nobleman at the head of the table and 
 the very small boy at the foot. Dinner was usually a very serious 
 matter with the Earl and it was a very serious matter with the 
 cook, if his lordship was not pleased or had an indifferent appetite. 
 To-day, however, his appetite seemed a trifle better than usual, 
 perhaps because he had something to think of beside the flavor 
 of the entrees and the management of the gravies. His grandson 
 gave him something to think of. He kept looking at him across 
 the table. He did not say very much himself, but he managed to 
 make the boy talk. He had never imagined that he could be enter- 
 tained by hearing a child talk, but Lord Fauntleroy at once puzzled 
 and amused him, and he kept remembering how he had let the 
 childish shoulder feel his weight just for the sake of trying how far 
 the boy's courage and endurance would go, and it pleased him to 
 know that his grandson had not quailed and had not seemed to 
 think even for a moment of giving up what he had undertaken to do. 
 
 ''You don't wear your coronet all the time?" remarked Lord 
 Fauntleroy respectfully. 
 
 " No," replied the Earl, with his grim smile ; " it is not becoming 
 to me." 
 
 "Mr. Hobbs said you always wore it," said Cedric ; "but after 
 he thought it over, he said he supposed you must sometimes take 
 it off to put your hat on." 
 
 " Yes," said the Earl, " I take it off occasionally." 
 
 And one of the footmen suddenly turned aside .and gave a sin- 
 gular little cough behind his hand. 
 
 Cedric finished his dinner first, and then he leaned back in his 
 chair and took a survey of the room. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 83 
 
 " You must be very proud of your house," he said, "it J s such a 
 beautiful house. I never saw anything so beautiful ; but, of course, 
 as I 'm only seven, I have n'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. Every- 
 thing about it is beautiful. And the park, and those trees, how 
 beautiful they are, and how the leaves rustle ! " 
 
 Then he paused an instant and looked across the table rather 
 wistfully. 
 
 " It 's a very big house for just two people to live in, is n't it? " 
 he said. 
 
 " It is quite large enough for two," answered the Earl. " Do 
 you find it too large ? " 
 
 His little lordship hesitated a moment. 
 
 " I was only thinking," he said, " that if two people lived in it who 
 were not very good companions, they might feel lonely sometimes." 
 
 "Do you think I shall make a good companion ?" inquired the 
 Earl. 
 
 "Yes," replied Cedric, "I think you will. Mr. Hobbs and I 
 were great friends. He was the best friend I had except Dearest." 
 The Earl made a quick movement of his bushy eyebrows. 
 
 "Who is Dearest?" 
 
 " She is my mother," said Lord Fauntleroy, in a rather low, quiet 
 little voice. 
 
 Perhaps he was a trifle tired, as his bed-time was nearing, and 
 perhaps after the excitement of the last few days it was natural he 
 should be tired, so perhaps, too, the feeling of weariness brought to 
 him a vague sense of loneliness in the remembrance that to-night 
 he was not to sleep at home, watched over by the loving eyes of 
 that "best friend" of his. They had always been "best friends," 
 
84 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 this boy and his young mother. He could not help thinking of her, 
 and the more he thought of her the less was he inclined to talk, and 
 by the time the dinner was at an end the Earl saw that there was a 
 faint shadow on his face. But Cedric bore himself with excellent 
 courage, and when they went back to the library, though the tall 
 footman walked on one side of his master, the Earl's hand rested on 
 his grandson's shoulder, though not so heavily as before. 
 
 When the footman left them alone, Cedric sat down upon the 
 hearth-rug near Dougal. For a few minutes he stroked the dog's 
 ears in silence and looked at the fire. 
 
 The Earl watched him. The boy's eyes looked wistful and 
 thoughtful, and once or twice he gave a little sigh. The Earl sat 
 still, and kept his eyes fixed on his grandson. 
 
 " Fauntleroy," he said at last, "what are you thinking of?" 
 
 Fauntleroy looked up with a manful effort at a smile. 
 "I was thinking about Dearest," he said; "and and I think 
 I 'd better get up and walk up and down the room." 
 
 He rose up, and put his hands in his small pockets, and 
 began to walk to and fro. His eyes were very bright, and his lips 
 were pressed together, but he kept his head up and walked firmly. 
 Dougal moved lazily and looked at him, and then stood up. 
 He walked over to the child, and began to follow him uneasily. 
 Fauntleroy drew one hand from his pocket and laid it on the 
 dog's head. 
 
 " He 's a very nice dog," he said. " He 's my friend. He knows 
 how I feel." 
 
 " How do you feel?" asked the Earl. 
 
 It disturbed him to see the struggle the little fellow was having 
 with his first feeling of homesickness, but it pleased him to see that 
 he was making so brave an effort to bear it well. He liked this 
 childish courage. 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 85 
 
 " Come here," he said. 
 Fauntleroy went to him. 
 
 " I never was away from my own house before," said the boy, 
 with a troubled look in his brown eyes. " It makes a person feel a 
 strange feeling when he has to stay all night in another person's 
 castle instead of in his own house. But Dearest is not very far 
 away from me. She told me to remember that and and I 'm 
 seven and I can look at the picture she gave me." 
 
 He put his hand in his pocket, and brought out a small violet 
 velvet-covered case. 
 
 " This is it," he said. " You see, you press this spring and it 
 opens, and she is in there ! " 
 
 He had come close to the Earl's chair, and, as he drew forth 
 the little case, he leaned against the arm of it, and against the old 
 man's arm, too, as confidingly as if children had always leaned 
 there. 
 
 44 There she is," he said, as the case opened; and he looked up 
 with a smile. 
 
 The Earl knitted his brows ; he did not wish to see the picture, 
 but he looked at it in spite of himself; and there looked up at 
 him from it such a pretty young face a face so like the child's 
 at his side that it quite startled him. 
 
 " I suppose you think you are very fond of her," he said. 
 
 " Yes," answered Lord Fauntleroy, in a gentle tone, and with 
 simple directness; "I do think so, and I think it 's true. You see, 
 Mr. Hobbs was my friend, and Dick and Bridget and Mary and 
 Michael, they were my friends, too ; but Dearest well, she is my 
 close friend, and we always tell each other everything. My father 
 left her to me to take care of, and when I am a man I am going to 
 work and earn money for her." 
 
 " What do you think of doing?" inquired his grandfather. 
 
86 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 His young lordship slipped down upon the hearth-rug, and sat 
 there with the picture still in his hand. He seemed to be reflecting 
 seriously, before he answered. 
 
 " I did think perhaps I might go into business with Mr. Hobbs," 
 he said ; " but I should like to be a President." 
 
 " We '11 send you to the House of Lords instead," said his grand- 
 father. 
 
 "Well," remarked Lord Fauntleroy, "if I could nt be a Presi- 
 dent, and if that is a good business, I should n't mind. The grocery 
 business is dull sometimes." 
 
 Perhaps he was weighing the matter in his mind, for he sat 
 very quiet after this, and looked at the fire for some time. 
 
 The Earl did not speak again. He leaned back in his chair 
 and watched him. A great many strange new thoughts passed 
 through the old nobleman's mind. Dougal had stretched himself 
 out and gone to sleep with his head on his huge paws. There was 
 a long silence. 
 
 In about half an hour's time Mr. Havisham was ushered in. 
 The great room was very still when he entered. The Earl was still 
 leaning back in his chair. He moved as Mr. Havisham approached, 
 and held up his hand in a gesture of warning it seemed as if he 
 had scarcely intended to make the gesture as if it were almost 
 involuntary. Dougal was still asleep, and close beside the great 
 dog, sleeping also, with his curly head upon his arm, lay little Lord 
 Fauntleroy. 
 
VI 
 
 WHEN Lord Fauntleroy wakened in the morning, he had 
 not wakened at all when he had been carried to bed the 
 night before, the first sounds he was conscious of were 
 the crackling of a wood fire and the murmur of voices. 
 
 " You will be careful, Dawson, not to say anything about it," 
 he heard some one say. " He does not know why she is not to be 
 with him, and the reason is to be kept from him." 
 
 " If them 's his lordship's orders, mem," another voice answered, 
 they '11 have to be kep', I suppose. But, if you '11 excuse the liberty, 
 mem, as it 's between ourselves, servant or no servant, all I have to 
 say is, it 's a cruel thing, parting that poor, pretty, young widdered 
 cre'tur' from her own flesh and blood, and him such a little beauty 
 and a nobleman born. James and Thomas, mem, last night in the 
 servants' hall, they both of 'em say as they never see anythink in 
 their two lives nor yet no other gentleman in livery like that 
 little fellow's ways, as innercent an' polite an' interested as if he 'd 
 been sitting there dining with his best friend, and the temper of 
 a' angel, instead of one (if you '11 excuse me, mem), as it 's well 
 known, is enough to curdle your blood in your veins at times. And 
 as to looks, mem, when we was rung for, James and me, to go into 
 the library and bring him upstairs, and James lifted him up in his 
 arms, what with his little innercent face all red and rosy, and his 
 little head on James's shoulder and his hair hanging down, all curly 
 an' shinin', a prettier, takiner sight you 'd never wish to see. An' 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 it 's my opinion, my lord was n't blind to it neither, for he looked at 
 him, and he says to James, 'See you don't wake him ! ' he says." 
 
 Cedric moved on his pillow, and turned over, opening his eyes. 
 There were two women in the room. Everything was bright 
 and cheerful with gay-flowered chintz. There was a fire on the 
 hearth, and the sunshine was streaming in through the ivy-entwined 
 windows. Both women came toward him, and he saw that one of 
 them was Mrs. Mellon, the housekeeper, and the other a comfort- 
 able, middle-aged woman, with a face as kind and good-humored as 
 a face could be. 
 
 " Good-morning, my lord," said Mrs. Mellon. " Did you sleep 
 well?" 
 
 His lordship rubbed his eyes and smiled. 
 
 " Good-morning," he said. " I did n't know I was here." 
 
 " You were carried upstairs when you were asleep," said the 
 housekeeper. "This is your bedroom, and this is Dawson, who is 
 to take care of you." 
 
 Fauntleroy sat up in bed and held out his hand to Dawson, as 
 he had held it out to the Earl. 
 
 " How do you do, ma'am?" he said. " I 'm much obliged to you 
 for coming to take care of me." 
 
 " You can call her Dawson, my lord," said the housekeeper with 
 a smile. " She is used to being called Dawson." 
 
 " Miss Dawson, or Mrs. Dawson ? " inquired his lordship. 
 
 " Just Dawson, my lord," said Dawson herself, beaming all over. 
 " Neither Miss nor Missis, bless your little heart ! Will you get up 
 now, and let Dawson dress you, and then have your breakfast in the 
 nursery ? " 
 
 11 I learned to dress myself many years ago, thank you," answered 
 Fauntleroy. " Dearest taught me. ' Dearest' is my mamma. We 
 had only Mary to do all the work, washing and all, and so of 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 89 
 
 course it would n't do to give her so much trouble. I can take my 
 bath, too, pretty well if you 11 just be kind enough to 'zamine the 
 corners after I 'm done." 
 
 Dawson and the housekeeper exchanged glances. 
 
 " Dawson will do anything you ask her to," said Mrs. Mellon. 
 
 " That I will, bless him," said Dawson, in her comforting, good- 
 humored voice. " He shall dress himself if he likes, and I '11 stand 
 by, ready to help him if he wants me." 
 
 "Thank you," responded Lord Fauntleroy; "it's a little hard 
 sometimes about the buttons, you know, and then I have to ask 
 somebody." 
 
 He thought Dawson a very kind woman, and before the bath 
 and the dressing were finished they were excellent friends, and he 
 had found out a great deal about her. He had discovered that her 
 husband had been a soldier and had been killed in a real battle, and 
 that her son was a sailor, and was away on a long cruise, and that 
 he had seen pirates and cannibals and Chinese people and Turks, 
 and that he brought home strange shells and pieces of coral which 
 Dawson was ready to show at any moment, some of them being in 
 her trunk. All this was very interesting. He also found out that 
 she had taken care of little children all her life, and that she had just 
 come from a great house in another part of England, where she had 
 been taking care of a beautiful little girl whose name was Lady 
 Gwyneth Vaughn. 
 
 " And she is a sort of relation of your lordship's," said Dawson. 
 " And perhaps sometime you may see her." 
 
 " Do you think I shall ? " said Fauntleroy. " I should like that. 
 I nevar knew any little girls, but I always like to look at them." 
 
 When he went into the adjoining room to take his breakfast, and 
 saw what a great room it was, and found there was another adjoin- 
 ing it which Dawson told him was his also, the feeling that he was 
 
90 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 very small indeed came over him again so strongly that he confided 
 it to Dawson, as he sat down to the table on which the pretty break- 
 fast service was arranged. 
 
 " I am a very little boy," he said rather wistfully, "to live in 
 such a large castle, and have so many big rooms, don't you 
 think so ? " 
 
 " Oh ! come!" said Dawson, "you feel just a little strange at 
 first, that 's all ; but you '11 get over that very soon, and then you '11 
 like it here. It 's such a beautiful place, you know." 
 
 " It 's a very beautiful place, of course," said Fauntleroy, with a 
 little sigh ; " but I should like it better if I did n't miss Dearest so. 
 I always had my breakfast with her in the morning, and put the 
 sugar and cream in her tea for her, and handed her the toast. That 
 made it very sociable, of course." 
 
 " Oh, well ! " answered Dawson, comfortingly, " you know you can 
 see her every day, and there 's no knowing how much you '11 have 
 to tell her. Bless you ! wait till you Ve walked about a bit and 
 seen things, the dogs, and the stables with all the horses in them. 
 There 's one of them I know you '11 like to see " 
 
 " Is there ? " exclaimed Fauntleroy ; " I 'm very fond of horses. 
 I was very fond of Jim. He was the horse that belonged to 
 Mr. Hobbs' grocery wagon. He was a beautiful horse when he 
 was n't balky." 
 
 " Well," said Dawson, " you just wait till you Ve seen what 's in 
 the stables. And, deary me, you have n't looked even into the very 
 next room yet ! " 
 
 " What is there ? " asked Fauntleroy. 
 
 " Wait until you Ve had your breakfast, and then you shall see," 
 said Dawson. 
 
 At this he naturally began to grow curious, and he applied 
 himself assiduously to his breakfast. It seemed to him that there 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 91 
 
 must be something worth looking at, in the next room ; Dawson 
 had such a consequential, mysterious air. 
 
 " Now, then," he said, slipping off his seat a few minutes later; 
 " I Ve had enough. Can I go and look at it? " 
 
 Dawson nodded and led the way, looking more mysterious and 
 important than ever. He began to be very much interested indeed. 
 When she opened the door of the room, he stood upon the 
 threshold and looked about him in amazement. He did not speak ; 
 he only put his hands in his pockets and stood there flushing up to 
 his forehead and looking in. 
 
 He flushed up because he was so surprised and, for the moment, 
 excited. To see such a place was enough to surprise any ordinary 
 boy. 
 
 The room was a large one, too, as all the rooms seemed to be, 
 and it appeared to him more beautiful than the rest, only in a differ- 
 ent way. The furniture was not so massive and antique as was that 
 in the rooms he had seen downstairs ;, the draperies and rugs and 
 walls were brighter ; there were shelves full of books, and on the 
 tables were numbers of toys, beautiful, ingenious things, such as 
 he had looked at with wonder and delight through the shop windows 
 in New York. 
 
 " It looks like a boy's room," he said at last, catching his breath 
 a little. " Whom do they belong to ? " 
 
 " Go and look at them," said Dawson. " They belong to you ! " 
 
 "To me!" he cried; "to me? Why do they belong to me? 
 Who gave them to me ? " And he sprang forward with a gay little 
 shout. It seemed almost too much to be believed. " It was Grand- 
 papa ! " he said, with his eyes as bright as stars. " I know it was 
 Grandpapa ! " 
 
 " Yes, it was his lordship," said Dawson ; " and if you will be a 
 nice little gentleman, and not fret about things, and will enjoy 
 
92 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 yourself, and be happy all the day, he will give you anything you 
 ask for." 
 
 It was a tremendously exciting morning. There were so many 
 things to be examined, so many experiments to be tried ; each nov- 
 elty was so absorbing that he could scarcely turn from it to look at 
 the next. And it was so curious to know that all this had been pre- 
 pared for himself alone ; that, even before he had left New York, 
 people had come down from London to arrange the rooms he was 
 to occupy, and had provided the books and playthings most likely to 
 interest him. 
 
 " Did you ever know any one," he said to Dawson, "who had 
 such a kind grandfather ! " 
 
 Dawson's face wore an uncertain expression for a moment. She 
 had not a very high opinion of his lordship the Earl. She had not 
 been in the house many days, but she had been there long enough 
 to hear the old nobleman's peculiarities discussed very freely in the 
 servants' hall. 
 
 " An' of all the wicious, savage, hill-tempered hold fellows it was 
 ever my hill-luck to wear livery hunder," the tallest footman had 
 said, " he 's the wiolentest and wust by a long shot." 
 
 And this particular footman, whose name was Thomas, had 
 also repeated to his companions below stairs some of the Earl's 
 remarks to Mr. Havisham, when they had been discussing these very 
 preparations. 
 
 " Give him his own way, and fill his rooms with toys," my 
 lord had said. " Give him what will amuse him, and he '11 forget 
 about his mother quickly enough. Amuse him, and fill his mind with 
 other things, and we shall have no trouble. That 's boy nature." 
 
 So, perhaps, having had this truly amiable object in view, it did 
 not please him so very much to find it did not seem to be exactly 
 this particular boy s nature. The Earl had passed a bad night and 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 93 
 
 had spent the morning in his room ; but at noon, after he had 
 lunched, he sent for his grandson. 
 
 Fauntleroy answered the summons at once. He came down 
 the broad staircase with a bounding step ; the Earl heard him run 
 across the hall, and then the door opened and he came in with red 
 cheeks and sparkling eyes. 
 
 " I was waiting for you to send for me," he said. " I was ready 
 a long time ago. I 'm ever so much obliged to you for all those 
 things ! I 'm ever so much obliged to you ! I have been playing 
 with them all the morning." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the Earl, " you like them, do you ?" 
 
 "I like them so much well, I could n't tell you how much!" 
 said Fauntleroy, his face glowing with delight. " There 's one that 's 
 like baseball, only you play it on a board with black and white pegs, 
 and you keep your score with some counters on a wire. I tried to 
 teach Dawson, but she could n't quite understand it just at first 
 you see, she never played baseball, being a lady ; and I 'm afraid I 
 was n't very good at explaining it to her. But you know all about 
 it. don't you ? " 
 
 " I 'm afraid I don't," replied the Earl. " It 's an American game, 
 is n't it? Is it something like cricket?" 
 
 "I never saw cricket," said Fauntleroy; "but Mr. Hobbs took 
 me several times to see baseball. It J s a splendid game. You get 
 so excited ! Would you like me to go and get my game and show 
 it to you ? Perhaps it would amuse you and make you forget about 
 your foot. Does your foot hurt you very much this morning?" 
 
 " More than I enjoy," was the answer. 
 
 " Then perhaps you could n't forget it," said the little fellow anx- 
 iously. " Perhaps it would bother you to be told about the game. 
 Do you think it would amuse you, or do you think it would bother 
 you ? " 
 
94 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Go and get it," said the Earl. 
 
 It certainly was a novel entertainment this, making a com- 
 panion of a child who offered to teach him to play games, but the 
 very novelty of it amused him. There was a smile lurking about 
 the Earl's mouth when Cedric came back with the box containing 
 the game, in his arms, and an expression of the most eager interest 
 on his face. 
 
 " May I pull that little table over here to your chair ? " he asked. 
 
 " Ring for Thomas," said the Earl. " He will place it for you." 
 
 " Oh, I can do it myself," answered Fauntleroy. " It 's not very 
 heavy." 
 
 " Very well," replied his grandfather. The lurking smile deep- 
 ened on the old man's face as he watched the little fellow's prepara- 
 tions ; there was such an absorbed interest in them. The small 
 table was dragged forward and placed by his chair, and the game 
 taken from its box and arranged upon it. 
 
 " It 's very interesting when you once begin," said Fauntleroy. 
 " You see, the black pegs can be your side and the white ones mine. 
 They Ye men, you know, and once round the field is a home run and 
 counts one and these are the outs and here is the first base and 
 that 's the second and that 's the third and that 's the home base. 
 
 He entered into the details of explanation with the greatest 
 animation. He showed all the attitudes of pitcher and catcher and 
 batter in the real game, and gave a dramatic description of a 
 wonderful ''hot ball" he had seen caught on the glorious occasion 
 on which he had witnessed a match in company with Mr. Hobbs. 
 His vigorous, graceful little body, his eager gestures, his simple 
 enjoyment of it all, were pleasant to behold. 
 
 When at last the explanations and illustrations were at an end 
 and the game began in good earnest, the Earl still found himself 
 entertained. His young companion was wholly absorbed ; he played 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 95 
 
 with all his childish heart ; his gay little laughs when he made a 
 good throw, his enthusiasm over a " home run," his impartial delight 
 over his own good luck and his opponent's, would have given a flavor 
 to any game. 
 
 If, a week before, any one had told the Earl of Dorincourt that 
 on that particular morning he would be forgetting his gout and his 
 bad temper in a child's game, played with black and white wooden 
 pegs, on a gayly painted board, with a curly-headed small boy for a 
 companion, he would without doubt have made himself very unpleas- 
 ant ; and yet he certainly had forgotten himself when the door 
 opened and Thomas announced a visitor. 
 
 The visitor in question, who was an elderly gentleman in black, 
 and no less a person than the clergyman of the parish, was so startled 
 by the amazing scene which met his eye, that he almost fell back a 
 pace, and ran some risk of colliding with Thomas. 
 
 There was, in fact, no part of his duty that the Reverend Mr. 
 Mordaunt found so decidedly unpleasant as that part which com- 
 pelled him to call upon his noble patron at the Castle. His noble 
 patron, indeed, usually made these visits as disagreeable as it lay in 
 his lordly power to make them. He abhorred churches and charities, 
 and flew into violent rages when any of his tenantry took the liberty 
 of being poor and ill and needing assistance. When his gout was 
 at its worst, he did not hesitate to announce that he would not be 
 bored and irritated by being told stories of their miserable mis- 
 fortunes ; when his gout troubled him less and he was in a somewhat 
 more humane frame of mind, he would perhaps give the rector some 
 money, after having bullied him in the most painful manner, and 
 berated the whole parish for its shiftlessness and imbecility. But, 
 whatsoever his mood, he never failed to make as many sarcastic and 
 embarrassing speeches as possible, and to cause the Reverend Mr. Mor- 
 daunt to wish it were proper and Christian-like to throw something 
 
96 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 heavy at him. During all the years in which Mr. Mordaunt had been 
 in charge of Dorincourt parish, the rector certainly did not remember 
 having seen his lordship, of his own free will, do any one a kindness, 
 or, under any circumstances whatever, show that he thought of any 
 one but himself. 
 
 He had called to-day to speak to him of a specially pressing 
 case, and as he had walked up the avenue, he had, for two reasons, 
 dreaded his visit more than usual. In the first place, he knew that 
 his lordship had for several days been suffering with the gout, and 
 had been in so villainous a humor that rumors of it had even reached 
 the village carried there by one of the young women servants, to 
 her sister, who kept a little shop and retailed darning-needles and 
 cotton and peppermints and gossip, as a means of earning an honest 
 living. What Mrs. Dibble did not know about the Castle and its 
 inmates, and the farm-houses and their inmates, and the village and 
 its population, was really not worth being talked about. And of 
 course she knew everything about the Castle, because her sister, 
 Jane Shorts, was one of the upper housemaids, and was very friendly 
 and intimate with Thomas. 
 
 " And the way his lordship do go on ! " said Mrs. Dibble, over 
 the counter, " and the way he do use language, Mr. Thomas told 
 Jane herself, no flesh and blood as is in livery could stand for 
 throw a plate of toast at Mr. Thomas, hisself, he did, not more than 
 two days since, and if it were n't for other things being agreeable 
 and the society below stairs most genteel, warning would have been 
 gave within a' hour ! " 
 
 And the rector had heard all this, for somehow the Earl was a 
 favorite black sheep in the cottages and farm-houses, and his bad 
 behavior gave many a good woman something to talk about when 
 she had company to tea. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 97 
 
 And the second reason was even worse, because it was a new 
 one and had been talked about with the most excited interest. 
 
 Who did not know of the old nobleman's fury when his hand- 
 some son the Captain had married the American lady ? Who did 
 not know how cruelly he had treated the Captain, and how the big, 
 gay, sweet-smiling young man, who was the only member of the 
 grand family any one liked, had died in a foreign land, poor and 
 unforgiven ? Who did not know how fiercely his lordship had hated 
 the poor young creature who had been this son's wife, and how he 
 had hated the thought of her child and never meant to see the boy 
 until his two sons died and left him without an heir ? And then, who 
 did not know that he had looked forward without any affection or 
 pleasure to his grandson's coming, and that he had made up his 
 mind that he should find the boy a vulgar, awkward, pert American 
 lad, more likely to disgrace his noble name than to honor it? 
 
 The proud, angry old man thought he had kept all his thoughts 
 secret. He did not suppose any one had dared to guess at, much 
 less talk over what he felt, and dreaded ; but his servants watched 
 him, and read his face and his ill-humors and fits of gloom, and dis- 
 cussed them in the servants' hall. And while he thought himself 
 quite secure from the common herd, Thomas was telling Jane and 
 the cook, and the butler, and the housemaids and the other footmen 
 that it was his opinion that " the hold man was wuss than usual 
 a-thinkin' hover the Capting's boy, an' hanticipatin' as he wont be no 
 credit to the fambly. An' serve him right," added Thomas; " hit 's 'is 
 hown fault. Wot can he iggspect from a child brought up in pore 
 circumstances in that there low Hamerica?" 
 
 And as the Reverend Mr. Mordaunt walked under the great trees, 
 he remembered that this questionable little boy had arrived at the 
 Castle only the evening before, and that there were nine chances to 
 7 
 
98 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 one that his lordship's worst fears were realized, and twenty- two 
 chances to one that if the poor little fellow had disappointed him, the 
 Earl was even now in a tearing rage, and ready to vent all his ran- 
 cor on the first person who called which it appeared probable 
 would be his reverend self. 
 
 Judge then of his amazement when, as Thomas opened the library 
 door, his ears were greeted by a delighted ring of childish laughter. 
 " That 's two out! " shouted an excited, clear little voice. " You 
 see it 's two out ! " 
 
 And there was the Earl's chair, and the gout-stool, and his foot 
 on it ; and by him a small table and a game on it ; and quite close 
 to him, actually leaning against his arm and his ungouty knee, was a 
 little boy with face glowing, and eyes dancing with excitement. "It 's 
 two out!" the little stranger cried. "You had n't any luck that 
 time, had you ? " And then they both recognized at once that some 
 one had come in. 
 
 The Earl glanced around, knitting his shaggy eyebrows as he 
 had a trick of doing, and when he saw who it was, Mr. Mordaunt 
 was still more surprised to see that he looked even less disagreeable 
 than usual instead of more so. In fact, he looked almost as if he had 
 forgotten for the moment how disagreeable he was, and how unpleas- 
 ant he really could make himself when he tried. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, in his harsh voice, but giving his hand rather 
 graciously. " Good-morning, Mordaunt. I Ve found a new employ- 
 ment, you see." 
 
 He put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder, perhaps deep 
 down in his heart there was a stir of gratified pride that it was such 
 an heir he had to present; there was a spark of something like 
 pleasure in his eyes as he moved the boy slightly forward. 
 
 " This is the new Lord Fauntleroy," he said. " Fauntleroy, this 
 is Mr. Mordaunt, the rector of the parish." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 99 
 
 Fauntleroy looked up at the gentleman in the clerical garments, 
 and gave him his hand. 
 
 " I am very glad to make your acquaintance, sir," he said, remem- 
 bering the words he had heard Mr. Hobbs use on one or two occasions 
 when he had been greeting a new customer with ceremony. Cedric felt 
 quite sure that one ought to be more than usually polite to a minister. 
 Mr. Mordaunt held the small hand in his a moment as he looked 
 down at the child's face, smiling involuntarily. He liked the little 
 fellow from that instant as in fact people always did like him. 
 And it was not the boy's beauty and grace which most appealed to 
 him; it was the simple, natural kindliness in the little lad which made 
 any words he uttered, however quaint and unexpected, sound pleas- 
 ant and sincere. As the rector looked at Cedric, he forgot to think 
 of the Earl at all. Nothing in the world is so strong as a kind 
 heart, and somehow this kind little heart, though it was only the 
 heart of a child, seemed to clear all the atmosphere of the big 
 gloomy room and make it brighter. 
 
 " I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lord Fauntleroy," 
 said the rector. " You made a long journey to come to us. A great 
 many people will be glad to know you made it safely." 
 
 " It was a long way," answered Fauntleroy, " but Dearest, my 
 mother, was with me and I was n't lonely. Of course you are never 
 lonely if your mother is with you ; and the ship was beautiful." 
 
 " Take a chair, Mordaunt," said the Earl. Mr. Mordaunt sat 
 down. He glanced from Fauntleroy to the Earl. 
 
 " Your lordship is greatly to be congratulated," he said warmly. 
 
 But the Earl plainly had no intention of showing his feelings on 
 the subject. 
 
 " He is like his father," he said rather gruffly. " Let us hope 
 he '11 conduct himself more creditably." And then he added : " Well, 
 what is it this morning, Mordaunt? Who is in trouble now?" 
 
100 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 This was not as bad as Mr. Mordaunt had expected, but he 
 hesitated a second before he began. 
 
 11 It is Higgins," he said; " Higgins of Edge Farm. He has 
 been very unfortunate. He was ill himself last autumn, and his 
 children had scarlet fever. I can't say that he is a very good 
 manager, but he has had ill-luck, and of course he is behindhand in 
 many ways. He is in trouble about his rent now. Newick tells 
 him if he does n't pay it, he must leave the place ; and of course 
 that would be a very serious matter. His wife is ill, and he came to 
 me yesterday to beg me to see about it, and ask you for time. He 
 thinks if you would give him time he could catch up again." 
 
 "They all think that," said the Earl, looking rather black. 
 
 Fauntleroy made a movement forward. He had been standing 
 between his grandfather and the visitor, listening with all his might. 
 He had begun to be interested in Higgins at once. He wondered 
 how many children there were, and if the scarlet fever had hurt 
 them very much. His eyes were wide open and were fixed upon 
 Mr. Mordaunt with intent interest as that gentleman went on with 
 the conversation. 
 
 " Higgins is a well-meaning man," said the rector, making an 
 effort to strengthen his plea. 
 
 " He is a bad enough tenant," replied his lordship. " And he is 
 always behindhand, Newick tells me." 
 
 " He is in great trouble now," said the rector. 
 
 " He is very fond of his wife and children, and if the farm is 
 taken from him they may literally starve. He can not give them 
 the nourishing things they need. Two of the children were left 
 very low after the fever, and the doctor orders for them wine and 
 luxuries that Higgins can not afford." 
 
 At this Fauntleroy moved a step nearer. 
 
 " That was the way with Michael," he said. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 1OI 
 
 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 amuse- 
 ment came back into the old man's deep-set eyes. 
 
 " He was Bridget's husband, who had the fever," answered Faunt- 
 leroy; "and he could n't pay the rent or buy wine and things. 
 And you gave me that money to help him." 
 
 The Earl drew his brows together into a curious frown, which 
 somehow was scarcely grim at all. He glanced across at Mr. 
 Mordaunt. 
 
 " I don't know what sort of landed proprietor he will make," he 
 said. " I told Havisham the boy was to have what he wanted 
 anything he wanted and what he wanted, it seems, was money to 
 give to beggars." 
 
 " Oh ! but they were n't beggars," said Fauntleroy eagerly. 
 " Michael was a splendid bricklayer ! They all worked." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the Earl, "they were not beggars. They were 
 splendid bricklayers, and bootblacks, and apple-women." 
 
 He bent his gaze on the boy for a few seconds in silence. The 
 fact was that a new thought was coming to him, and though, per- 
 haps, it was not prompted by the noblest emotions, it was not a bad 
 thought. " Come here," he said, at last. 
 
 Fauntleroy went and stood as near to him as possible without 
 encroaching on the gouty foot. 
 
 " What would you do in this case?" his lordship asked. 
 
 It must be confessed that Mr. Mordaunt experienced for the 
 moment a curious sensation. Being a man of great thoughtfulness, 
 and having spent so many years on the estate of Dorincourt, know- 
 ing the tenantry, rich and poor, the people of the village, honest 
 and industrious, dishonest and lazy, he realized very strongly what 
 power for good or evil would be given in the future to this one 
 
102 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 small boy standing there, his brown eyes wide open, his hands deep 
 in his pockets ; and the thought came to him also that a great deal 
 of power might, perhaps, through the caprice of a proud, self-indul- 
 gent old man, be given to him now, and that if his young nature 
 were not a simple and generous one, it might be the worst thing 
 that could happen, not only for others, but for himself. 
 
 " And what would you do in such a case? " demanded the Earl. 
 
 Fauntleroy drew a little nearer, and laid one hand on his knee, 
 with the most confiding air of good comradeship. 
 
 " If I were very rich," he said, " and not only just a little boy, I 
 should let him stay, and give him the things for his children ; but 
 then, I am only a boy." Then, after a second's pause, in which his 
 face brightened visibly, " Yoit can do anything, can't you ? " he said. 
 
 " Humph ! " said my lord, staring at him. " That 's your opinion, 
 is it ? " And he was not displeased either. 
 
 " I mean you can give any one anything," said Fauntleroy. 
 " Who 's Newick ? " 
 
 " He is my agent," answered the earl, "and some of my tenants 
 are not over-fond of him." 
 
 " Are you going to write him a letter now ? " inquired Fauntleroy. 
 " Shall I bring you the pen and ink? I can take the game off this 
 table." 
 
 It plainly had not for an instant occurred to him that Newick 
 would be allowed to do his worst. 
 
 The Earl paused a moment, s.till looking at him. " Can you 
 write ? " he asked. 
 
 " Yes," answered Cedric, "but not very well." 
 
 "Move the things from the table," commanded my lord, "and 
 bring the pen and ink, and a sheet of paper from my desk." 
 
 Mr. Mordaunt's interest began to increase. Fauntleroy did as 
 he was told very deftly. In a few moments, the sheet of paper, the 
 big inkstand, and the pen were ready. 
 
LORD FAUNTLEROY WRITES A LET'lER, 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 105 
 
 " There ! " he said gayly, " now you can write it." 
 
 " You are to write it," said the Earl. 
 
 " I ! " exclaimed Fauntleroy, and a flush overspread his forehead. 
 "Will it do if I write it? I don't always spell quite right when I 
 have n't a dictionary, and nobody tells me." 
 
 " It will do," answered the Earl. " Higgins will not complain of 
 the spelling. I 'm not the philanthropist ; you are. Dip your pen 
 in the ink." 
 
 Fauntleroy took up the pen and dipped it in the ink-bottle, then 
 he arranged himself in position, leaning on the table. 
 
 " Now," he inquired, " what must I say? " 
 
 " You may say, ' Higgins is not to be interfered with, for the 
 present,' and sign it, * Fauntleroy,' " said the Earl. 
 
 Fauntleroy dipped his pen in the ink again, and resting his arm, 
 began to write. It was rather a slow and serious process, but he 
 gave his whole soul to it. After a while, however, the manuscript 
 was complete, and he handed it to his grandfather with a smile 
 slightly tinged with anxiety. 
 
 " Do you think it will do ? " he asked. 
 
 The Earl looked at it, and the corners of his mouth twitched a 
 little. 
 
 "Yes," he answered; "Higgins will find it entirely satisfactory." 
 And he handed it to Mr. Mordaunt. 
 
 What Mr. Mordaunt found written was this : 
 
 " Dear mr. Newik if you pleas mr. higins is not to be inturfeared with for the 
 present and oblige Yours rispecferly 
 
 " FAUNTLEROY." 
 
 " Mr. Hobbs always signed his letters that way," said Fauntleroy ; 
 "and I thought I 'd better say ' please.' Is that exactly the right 
 way to spell ' interfered ' ? " 
 
106 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " It 's not exactly the way it is spelled in the dictionary," 
 answered the Earl. 
 
 " I was afraid of that," said Fauntleroy. " I ought to have asked. 
 You see, that 's the way with words of more than one syllable ; you 
 have to look in the dictionary. It 's always safest. I '11 write it over 
 again." 
 
 And write it over again he did, making quite an imposing copy, 
 and taking precautions in the matter of spelling by consulting the 
 Earl himself. 
 
 " Spelling is a curious thing," he said. " It 's so often different 
 from what you expect it to be. I used to think ' please ' was spelled 
 p-1-e-e-s, but it is n't, you know ; and you 'd think ' dear ' was 
 spelled d-e-r-e, if you did n't inquire. Sometimes it almost discour- 
 ages you." 
 
 When Mr. Mordaunt went away, he took the letter with him, 
 and he took something else with him also namely, a pleasanter 
 feeling and a more hopeful one than he had ever carried home with 
 him down that avenue on any previous visit he had made at Dorin- 
 court Castle. 
 
 When he was gone, Fauntleroy, who had accompanied him to 
 the door, went back to his grandfather. 
 
 " May I go to Dearest now?" he asked. "I think she will be 
 waiting for me." 
 
 The Earl was silent a moment. 
 
 " There is something in the stable for you to see first," he said. 
 " Ring the bell." 
 
 " If you please," said Fauntleroy, with his quick little flush. " I 'm 
 very much obliged; but I think I 'd better see it to-morrow. She 
 will be expecting me all the time." 
 
 "Very well," answered the Earl. "We will order the carriage." 
 Then he added dryly, " It 's a pony." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 107 
 
 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 ? " 
 
 6i Yes," said his grandfather. ''Would you like to see it? Shall 
 I order it to be brought around ? " 
 
 Fauntleroy's cheeks grew redder and redder. 
 
 " I never thought I should have a pony ! " he said. " I never 
 thought that ! How glad Dearest will be. You give me everything, 
 don't you ?" 
 
 " Do you wish to see it?" inquired the Earl. 
 
 Fauntleroy drew a long breath. " I want to see it," he said. 
 " I want to see it so much I can hardly wait. But I 'm afraid there 
 is n't time." 
 
 " You must go and see your mother this afternoon ? " asked the 
 Earl. " You think you can't put it off? " 
 
 " Why," said Fauntleroy, " she has been thinking about me all the 
 morning, and I have been thinking about her ! " 
 
 " Oh ! " said the Earl. " You have, have you ? Ring the bell." 
 
 As they drove down the avenue, under the arching trees, he was 
 rather silent. But Fauntleroy was not. He talked about the pony. 
 What color was it ? How big was it ? What was its name ? What 
 did it like to eat best? How old was it? How early in the morn- 
 ing might he get up and see it ? 
 
 " Dearest will be so glad ! " he kept saying. " She will be so 
 much obliged to you for being so kind to me ! She knows I always 
 liked ponies so much, but we never thought I should have one. 
 There was a little boy on Fifth Avenue who had one, and he used 
 to ride out every morning and we used to take a walk past his house 
 to see him." 
 
108 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 He leaned back against the cushions and regarded the Earl 
 with rapt interest for a few minutes and in entire silence. 
 
 "I think you must be the best person in the world," he burst 
 forth at last. "You are always doing good, are n't you? and 
 thinking about other people. Dearest says that is the best kind of 
 goodness ; not to think about yourself, but to think about other peo- 
 ple. That is just the way you are, is n't it? " 
 
 His lordship was so dumfounded to find himself presented in 
 such agreeable colors, that he did not know exactly what to say. 
 He felt that he needed time for reflection. To see each of his ugly, 
 selfish motives changed into a good and generous one by the sim- 
 plicity of a child was a singular experience. 
 
 Fauntleroy went on, still regarding him with admiring eyes 
 those great, clear, innocent eyes ! 
 
 " You make so many people happy," he said. " There 's Michael 
 and Bridget and their ten children, and the apple-woman, and Dick, 
 and Mr. Hobbs, and Mr. Higgins and Mrs. Higgins and their chil- 
 dren, and Mr. Mordaunt, because of course he was glad, and 
 Dearest and me, about the pony and all the other things. Do you 
 know, I 've counted it up on my fingers and in my mind, and it 's 
 twenty-seven people you Ve been kind to. That 's a good many 
 twenty-seven !" 
 
 " And I was the person who was kind to them was I ?" said the 
 Earl. 
 
 " Why, yes, you know," answered Fauntleroy. " You made them 
 all happy. Do you know," with some delicate hesitation, " that people 
 are sometimes mistaken about earls when they don't know them. Mr. 
 Hobbs was. I am going to write him, and tell him about it." 
 
 "What was Mr. Hobbs's opinion of earls?" asked his lordship. 
 
 " Well, you see, the difficulty was," replied his young companion, 
 " that he did n't know any, and he 'd only read about them in books. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 109 
 
 He thought you must n't mind it that they were gory tyrants; 
 and he said he would n't have them hanging around his store. But 
 if he 'd known you, I 'm sure he would have felt quite different. I 
 shall tell him about you." 
 
 " What shall you tell him ? " 
 
 " I shall tell him," said Fauntleroy, glowing with enthusiam, "that 
 you are the kindest man I ever heard of. And you are always 
 thinking of other people, and making them happy and and I hope 
 when I grow up, I shall be just like you." 
 
 " Just like rne ! " repeated his lordship, looking at the little kind- 
 ling face. And a dull red crept up under his withered skin, and he 
 suddenly turned his eyes away and looked out of the carriage win- 
 dow at the great beech-trees, with the sun shining on their glossy, 
 red-brown leaves. 
 
 "Just like you," said Fauntleroy, adding modestly, "if I can. 
 Perhaps I 'm not good enough, but I 'm going to try." 
 
 The carriage rolled on down the stately avenue under the beau- 
 tiful, broad-branched trees, through the spaces of green shade and 
 lanes of golden sunlight. Fauntleroy saw again the lovely places 
 where the ferns grew high and the bluebells swayed in the breeze ; 
 he saw the deer, standing or lying in the deep grass, turn their 
 large, startled eyes as the carriage passed, and caught glimpses of 
 the brown rabbits as they scurried away. He heard the whir of 
 the partridges and the calls and songs of the birds, and it all seemed 
 even more beautiful to him than before. All his. heart was filled 
 with pleasure and happiness in the beauty that was on every side. 
 But the old Earl saw and heard very different things, though he was 
 apparently looking out too. He saw a long life, in which there had 
 been neither generous deeds nor kind thoughts ; he saw years in 
 which a man who had been young and strong and rich and power- 
 ful had used his youth and strength and wealth and power only to 
 
HO LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 please himself and kill time as the days and years succeeded each 
 other ; he saw this man, when the time had been killed and old age 
 had come, solitary and without real friends in the midst of all his 
 splendid wealth ; he saw people who disliked or feared him, and 
 people who would flatter and cringe to him, but no one who really 
 cared whether he lived or died, unless they had something to gain 
 or lose by it. He looked out on the broad acres which belonged to 
 him, and he knew what Fauntleroy did not how far they extended, 
 what wealth they represented, and how many people had homes on 
 their soil. And he knew, too, another thing Fauntleroy did not, 
 that in all those homes, humble or well-to-do, there was probably 
 not one person, however much he envied the wealth and stately 
 name and power, and however willing he would have been to possess 
 them, who would for an instant have thought of calling the noble 
 owner "good," or wishing, as this simple-souled little boy had, to 
 be like him. 
 
 And it was not exactly pleasant to reflect upon, even for a cyni- 
 cal, worldly old man, who had been sufficient unto himself for sev- 
 enty years and who had never deigned to care what opinion the 
 world held of him so long as it did not interfere with his comfort 
 or entertainment. And the fact was, indeed, that he had never 
 before condescended to reflect upon it at all ; and he only did so now 
 because a child had believed him better than he was, and by wishing 
 to follow in his illustrious footsteps and imitate his example, had 
 suggested to him the curious question whether he was exactly the 
 person to take as a model. 
 
 Fauntleroy thought the Earl's foot must be hurting him, his 
 brows knitted themselves together so, as he looked out at the park ; 
 and thinking this, the considerate little fellow tried not to disturb 
 him, and enjoyed the trees and the ferns and the deer in silence. 
 But at last the carriage, having passed the gates and bowled 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLERGY. Ill 
 
 through the green lanes for a short distance, stopped. They had 
 reached Court Lodge ; and Fauntleroy was out upon the ground 
 almost before the big footman had time to open the carriage door. 
 The Earl wakened from his reverie with a start. 
 
 " What ! " he said. " Are we here ?" 
 
 " Yes," said Fauntleroy. " Let me give you your stick. Just 
 lean on me when you get out." 
 
 " I am not going to get out," replied his lordship brusquely. 
 
 " Not not to see Dearest?" exclaimed Fauntleroy with aston- 
 ished face. 
 
 " * Dearest ' will excuse me," said the Earl dryly. " Go to her 
 and tell her that not even a new pony would keep you away." 
 
 " She will be disappointed," said Fauntleroy. " She will want to 
 see you very much." 
 
 " I am afraid not," was the answer. " The carriage will call for 
 you as we come back. Tell Jeffries to drive on, Thomas." 
 
 Thomas closed the carriage door ; and, after a puzzled look, 
 Fauntleroy ran up the drive. The Earl had the opportunity as 
 Mr. Havisham once had of seeing a pair of handsome, strong lit- 
 tle legs flash over the ground with astonishing rapidity. Evidently 
 their owner had no intention of losing any time. The carriage 
 rolled slowly away, but his lordship did not at once lean back ; he 
 still looked out Through a space in the trees he could see the 
 house door ; it was wide open. The little figure dashed up the 
 steps ; another figure a little figure, too, slender and young, in its 
 black gown ran to meet it. It seemed as if they flew together, 
 as Fauntleroy leaped into his mother's arms, hanging about her 
 neck and covering her sweet young face with kisses. 
 
VII 
 
 ON the following Sunday morning, Mr. Mordaunt had a large 
 congregation. Indeed, he could scarcely remember any 
 Sunday on which the church had been so crowded. People 
 appeared upon the scene who seldom did him the honor of coming to 
 hear his sermons. There were even people from Hazelton, which was 
 the next parish. There were hearty, sunburned farmers, stout, comfort- 
 able, apple-cheeked wives in their best bonnets and most gorgeous 
 shawls, and half a dozen children or so to each family. The doctor's 
 wife was there, with her four daughters. Mrs. Kimsey and Mr. Kimsey, 
 who kept the druggist's shop, and made pills, and did up powders 
 for everybody within ten miles, sat in their pew ; Mrs. Dibble in 
 hers; Miss Smiff, the village dressmaker, and her friend Miss Perkins, 
 the milliner, sat in theirs ; the doctor's young man was present, and 
 the druggist's apprentice ; in fact, almost every family on the 
 county side was represented, in one way or another. 
 
 In the course of the preceding week, many wonderful stories had 
 been told of little Lord Fauntleroy. Mrs. Dibble had been kept so 
 busy attending to customers who came in to buy a pennyworth of 
 needles or a ha'porth of tape and to hear what she had to relate, that 
 the little shop bell over the door had nearly tinkled itself to death 
 over the coming and going. Mrs. Dibble knew exactly how his 
 small lordship's rooms had been furnished for him, what expensive 
 toys had been bought, how there was a beautiful brown pony await- 
 ing him, and a small groom to attend it, and a little dog-cart, with 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 113 
 
 silver-mounted harness. And she could tell, too, what all the ser- 
 vants had said when they had caught glimpses of the child on the 
 night of his arrival ; and how every female below stairs had said 
 it was a shame, so it was, to part the poor pretty dear from his 
 mother ; and had all declared their hearts came into their mouths 
 when he went alone into the library to see his grandfather, for 
 " there was no knowing how he 'd be treated, and his lordship's 
 temper was enough to fluster them with old heads on their 
 shoulders, let alone a child." 
 
 " But if you '11 believe me, Mrs. Jennifer, mum," Mrs. Dibble 
 had said, "fear that child does not know so Mr. Thomas hisself 
 says ; an' set an' smile he did, an' talked to his lordship as if 
 they 'd been friends ever since his first hour. An' the Earl so 
 took aback, Mr. Thomas says, that he could n't do nothing but 
 listen and stare from under his eyebrows. An' it 's Mr. Thomas's 
 opinion, Mrs. Bates, mum, that bad as he is, he was pleased in his 
 secret soul, an' proud, too ; for a handsomer little fellow, or with 
 better manners, though so old-fashioned, Mr. Thomas says he 'd 
 never wish to see." 
 
 And then there had come the story of Higgins. The Reverend 
 Mr. Mordaunt had told it at his own dinner table, and the servants 
 who had heard it had told it in the kitchen, and from there it had 
 spread like wildfire. 
 
 And on market-day, when Higgins had appeared in town, he 
 had been questioned on every side, and Newick had been questioned 
 too, and in response had shown to two or three people the note 
 signed " Fauntleroy." 
 
 And so the farmers' wives had found plenty to talk of over their 
 
 tea and their shopping, and they had done the subject full justice and 
 
 made the most of it. And on Sunday they had either walked to 
 
 church or had been driven in their gigs by their husbands, who 
 
 8 
 
114 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 were perhaps a trifle curious themselves about the new little lord 
 who was to be in time the owner of the soil. 
 
 It was by no means the Earl's habit to attend church, but he 
 chose to appear on this first Sunday it was his whim to present 
 himself in the huge family pew, with Fauntleroy at his side. 
 
 There were many loiterers in the churchyard, and many lin- 
 gerers in the lane that morning. There were groups at the gates and 
 in the porch, and there had been much discussion as to whether my 
 lord would really appear or not. When this discussion was at its 
 height, one good woman suddenly uttered an exclamation. 
 
 " Eh," she said, "that must be the mother, pretty young thing." 
 
 All who heard turned and looked at the slender figure in black 
 coming up the path. The veil was thrown back from her face and 
 they could see how fair and sweet it was, and how the bright hair 
 curled as softly as a child's under the little widow's cap. 
 
 She was not thinking of the people about ; she was thinking of 
 Cedric, and of his visits to her, and his joy over his new pony, on 
 which he had actually ridden to her door the day before, sitting very 
 straight and looking very proud and happy. But soon she could 
 not help being attracted by the fact that she was being looked at 
 and that her arrival had created some sort of sensation. She first 
 noticed it because an old woman in a red cloak made a bobbing 
 courtesy to her, and then another did the same thing and said, " God 
 bless you, my lady ! " and one man after another took off his hat as she 
 passed. For a moment she did not understand, and then she real- 
 ized that it was because she was little Lord Fauntleroy's mother that 
 they did so, and she flushed rather shyly and smiled and bowed too, 
 and said, " Thank you," in a gentle voice to the old woman who 
 had blessed her. To a person who had always lived in a bustling, 
 crowded American city this simple deference was very novel, and at 
 first just a little embarrassing ; but after all, she could not help lik- 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 115 
 
 ing and being touched by the friendly warm-heartedness of which it 
 seemed to speak. She had scarcely passed through the stone porch 
 into the church before the great event of the day happened. The 
 carriage from the Castle, with its handsome horses and tall liveried 
 servants, bowled around the corner and down the green lane. 
 
 " Here they come ! " went from one looker-on to another. 
 
 And then the carnage drew up, and Thomas stepped down and 
 opened the door, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with 
 a splendid mop of bright waving hair, jumped out. 
 
 Every man, woman, and child looked curiously upon him. 
 
 " He 's the Captain over again ! " said those of the on-lookers 
 who remembered his father. " He 's the Captain's self, to the life !" 
 He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as 
 Thomas helped that nobleman out, with the most affectionate inter- 
 est that could be imagined. The instant he could help, he put out 
 his hand and offered his shoulder as if he had been seven feet high. 
 It was plain enough to every one that however it might be with 
 other people, the Earl of Dorincourt struck no terror into the breast 
 of his grandson. 
 
 " Just lean on me," they heard him say. " How glad the people 
 are to see you, and how well they all seem to know you !" 
 
 " Take off your cap, Fauntleroy," said the Earl. " They are 
 bowing to you." 
 
 " To me ! " cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, 
 baring his bright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled 
 eyes on them as he tried to bow to every one at once. 
 
 " God bless your lordship ! " said the courtesying, red-cloaked old 
 woman who had spoken to his mother ; "long life to you ! " 
 
 " Thank you, ma'am," said Fauntleroy. And then they went into 
 the church, and were looked at there, on their way up the aisle to 
 the square, red-cushioned and curtained pew. When Fauntleroy was 
 
n6 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 fairly seated, he made two discoveries which pleased him : the first 
 that, across the church where he could look at her, his mother sat 
 and smiled at him ; the second, that at one end of the pew, against 
 the wall, knelt two quaint figures carven in stone, facing each other 
 as they kneeled on either side of a pillar supporting two stone 
 missals, their pointed hands folded as if in prayer, their dress very 
 antique and strange. On the tablet by them was written something 
 
 of which he could only read 
 the curious words : 
 
 " Here lyeth ye bodye of 
 Gregorye Arthure Fyrst Earle 
 of Dorincourt Allsoe of Ali- 
 sone Hildegarde hys wyfe." 
 
 " May I whisper ? " inquired 
 his lordship, 
 curiosity. 
 
 "What is 
 grandfather. 
 
 " Who are they ? " 
 " Some of your ancestors," 
 answered the Earl, "who lived 
 a few hundred years ago." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Lord Fauntleroy, regarding them with respect, 
 " perhaps I got my spelling from them." And then he proceeded 
 to find his place in the church service. When the music began, he 
 stood up and looked across at his mother, smiling. He was very 
 fond of music, and his mother and he often sang together, so he 
 joined in with the rest, his pure, sweet, high voice rising as clear as 
 the song of a bird. He quite forgot himself in his pleasure in it. 
 The Earl forgot himself a little too, as he sat in his curtain-shielded 
 corner of the pew and watched the boy. Cedric stood with the 
 
 devoured by 
 
 it ? " said his 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 1 17 
 
 big psalter open in his hands, singing with all his childish might, 
 his face a little uplifted, happily ; and as he sang, a long ray of sun- 
 shine crept in and, slanting through a golden pane of a stained glass 
 window, brightened the falling hair about his young head. His 
 mother, as she looked at him across the church, felt a thrill pass 
 through her heart, and a prayer rose in it too, a prayer that the 
 pure, simple happiness of his childish soul might last, and that the 
 strange, great fortune which had fallen to him might bring no wrong 
 or evil with it. There were many soft, anxious thoughts in her ten- 
 der heart in those new days. 
 
 " Oh, Ceddie ! " she had said to him the evening before, as she 
 hung over him in saying good-night, before he went away; "oh, 
 Ceddie, dear, I wish for your sake I was very clever and could say 
 a great many wise things ! But only be good, dear, only be brave, 
 only be kind and true always, and then you will never hurt any one, 
 so long as you live, and you may help many, and the big world may 
 be better because my little child was born. And that is best of all, 
 Ceddie, it is better than everything else, that the world should be 
 a little better because a man has lived even ever so little better, 
 dearest." 
 
 And on his return to the Castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her 
 words to his grandfather. 
 
 " And I thought about you when she said that," he ended ; "and 
 I told her that was the way the world was because you had lived, 
 and I was going to try if I could be like you." 
 
 "And what did she say to that?" asked his lordship, a trifle 
 uneasily. 
 
 " She said that was right, and we must always look for good in 
 people and try to be like it." 
 
 Perhaps it was this the old man remembered as he glanced 
 through the divided folds of the red curtain of his pew. Many 
 
n8 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 times he looked over the people's heads to where his son's wife sat 
 alone, and he saw the fair face the unforgiven dead had loved, and 
 the eyes which were so like those of the child at his side ; but what 
 
 " I *VE A GREAT DEAL TO THANK YOUR LORDSHIP FOR," SAID HIGGINS. 
 
 his thoughts were, and whether they were hard and bitter, or soft- 
 ened a little, it would have been hard to discover. 
 
 As they came out of church, many of those who had attended 
 the service stood waiting to see them pass. As they neared the 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 1 19 
 
 gate, a man who stood with his hat in his hand made a step forward 
 and then hesitated. He was a middle-aged farmer, with a careworn 
 face. 
 
 " Well, Higgins," said the Earl. 
 Fauntleroy turned quickly to look at him. 
 
 " Oh ! " he exclaimed, " is it Mr. Higgins ? " 
 
 " Yes," answered the Earl dryly ; " and I suppose he came to 
 take a look at his new landlord." 
 
 " Yes, my lord," said the man, his sunburned face reddening. 
 " Mr. Newick told me his young lordship was kind enough to speak 
 for me, and I thought I 'd like to say a word of thanks, if I might 
 be allowed." 
 
 Perhaps he felt some wonder when he saw what a little fellow it 
 was who had innocently done so much for him, and who stood there 
 looking up just as one of his own less fortunate children might have 
 done apparently not realizing his own importance in the least. 
 
 " I Ve a great deal to thank your lordship for," he said ; " a great 
 deal. I " 
 
 ''Oh," said Fauntleroy; "I only wrote the letter. It was my 
 grandfather who did it. But you know how he is about always 
 being good to everybody. Is Mrs. Higgins well now?" 
 
 Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat 
 startled at hearing his noble landlord presented in the character of a 
 benevolent being, full of engaging qualities. 
 
 "I well, yes, your lordship," he stammered, "the missus is 
 better since the trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying 
 broke her down." 
 
 " I 'm glad of that," said Fauntleroy. " My grandfather was 
 very sorry about your children having the scarlet fever, and so 
 was I. He has had children himself. I 'm his son's little boy, 
 you know." 
 
120 LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 
 
 Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it 
 would be the safer and more discreet plan not to look at the Earl, as 
 it had been well known that his fatherly affection for his sons had been 
 such that he had seen them about twice a year, and that when they 
 had been ill, he had promptly departed for London, because he 
 would not be bored with doctors and nurses. It was a little try- 
 ing, therefore, to his lordship's nerves to be told, while he looked on, 
 his eyes gleaming from under his shaggy eyebrows, that he felt an 
 interest in scarlet fever. 
 
 " You see, Higgins," broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile, 
 "you people have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy under- 
 stands me. When you want reliable information on the subject of 
 my character, apply to him. Get into the carriage, Fauntleroy." 
 
 And Fauntleroy jumped in, and the carnage rolled away down 
 the green lane, and even when it turned the corner into the high 
 road, the Earl was still grimly smiling. 
 
VIII 
 
 E3 DORINCOURT had occasion to wear his grim smile many a 
 time as the days passed by. Indeed, as his acquaintance with 
 his grandson progressed, he wore the smile so often that there 
 were moments when it almost lost its grimness. There is no deny- 
 ing that before Lord Fauntleroy had appeared on the scene, the old 
 man had been growing very tired of his loneliness and his gout and 
 his seventy years. After so long a life of excitement and amuse- 
 ment, it was not agreeable to sit alone even in the most splendid 
 room, with one foot on a gout-stool, and with no other diversion 
 than flying into a rage, and shouting at a frightened footman who 
 hated the sight of him. The old Earl was too clever a man not to 
 know perfectly well that his servants detested him, and that even if 
 he had visitors, they did not come for love of him though some 
 found a sort of amusement in his sharp, sarcastic talk, which spared 
 no one. So long as he had been strong and well, he had gone from 
 one place to another, pretending to amuse himself, though he had 
 not really enjoyed it ; and when his health began to fail, he felt tired 
 of everything and shut himself up at Dorincourt, with his gout and 
 his newspapers and his books. But he could not read all the time, 
 and he became more and more " bored," as he called it. He hated 
 the long nights and days, and he grew more and more savage and 
 irritable. And then Fauntleroy came ; and when the Earl saw 
 him, fortunately for the little fellow, the secret pride of the grand- 
 father was gratified at the outset. If Cedric had been a less hand- 
 
122 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 some little fellow, the old man might have taken so strong a dislike 
 to him that he would not have given himself the chance to see 
 his grandson's finer qualities. But he chose to think that Cedric's 
 beauty and fearless spirit were the results of the Dorincourt blood 
 and a credit to the Dorincourt rank. And then when he heard the 
 lad talk, and saw what a well-bred little fellow he was, notwithstand- 
 ing his boyish ignorance of all that his new position meant, the old 
 Earl liked his grandson more, and actually began to find himself 
 rather entertained. It had amused him to give into those childish 
 hands the power to bestow a benefit on poor Higgins. My lord 
 cared nothing for poor Higgins, but it pleased him a little to 
 think that his grandson would be talked about by the country 
 people and would begin to be popular with the tenantry, even 
 in his childhood. Then it had gratified him to drive to church 
 with Cedric and to see the excitement and interest caused by the 
 arrival. He knew how the people would speak of the beauty of the 
 little lad ; of his fine, strong, straight body ; of his erect bear- 
 ing, his handsome face, and his bright hair, and how they would say 
 (as the Earl had heard one woman exclaim to another) that the boy 
 was " every inch a lord." My lord of Dorincourt was an arrogant 
 old man, proud of his name, proud of his rank, and therefore proud 
 to show the world that at last the House of Dorincourt had an heir 
 who was worthy of the position he was to fill. 
 
 The morning the new pony had been tried, the Earl had been 
 so pleased that he had almost forgotten his gout. When the groom 
 had brought out the pretty creature, which arched its brown, glossy 
 neck and tossed its fine head in the sun, the Earl had sat at the open 
 window of the library and had looked on while Fauntleroy took his 
 first riding lesson. He wondered if the boy would show signs of 
 timidity. It was not a very small pony, and he had often seen 
 children lose courage in making their first essay at riding. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 123 
 
 Fauntleroy mounted in great delight. He had never been on 
 a pony before, and he was in the highest spirits. Wilkins, the 
 groom, led the animal by the bridle up and down before the library 
 window. 
 
 " He 's a well plucked un, he is," Wilkins remarked in the stable 
 afterward with many grins. " It were n't no trouble to put him up. 
 An' a old un would n't ha' sat any straighter when he were up. He 
 ses ses he to me, 'Wilkins,' he ses, 'am I sitting up straight? 
 They sit up straight at the circus,' ses he. An' I ses, ' As straight 
 as a arrer, your lordship ! ' an' he laughs, as pleased as could be, 
 an' he ses, 'That 's right/ he ses, 'you tell me if I don't sit up 
 straight, Wilkins ! ' " 
 
 But sitting up straight and being led at a walk were not 
 altogether and completely satisfactory. After a few minutes, Faunt- 
 leroy spoke to his grandfather watching him from the window : 
 
 " Can't I go by myself?" he asked; "and can't I go faster? The 
 boy on Fifth Avenue used to trot and canter ! " 
 
 " Do you think you could trot and canter? " said the Earl. 
 
 " I should like to try," answered Fauntleroy. 
 
 His lordship made a sign to Wilkins, who at the signal brought 
 up his own horse and mounted it and took Fauntleroy's pony by the 
 leading-rein. 
 
 " Now," said the Earl, "let him trot." 
 
 The next few minutes were rather exciting to the small eques- 
 trian. He found that trotting was not so easy as walking, and the 
 faster the pony trotted, the less easy it was. 
 
 "It j-jolts a g-goo-good deal do-does n't it?" he said to 
 Wilkins. " D-does it j-jolt y-you ? " 
 
 " No, my lord," answered Wilkins. " You '11 get used to it in 
 time. Rise in your stirrups." 
 
 " I 'm ri-rising all the t-time," said Fauntleroy. 
 
124 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 He was both rising and falling rather uncomfortably and with 
 many shakes and bounces. He was out of breath and his face grew 
 red, but he held on with all his might, and sat as straight as he 
 could. The Earl could see that from his window. When the riders 
 came back within speaking distance, after they had been hidden by 
 the trees a few minutes, Fauntleroy's hat was off, his cheeks were 
 like poppies, and his lips were set, but he was still trotting manfully. 
 
 " Stop a minute ! " said his grandfather. " Where 's your hat ? " 
 
 Wilkins touched his. " It fell off, your lordship," he said, with 
 evident enjoyment. " Would n'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 should n't say as 
 he knowed what it meant. I Ve taught young gen'lemen to ride 
 afore, an' I never see one stick on more determinder." 
 
 " Tired ? " said the Earl to Fauntleroy. " Want to get off? " 
 
 " It jolts you more than you think it will," admitted his young 
 lordship frankly. " And it tires you a little, too ; but I don't want 
 to get off. I want to learn how. As soon as I Ve got my breath I 
 want to go back for the hat." 
 
 The cleverest person in the world, if he had undertaken to 
 teach Fauntleroy how to please the old man who watched him, could 
 not have taught him anything which would have succeeded better. 
 As the pony trotted off again toward the avenue, a faint color crept 
 up in the fierce old face, and the eyes, under the shaggy brows, 
 gleamed with a pleasure such as his lordship had scarcely expected 
 to know again. And he sat and watched quite eagerly until the 
 sound of the horses' hoofs returned. When they did come, which 
 was after some time, they came at a faster pace. Fauntleroy's hat 
 was still off; Wilkins was carrying it for him; his cheeks were red- 
 der than before, and his hair was flying about his ears, but he came 
 at quite a brisk canter. 
 
^r^^ 
 
 WILKINS WAS CARRYING HIS HAT FOR HIM, AND HIS HAIR WAS FLYING, 
 BUT HE CAME BACK AT A BRISK CANTER." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 127 
 
 " There ! " he panted, as they drew up, "I c-cantered. I did n't do 
 it as well as the boy on Fifth Avenue, but I did it, and I staid on ! " 
 He and Wilkins and the pony were close friends after that. 
 Scarcely a day passed in which the country people did not see them 
 out together, cantering gayly on the highroad or through the green 
 lanes. The children in the cottages would run to the door to look 
 at the proud little brown pony with the gallant little figure sitting so 
 straight in the saddle, and the young lord would snatch off his cap 
 and swing it at them, and shout, " Hullo ! Good-morning ! " in a 
 very unlordly manner, though with great heartiness. Sometimes he 
 would stop and talk with the children, and once Wilkins came back 
 to the castle with a story of how Fauntleroy had insisted on dis- 
 mounting near the village school, so that a boy who was lame and 
 tired might ride home on his pony. 
 
 " An' I 'm blessed," said Wilkins, in telling the story at the 
 stables, " I 'm blessed if he 'd hear of anything else ! He would 
 n't let me get down, because he said the boy might n't feel comfort- 
 able on a big horse. An' ses he, 'Wilkins,' ses he, 'that boy 's lame 
 and I 'm not, and I want to talk to him, too.' And up the lad has to 
 get, and my lord trudges alongside of him with his hands in his 
 pockets, and his cap on the back of his head, a- whistling and talking 
 as easy as you please ! And when we come to the cottage, an' the 
 boy's mother come out all in a taking to see what 's up, he whips 
 off his cap an' ses he, * I Ve brought your son home, ma'am,' ses he, 
 1 because his leg hurt him, and I don't think that stick is enough for 
 him to lean on ; and I 'm going to ask my grandfather to have a pair 
 of crutches made for him.' An' I 'm blessed if the woman was n't 
 struck all of a heap, as well she might be ! I thought I should 'a' 
 hex-plodid, myself! " 
 
 When the Earl heard the story he was not angry, as Wilkins 
 had been half afraid that he would be ; on the contrary, he laughed 
 
128 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 outright, and called Fauntleroy up to him, and made him tell all about 
 the matter from beginning to end, and then he laughed again. And 
 actually, a few days later, the Dorincourt carriage stopped in the 
 green lane before the cottage where the lame boy lived, and Faunt- 
 leroy jumped out and walked up to the door, carrying a pair of 
 strong, light, new crutches shouldered like a gun, and presented 
 them to Mrs. Hartle (the lame boy's name was Hartle) with these 
 words : " My grandfather's compliments, and if you please, these 
 are for your boy, and we hope he will get better." 
 
 " I said your compliments," he explained to the Earl when he 
 returned to the carnage. "You did n't tell me to, but I thought 
 perhaps you forgot. That was right, was n't it ? " 
 
 And the Earl laughed again, and did not say it was not. In 
 fact, the two were becoming more intimate every day, and every 
 day Fauntleroy's faith in his lordship's benevolence and virtue in- 
 creased. He had no doubt whatever that his grandfather was the 
 most amiable and generous of elderly gentlemen. Certainly, he 
 himself found his wishes gratified almost before they were uttered ; 
 and such gifts and pleasures were lavished upon him, that he was 
 sometimes almost bewildered by his own possessions. Apparently, 
 he was to have everything he wanted, and to do everything he 
 wished to do. And though this would certainly not have been a 
 very wise plan to pursue with all small boys, his young lordship 
 bore it amazingly well. Perhaps, notwithstanding his sweet nature, 
 he might have been somewhat spoiled by it, if it had not been for 
 the hours he spent with his mother at Court Lodge. That "best 
 friend" of his watched over him over closely and tenderly. .The 
 two had many long talks together, and he never went back to the 
 Castle with her kisses on his cheeks without carrying in his heart 
 some simple, pure words worth remembering. 
 
 There was one thing, it is true, which puzzled the little fellow 
 very much. He thought over the mystery of it much oftener than 
 
"UP THE LAD HAS TO GET, AND MY LORD TRUDGES ALONGSIDE OF HIM WITH HIS HANDS 
 
 IN HIS POCKETS." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 131 
 
 any one supposed ; even his mother did not know how often he pon- 
 dered on it; the Earl for a long" time never suspected that he did 
 so at all. But, being quick to observe, the little boy could not help 
 wondering why it was that his mother and grandfather never seemed 
 to meet. He had noticed that they never did meet. When the Dorin- 
 court carriage stopped at Court Lodge, the Earl never alighted, and 
 on the rare occasions of his lordship's going to church, Fauntleroy was 
 always left to speak to his mother in the porch alone, or perhaps 
 to go home with her. And yet, every day, fruit and flowers were sent 
 to Court Lodge from the hot-houses at the Castle. But the one vir- 
 tuous action of the Earl's which had set him upon the pinnacle of 
 perfection in Cedric's eyes, was what he had done soon after that first 
 Sunday when Mrs. Errol had walked home from church unattended. 
 About a week later, when Cedric was going one day to visit his 
 mother, he found at the door, instead of the large carriage and 
 prancing pair, a pretty little brougham and a handsome bay horse. 
 
 " That is a present from you to your mother," the Earl said' 
 abruptly. " She can not go walking about the country. She needs 
 a carriage. The man who drives will take charge of it. It is a 
 present fromjK^." 
 
 Fauntleroy's delight could but feebly express itself. He could 
 scarcely contain himself until he reached the lodge. His mother 
 was gathering roses in the garden. He flung himself out of the 
 little brougham and flew to her. 
 
 " Dearest ! " he cried, " could you believe it ? This is yours ! He 
 says it is a present from me. It is your own carriage to drive every- 
 where in ! " 
 
 He was so happy that she did not know what to say. She 
 could not have borne to spoil his pleasure by refusing to accept the 
 gift even though it came from the man who chose to consider him- 
 self her enemy. She was obliged to step into the carriage, roses 
 and all, and let herself be taken to drive, while Fauntleroy told her 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 stories of his grandfather's goodness and amiability. They were 
 such innocent stories that sometimes she could not help laughing a 
 little, and then she would draw her little boy closer to her side and 
 kiss him, feeling glad that he could see only good in the old man, 
 who had so few friends. 
 
 The very next day after that, Fauntleroy wrote to Mr. Hobbs. 
 He wrote quite a long letter, and after the first copy was written, 
 he brought it to his grandfather to be inspected. 
 
 " Because," he said, "it 's so uncertain about the spelling. And 
 if you '11 tell me the mistakes, I '11 write it out again." 
 
 This was what he had written : 
 
 " My dear mr hobbs i want to tell you about my granfarther he is the best earl 
 you ever new it is a mistake about earls being tirents he is not a tirent at all i 
 wish you new him you would be good friends i am sure you would he has the gout 
 in his foot and is a grate sufrer but he is so pashent i love him more every day 
 becaus no one could help loving an earl like that who is kind to every one in this 
 world i wish you could talk to him he knows everything in the world you can ask 
 him any question but he has never plaid base ball he has given me a pony and a cart 
 and my mamma a bewtifle cariage and I have three rooms and toys of all kinds it 
 would serprise you you would like the castle and the park it is such a large castle you 
 could lose yourself wilkins tells me wilkins is my groom he says there is a dungon 
 under the castle it is so pretty everything in the park would serprise you there are such 
 big trees and there are deers and rabbits and games flying about in the cover my 
 granfarther is very rich but he is not proud and orty as you thought earls always were 
 i like to be with him the people are so polite and kind they take of their hats to you 
 and the women make curtsies and sometimes say god bless you i can ride now but at 
 first it shook me when i troted my granfarther let a poor man stay on his farm when he 
 could not pay his rent and mrs mellon went to take wine and things to his sick children 
 i should like to see you and i wish dearest could live at the castle but i am very happy 
 when i dont miss her too much and i love my granfarther every one does plees write 
 soon " your afechshnet old frend 
 
 " Cedric Errol 
 
 " p s no one is in the dungon my granfarther never had any one langwishin in 
 there 
 
 " p s he is such a good earl he reminds me of you he is a unerversle favrit." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 133 
 
 " Do you miss your mother very much ? " asked the Earl when he 
 had finished reading this. 
 
 " Yes," said Fauntleroy, " I miss her all the time." 
 
 He went and stood before the Earl and put his hand on his 
 knee, looking up at him. 
 
 " You don't miss her, do you ? " he said. 
 
 " I don't know her," answered his lordship rather crustily. 
 
 "I know that," said Fauntleroy, " and that 's what makes me 
 wonder. She told me not to ask you any questions, and and I 
 wont, but sometimes I can't help thinking, you know, and it makes 
 me all puzzled. But I 'm not going to ask any questions. And 
 when I miss her very much, I go and look out of my window to 
 where I see her light shine for me every night through an open 
 place in the trees. It is a long way off, but she puts it in her 
 window as soon as it is dark, and I can see it twinkle far away, and I 
 know what it says." 
 
 " What does it say ? " asked my lord. 
 
 " It says, ' Good-night, God keep you all the night ! ' just what 
 she used to say when we were together. Every night she used to 
 say that to me, and every morning she said, ' God bless you all the 
 day ! ' So you see I am quite safe all the time " 
 
 " Quite, I have no doubt," said his lordship dryly. And he drew 
 down his beetling eyebrows and looked at the little boy so fixedly 
 and so long that Fauntleroy wondered what he could be thinking of. 
 
IX 
 
 THE tact was, his lordship the Earl of Dorincourt thought in 
 those days, of many things of which he had never thought be- 
 fore, and all his thoughts were in one way or another connected 
 with his grandson. His pride was the strongest part of his nature, 
 and the boy gratified it at every point. Through this pride he began 
 to find a new interest in life. He began to take pleasure in showing 
 his heir to the world. The world had known of his disappointment 
 in his sons ; so there was an agreeable touch of triumph in exhibit- 
 ing this new Lord Fauntleroy, who could disappoint no one. He 
 wished the child to appreciate his own power and to understand the 
 splendor of his position ; he wished that others should realize it too. 
 He made plans for his future. Sometimes in secret he actually found 
 himself wishing that his own past life had been a better one, and 
 that there had been less in it that this pure, childish heart would 
 shrink from if it knew the truth. It was not agreeable to think how 
 the beautiful, innocent face would look if its owner should be made 
 by any chance to understand that his grandfather had been called 
 for many a year " the wicked Earl of Dorincourt." The thought 
 even made him feel a trifle nervous. He did not wish the boy to find 
 it out. Sometimes in this new interest he forgot his gout, and after a 
 while his doctor was surprised to find his noble patient's health grow- 
 ing better than he had expected it ever would be again. Perhaps the 
 Earl grew better because the time did not pass so slowly for him, 
 and he had something to think of beside his pains and infirmities. 
 
 134 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 135 
 
 One fine morning, people were amazed to see little Lord Faunt- 
 leroy riding his pony with another companion than Wilkins. This 
 new companion rode a tall, powerful gray horse, and was no other 
 than the Earl himself. It was, in fact, Fauntleroy who had sug- 
 gested this plan. As he had been on the point of mounting his 
 pony, he had said rather wistfully to his grandfather : 
 
 <k I wish you were going with me. When I go away I feel lonely 
 because you are left all by yourself in such a big castle. I wish you 
 could ride too." 
 
 And the greatest excitement had been aroused in the stables a 
 few minutes later by the arrival of an order that Selim was to be 
 saddled for the Earl. After that, Selim was saddled almost every 
 day ; and the people became accustomed to the sight of the tall gray 
 horse carrying the tall gray old man, with his handsome, fierce, eagle 
 face, by the side of the brown pony which bore little Lord Fauntleroy. 
 And in their rides together through the green lanes and pretty 
 country roads, the two riders became more intimate than ever. 
 And gradually the old man heard a great deal about " Dearest " 
 and her life. As Fauntleroy trotted by the big horse he chatted 
 gayly. There could not well have been a brighter little comrade, 
 his nature was so happy. It was he who talked the most. The 
 Earl often was silent, listening and watching the joyous, glowing 
 face. Sometimes he would tell his young companion to set the 
 pony off at a gallop, and when the little fellow dashed off, sitting 
 so straight and fearless, he would watch him with a gleam of pride 
 and pleasure in his eyes ; and when, after such a dash, Fauntleroy 
 came back waving his cap with a laughing shout, he always felt 
 that he and his grandfather were very good friends indeed. 
 
 One thing that the Earl discovered was that his son's wife did 
 not lead an idle life. It was not long before he learned that the 
 poor people knew her very well indeed. When there was sickness 
 
136 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 or sorrow or poverty in any house, the little brougham often stood 
 before the door. 
 
 " Do you know," said Fauntleroy once, "they all say, ' God bless 
 you ! ' when they see her, and the children are glad. There are 
 some who go to her house to be taught to sew. She says she feels 
 so rich now that she wants to help the poor ones/' 
 
 It had not displeased the Earl to find that the mother of his 
 heir had a beautiful young face and looked as much like a lady as if 
 she had been a duchess ; and in one way it did not displease him to 
 know that she was popular and beloved by the poor. And yet he 
 was often conscious of a hard, jealous pang when he saw how she 
 filled her child's heart and how the boy clung to her as his best 
 beloved. The old man would have desired to stand first himself 
 and have no rival. 
 
 That same morning he drew up his horse on an elevated point 
 of the moor over which they rode, and made a gesture with his 
 whip, over the broad, beautiful landscape spread before them. 
 
 " Do you know that all that land belongs to me ? " he said to 
 Fauntleroy. 
 
 " Does it ? " answered Fauntleroy. " How much it is to belong to 
 one person, and how beautiful ! " 
 
 " Do you know that some day it will all belong to you that 
 and a great deal more ? " 
 
 " To me ! " exclaimed Fauntleroy in rather an awe-stricken voice. 
 " When ? " 
 
 " When I am dead," his grandfather answered. 
 
 " Then I don't want it," said Fauntleroy ; " I want you to live 
 always." 
 
 " That 's kind," answered the Earl in his dry way ; " nevertheless, 
 some day it will all be yours some day you will be the Earl of 
 Dorincourt." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 137 
 
 Little Lord Fauntleroy sat very still in his saddle for a few 
 moments. He looked over the broad moors, the green farms, the 
 beautiful copses, the cottages in the lanes, the pretty village, and 
 over the trees to where the turrets of the great castle rose, gray and 
 stately. Then he gave a queer little sigh. 
 
 " What are you thinking of? " asked the Earl. 
 
 "I am thinking," replied Fauntleroy, "what a little boy I am! 
 and of what Dearest said to me." 
 
 " What was it? " inquired the Earl. 
 
 " She said that perhaps it was not so easy to be very rich ; that 
 if any one had so many things always, one might sometimes forget 
 that every one else was not so fortunate, and that one who is rich 
 should always be careful and try to remember. I was talking to her 
 about how good you were, and she said that was such a good thing, 
 because an earl had so much power, and if he cared only about his 
 own pleasure and never thought about the people who lived on his 
 lands, they might have trouble that he could help and there were 
 so many people, and it would be such a hard thing. And I was just 
 looking at all those houses, and thinking how I should have to find 
 out about the people, when I was an earl. How did you find out 
 about them ? " 
 
 As his lordship's knowledge of his tenantry consisted in finding 
 out which of them paid their rent promptly, and in turning out those 
 who did not, this was rather a hard question. " Newick finds out for 
 me," he said, and he pulled his great gray mustache, and looked at 
 his small questioner rather uneasily. "We will go home now," he 
 added; "and when you are an earl, see to it that you are a better 
 earl than I have been ! " 
 
 He was very silent as they rode home. He felt it to be almost 
 incredible that he, who had never really loved any one in his life, 
 should find himself growing so fond of this little fellow, as without 
 
138 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 doubt he was. At first he had only been pleased and proud of 
 Cedric's beauty and bravery, but there was something more than 
 pride in his feeling now. He laughed a grim, dry laugh all to him- 
 self sometimes, when he thought how he liked to have the boy near 
 him, how he liked to hear his voice, and how in secret he really 
 wished to be liked and thought well of by his small grandson. 
 
 " I 'm an old fellow in my dotage, and I have nothing else to think 
 of," he would say to himself; and yet he knew it was not that alto- 
 gether. And if he had allowed himself to admit the truth, he would 
 perhaps have found himself obliged to own that the very things 
 which attracted him, in spite of himself, were the qualities he had 
 never possessed the frank, true, kindly nature, the affectionate 
 trustfulness which could never think evil. 
 
 It was only about a week after that ride when, after a visit to his 
 mother, Fauntleroy came into the library with a troubled, thought- 
 ful face. He sat down in that high-backed chair in which he had sat 
 on the evening of his arrival, and for a while he looked at the 
 embers on the hearth. The Earl watched him in silence, wondering 
 what was coming. It was evident that Cedric had something on his 
 mind. At last he looked up. " Does Newick know all about the 
 people ? " he asked. 
 
 " It is his business to know about them," said his lordship. " Been 
 neglecting it has he ? " 
 
 Contradictory as it may seem, there was nothing which enter- 
 tained and edified him more than the little fellow's interest in his 
 tenantry. He had never taken any interest in them himself, but it 
 pleased him well enough that, with all his childish habits of thought 
 and in the midst of all his childish amusements and high spirits, 
 there should be such a quaint seriousness working in the curly head. 
 
 " There is a place," said Fauntleroy, looking up at him with wide- 
 open, horror-stricken eye " Dearest has seen it; it is at the other 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 139 
 
 end of the village. The houses are close together, and almost falling 
 down ; you can scarcely breathe ; and the people are so poor, and 
 everything is dreadful ! Often they have fever, and the children die ; 
 and it makes them wicked to live like that, and be so poor and 
 miserable ! It is worse than Michael and Bridget ! The rain comes 
 in at the roof! Dearest went to see a poor woman who lived there. 
 She would not let me come near her until she had changed all 
 her things. The tears ran down her cheeks when she told me 
 about it ! " 
 
 The tears had come into his own eyes, but he smiled through 
 them. 
 
 " I told her you did n't know, and I would tell you," he said. 
 He jumped down and came and leaned against the Earl's chair. 
 " You can make it all right," he said, "just as you made it all 
 right for Higgins. You always make it all right for everybody. I 
 told her you would, and that Newick must have forgotten to 
 tell you." 
 
 The Earl looked down at the hand on his knee. Newick had 
 not forgotten to tell him ; in fact, Newick had spoken to him more 
 than once of the desperate condition of the end of the village known 
 as Earl's Court. He knew all about the tumble-down, miserable cot- 
 tages, and the bad drainage, and the damp walls and broken win- 
 dows and leaking roofs, and all about the poverty, the fever, and the 
 misery. Mr. Mordaunt had painted it all to him in the strongest 
 words he could use, and his lordship had used violent language in 
 response ; and, when his gout had been at the worst, he said that 
 the sooner the people of Earl's Court died and were buried by the 
 parish the better it would be, and there was an end of the matter. 
 And yet, as he looked at the small hand on his knee, and from the 
 small hand to the honest, earnest, frank-eyed face, he was actually a 
 little ashamed both of Earl's Court and himself. 
 
140 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 "What!" he said; " you want to make a builder of model cot- 
 tages of me, do you ? " And he positively put his own hand upon 
 the childish one and stroked it. 
 
 " Those must be pulled down," said Fauntleroy, with great eager- 
 ness. " 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 '11 know you have come to help them ! " And his eyes shone 
 like stars in his glowing face. 
 
 The Earl rose from his chair and put his hand on the child's 
 shoulder. "Let us go out and take our walk on the terrace," he 
 said, with a short laugh ; " and we can talk it over." 
 
 And though he laughed two or three times again, as they 
 walked to and fro on the broad stone terrace, where they walked 
 together almost every fine evening, he seemed to be thinking of 
 something which did not displease him, and still he kept his hand on 
 his small companion's shoulder. 
 
X 
 
 THE truth was that Mrs. Errol had found a great many sad 
 things in the course of her work among the poor of the lit- 
 tle village that appeared so picturesque when it was seen 
 from the moor-sides. Everything was not as picturesque, when 
 seen near by, as it looked from a distance. She had found idleness 
 and poverty and ignorance where there should have been comfort 
 and industry. And she had discovered, after a while, that Erleboro 
 was considered to be the worst village in that part of the country. 
 Mr. Mordaunt had told her a great many of his difficulties and dis- 
 couragements, and she had found out a great deal by herself. The 
 agents who had managed the property had always been chosen to 
 please the Earl, and had cared nothing for the degradation and 
 wretchedness of the poor tenants. Many things, therefore, had 
 been neglected which should have been attended to, and matters had 
 gone from bad to worse. 
 
 As to Earl's Court, it was a disgrace, with its dilapidated 
 houses and miserable, careless, sickly people. When first Mrs. 
 Errol went to the place, it made her shudder. Such ugliness and 
 slovenliness and want seemed worse in a country place than in a 
 city. It seemed as if there it might be helped. And as she looked 
 at the squalid, uncared-for children growing up in the midst of vice 
 and brutal indifference, she thought of her own little boy spending 
 his days in the great, splendid castle, guarded and served like a 
 young prince, having no wish ungratified, and knowing nothing but 
 
142 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 luxury and ease and beauty. And a bold thought came in her wise 
 little mother- heart. Gradually she had begun to see, as had others, 
 that it had been her boy's good fortune to please the Earl very 
 much, and that he would scarcely be likely to be denied anything 
 for which he expressed a desire. 
 
 " The Earl would give him anything," she said to Mr. Mordaunt 
 " He would indulge his every whim. Why should not that indul- 
 gence be used for the good of others ? It is for me to see that this 
 shall come to pass." 
 
 She knew she could trust the kind, childish heart ; so she told 
 the little fellow the story of Earl's Court, feeling sure that he would 
 speak of it to his grandfather, and hoping that some good results 
 would follow. 
 
 And strange as it appeared to every one, good results did 
 follow. The fact was that the strongest power to influence the Earl 
 was his grandson's perfect confidence in him the fact that Cedric 
 always believed that his grandfather was going to do what was right 
 and generous. He could not quite make up his mind to let him 
 discover that he had no inclination to be generous at all, and that 
 he wanted his own way on all occasions, whether it was right or 
 wrong. It was such a novelty to be regarded with admiration as a 
 benefactor of the entire human race, and the soul of nobility, that 
 he did not enjoy the idea of looking into the affectionate brown eyes, 
 and saying: "I am a violent, selfish old rascal; I never did a gen- 
 erous thing in my life, and I don't care about Earl's Court or the 
 poor people" or something which would amount to the same thing. 
 He actually had learned to be fond enough of that small boy with 
 the mop of yellow love-locks, to feel that he himself would prefer to 
 be guilty of an amiable action now and then. And so though he 
 laughed at himself after some reflection, he sent for Newick, and 
 had quite a long interview with him on the subject of the Court, and 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 1 43 
 
 it was decided that the wretched hovels should be pulled down and 
 new houses should be built. 
 
 "It is Lord Fauntleroy who insists on it," he said dryly; "he 
 thinks it will improve the property. You can tell the tenants that 
 it 's his idea." And he looked down at his small lordship, who was 
 lying on the hearth-rug playing with Dougal. The great dog was 
 the lad's constant companion, and followed him about everywhere, 
 stalking solemnly after him when he walked, and trotting majestic- 
 ally behind when he rode or drove. 
 
 Of course, both the country people and the town people heard 
 of the proposed improvement. At first, many of them would not 
 believe it; but when a small army of workmen arrived and com- 
 menced pulling down the crazy, squalid cottages, people began to 
 understand that little Lord Fauntleroy had done them a good turn 
 again, and that through, his innocent interference the scandal of 
 Earl's Court had at last been removed. If he had only known how 
 they talked about him and praised him everywhere, and prophesied 
 great things for him when he grew up, how astonished he would 
 have been ! But he never suspected it. He lived his simple, happy, 
 child life, frolicking about in the park ; chasing the rabbits to their 
 burrows ; lying under the trees on the grass, or on the rug in the 
 library, reading wonderful books and talking to the Earl about them, 
 and then telling the stories again to his mother ; writing long letters 
 to Dick and Mr. Hobbs, who responded in characteristic fashion ; 
 riding out at his grandfather's side, or with Wilkins as escort. As 
 they rode through the market town, he used to see the people turn 
 and look, and he noticed that as they lifted their hats their faces 
 often brightened very much ; but he thought it was all because his 
 grandfather was with him. 
 
 " They are so fond of you," he once said, looking up at his lord- 
 ship with a bright smile. " Do you see how glad they are when 
 
144 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 they see you ? I hope they will some day be as fond of me. It 
 must be nice to have everybody like you." And he felt quite proud 
 to be the grandson of so greatly admired and beloved an individual. 
 When the cottages were being built, the lad and his grandfather 
 used to ride over to Earl's Court together to look at them, and 
 
 Fauntleroy was full of interest. 
 He would dismount from his 
 pony and go and make acquaint- 
 ance with the workmen, asking 
 them questions about building 
 and bricklaying, and telling them 
 things about America. After 
 two or three such conversations, 
 he was able to enlighten the 
 Earl on the subject of brick- 
 making, as they rode home. 
 
 " I always like to know about 
 things like those," he said, " be- 
 cause you never know what you 
 are coming to." 
 
 When he left them, the 
 workmen used to talk him over 
 among themselves, and laugh at 
 
 ill! 
 
 THEM, TALKING AWAY, WITH HIS HANDS 
 
 IN HIS POCKETS. 
 
 away, 
 
 his odd, innocent speeches ; but 
 
 THE WORKMEN LIKED TO SEE HIM STAND AMONG Hked him, and Hked tO SCC 
 
 , . 1t . 
 
 stan d among them, talking 
 with his hands in his 
 pockets, his hat pushed back on his curls, and his small face full 
 of eagerness. " He 's a rare un," they used to say. "An' a noice 
 little outspoken chap, too. Not much o' th' bad stock in him." And 
 they would go home and tell their wives about him, and the women 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 145 
 
 would tell each other, and so it came about that almost every one 
 talked of, or knew some story of, little Lord Fauntleroy ; and 
 gradually almost every one knew that the "wicked Earl " had found 
 something he cared for at last something which had touched and 
 even warmed his hard, bitter old heart. 
 
 But no one knew quite how much it had been warmed, and how 
 day by day the old man found himself caring more and more for the 
 child, who was the only creature that had ever trusted him. He 
 found himself looking forward to the time when Cedric would be 
 a young man, strong and beautiful, with life all before him, but 
 having still that kind heart and the power to make friends every- 
 where ; and the Earl wondered what the lad would do, and how he 
 would use his gifts. Often as he watched the little fellow lying 
 upon the hearth, conning some big book, the light shining on 
 the bright young head, his old eyes would gleam and his cheek 
 would flush. 
 
 " The boy can do anything," he would say to himself, " any- 
 thing!" 
 
 He never spoke to any one else of his feeling for Cedric ; when 
 he spoke of him to others it was always with the same grim smile. 
 But Fauntleroy soon knew that his grandfather loved him and 
 always liked him to be near near to his chair if they were in the 
 library, opposite to him at table, or by his side when he rode or 
 drove or took his evening walk on the broad terrace. 
 
 " Do you remember," Cedric said once, looking up from his book 
 as he lay on the rug, "do you remember what I said to you that 
 first night about our being good companions ? I don't think any 
 people could be better companions than we are, do you?" 
 
 " We are pretty good companions, I should say," replied his 
 lordship. " Come here." 
 
 Fauntleroy scrambled up and went to him. 
 10 
 
I4 6 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 "Is there anything you want," the Earl asked; "anything you 
 have not ? " 
 
 The little fellow's brown eyes fixed themselves on his grand- 
 father with a rather wistful look. 
 " Only one thing," he answered. 
 " What is that ? " inquired the Earl. 
 
 Fauntleroy was silent a second. He had not thought matters 
 over to himself so long for nothing. 
 " What is it ? " my lord repeated. 
 
 Fauntleroy answered. 
 " It is Dearest," he said. 
 
 The old Earl winced a little. 
 
 " But you see her almost every day," he said. " Is not that 
 enough ?" 
 
 " I used to see her all the time," said Fauntleroy. " She used to 
 kiss me when I went to sleep at night, and in the morning she was 
 always there, and we could tell each other things without waiting." 
 The old eyes and the young ones looked into each other through 
 a moment of silence. Then the Earl knitted his brows. 
 " Do you never forget about your mother? " he said. 
 " No," answered Fauntleroy, "never; and she never forgets 
 about me. I should n't forget about you, you know, if I did n't live 
 with you. I should think about you all the more." 
 
 " Upon my word," said the Earl, after looking at him a moment 
 longer, " I believe you would ! " 
 
 The jealous pang that came when the boy spoke so of his 
 mother seemed even stronger than it had been before ; it was 
 stronger because of this old man's increasing affection for the boy. 
 
 But it was not long before he had other pangs, so much harder 
 to face that he almost forgot, for the time, he had ever hated his 
 son's wife at all. And in a strange and startling way it happened. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 147 
 
 One evening, just before the Earl's Court cottages were completed, 
 there was a grand dinner party at Dorincourt. There had not 
 been such a party at the Castle for a long time. A few days before 
 it took place, Sir Harry Lorridaile and Lady Lorridaile, who was the 
 Earl's only sister, actually came for a visit a thing which caused 
 the greatest excitement in the village and set Mrs. Dibble's shop- 
 bell tinkling madiy again, because it was well known that Lady 
 Lorridaile had only been to Dorincourt once since her marriage, 
 thirty-five years before. She was a handsome old lady with white 
 curls and dimpled, peachy cheeks, and she was as good as gold, but 
 she had never approved of her brother any more than did the rest 
 of the world, and having a strong will of her own and not being at 
 all afraid to speak her mind frankly, .she had, after several lively 
 quarrels with his lordship, seen very little of him since her young 
 days. 
 
 She had heard a great deal of him that was not pleasant 
 through the years in which they had been separated. She had 
 heard about his neglect of his wife, and of the poor lady's death ; 
 and of his indifference to his children ; and of the two weak, vicious, 
 unprepossessing elder boys who had been no credit to him or to 
 any one else. Those two elder sons, Bevis and Maurice, she had 
 never seen ; but once there had come to Lorridaile Park a tall, stal- 
 wart, beautiful young fellow about eighteen years old, who had told 
 her that he was her nephew Cedric Errol, and that he had come to 
 see her because he was passing near the place and wished to look 
 at his Aunt Constantia of whom he had heard his mother speak. 
 Lady Lorridaile's kind heart had warmed through and through at 
 the sight of the young man, and she had made him stay with her a 
 week, and petted him, and made much of him and admired him 
 immensely. He was so sweet-tempered, light-hearted, spirited a 
 lad, that when he went away, she had hoped to see him often again ; 
 
148 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 but she never did, because the Earl had been in a bad humor when 
 he went back to Dorincourt, and had forbidden him ever to go to 
 Lorridaile Park again. But Lady Lorridaile had always remem- 
 bered him tenderly, and though she feared he had made a rash mar- 
 riage in America, she had been very angry when she heard how he 
 had been cast off by his father and that no one really knew where 
 or how he lived. At last there came a rumor of his death, and then 
 Bevis had been thrown from his horse and killed, and Maurice had 
 died in Rome of the fever ; and soon after came the story of the 
 American child who was to be found and brought home as Lord 
 Fauntleroy. 
 
 " Probably to be ruined as the others were," she said to her hus- 
 band, "unless his mother is good enough and has a will of her own 
 to help her to take care of him." 
 
 But when she heard that Cedric's mother had been parted from 
 him she was almost too indignant for words. 
 
 "It is disgraceful, Harry!" she said. "Fancy a child of that 
 age being taken from his mother, and made the companion of a man 
 like my brother ! He will either be brutal to the boy or indulge 
 him until he is a little monster. If I thought it would do any good 
 to write " 
 
 " It would n't, Constantia," said Sir Harry. 
 
 " I know it would n't," she answered. " I know his lordship the 
 Earl of Dorincourt too well ; but it is outrageous." 
 
 Not only the poor people and farmers heard about little Lord 
 Fauntleroy ; others knew him. He was talked about so much and 
 there were so many stories of him of his beauty, his sweet temper, 
 his popularity, and his growing influence over the Earl, his grand- 
 father that rumors of him reached the gentry at their country 
 places and he was heard of in more than one county of England. 
 People talked about him at the dinner tables, ladies pitied his 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 149 
 
 young mother, and wondered if the boy were as handsome as 
 he was said to be, and men who knew the Earl and his habits 
 laughed heartily at the stories of the little fellow's belief in his lord- 
 ship's amiability. Sir Thomas Asshe of Asshawe Hall, being in 
 Erleboro one day, met the Earl and his grandson riding together, 
 and stopped to shake hands with my lord and congratulate him on 
 his change of looks and on his recovery from the gout. " And, 
 d' ye know," he said, when he spoke of the incident afterward, 
 " the old man looked as proud as a turkey-cock; and upon my 
 word I don't wonder, for a handsomer, finer lad than his grandson I 
 never saw ! As straight as a dart, and sat his pony like a young 
 trooper ! " 
 
 And so by degrees Lady Lorridaile, too, heard of the child ; 
 she heard about Higgins and the lame boy, and the cottages at 
 Earl's Court, and a score of other things, and she began to wish 
 to see the little fellow. And just as she was wondering how it might 
 be brought about, to her utter astonishment, she received a letter 
 from her brother inviting her to come with her husband to Dorin- 
 court. 
 
 " It seems incredible ! " she exclaimed. " I have heard it said that 
 the child has worked miracles, and I begin to believe it. They say 
 my brother adores the boy and can scarcely endure to have him out 
 of sight. And he is so proud of him ! Actually, I believe he wants to 
 show him to us." And she accepted the invitation at once. 
 
 When she reached Dorincourt Castle with Sir Harry, it was 
 late in the afternoon, and she went to her room at once before seeing 
 her brother. Having dressed for dinner, she entered the drawing- 
 room. The Earl was there standing near the fire and looking very 
 tall and imposing; and at his side stood a little boy in black velvet, 
 and a large Vandyke collar of rich lace a little fellow whose round 
 bright face was so handsome, and who turned upon her such beauti- 
 
150 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 fill, candid brown eyes, that she almost uttered an exclamation of 
 pleasure and surprise at the sight. 
 
 As she shook hands with the Earl, she called him by the name 
 she had not used since her girlhood. 
 
 " What, Molyneux ! " she said, "is this the child? " 
 
 " Yes, Constantia," answered the Earl, " this is the boy. Faunt- 
 leroy, this is your grand-aunt, Lady Lorridaile." 
 
 " How do you do, Grand-Aunt?" said Fauntleroy. 
 
 Lady Lorridaile put her hand on his shoulders, and after look- 
 ing down into his upraised face a few seconds, kissed him warmly. 
 
 " I am your Aunt Constantia," she said, "and I loved your poor 
 papa, and you are very like him." 
 
 " It makes me glad when I am told I am like him," answered 
 Fauntleroy, " because it seems as if every one liked him, just like 
 Dearest, eszackly, Aunt Constantia" (adding the two words 
 after a second's pause). 
 
 Lady Lorridaile was delighted. She bent and kissed him again, 
 and from that moment they were warm friends. 
 
 " Well, Molyneux," she said aside to the Earl afterward, " it 
 could not possibly be better than this ! " 
 
 " I think not," answered his lordship dryly. " He is a fine little 
 fellow. We are great friends. He believes me to be the most 
 charming and sweet-tempered of philanthropists. I will confess to 
 you, Constantia, as you would find it out if I did not, that I am 
 in some slight danger of becoming rather an old fool about him." 
 
 " What does his mother think of you ? " asked Lady Lorridaile, 
 with her usual straightforwardness. 
 
 " I have not asked her," answered the Earl, slightly scowling. 
 
 "Well," said Lady Lorridaile, "I will be frank with you at the 
 outset, Molyneux, and tell you I don't approve of your course, and 
 that it is my intention to call on Mrs. Errol as soon as possible ; so 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 151 
 
 if you wish to quarrel with me, you had better mention it at once. 
 What I hear of the young creature makes me quite sure that her 
 child owes her everything. We were told even at Lorridaile Park 
 that your poorer tenants adore her already." 
 
 " They adore him" said the Earl, nodding toward Fauntleroy. 
 " As to Mrs. Errol, you '11 find her a pretty little woman. I 'm rather 
 in debt to her for giving some of her beauty to the boy, and you 
 can go to see her if you like. All I ask is that she will remain at 
 Court Lodge and that you will not ask me to go and see her," and 
 he scowled a little again. 
 
 " But he does n't hate her as much as he used to, that is plain 
 enough to me," her ladyship said to Sir Harry afterward. "And he 
 is a changed man in a measure, and, incredible as it may seem, 
 Harry, it is my opinion that he is being made into a human being, 
 through nothing more nor less than his affection for that innocent, 
 affectionate little fellow. Why, the child actually loves him leans 
 on his chair and against his knee. His own children would as soon 
 have thought of nestling up to a tiger." 
 
 The very next day she went to call upon Mrs. Errol. When she 
 returned, she said to her brother : 
 
 " Molyneux, she is the loveliest little woman I ever saw ! She has 
 a voice like a silver bell, and you may thank her for making the boy 
 what he is. She has given him more than her beauty, and you make 
 a great mistake in not persuading her to come and take charge of 
 you. I shall invite her to Lorridaile." 
 
 " She '11 not leave the boy," replied the Earl. 
 
 " I must have the boy too," said Lady Lorridaile, laughing. 
 
 But she knew Fauntleroy. would not be given up to her, and 
 each day she saw more clearly how closely those two had grown to 
 each other, and how all the proud, grim old man's ambition and 
 hope and love centered themselves in the child, and how the warm, 
 
I5 2 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 innocent nature returned his affection with most perfect trust and 
 good faith. 
 
 She knew, too, that the prime reason for the great dinner party 
 was the Earl's secret desire to show the world his grandson and 
 heir, and to let people see that the boy who had been so much 
 spoken of and described was even a finer little specimen of boyhood 
 than rumor had made him. 
 
 " Bevis and Maurice were such a bitter humiliation to him," she 
 said to her husband. " Every one knew it. He actually hated 
 them. His pride has full sway here." Perhaps there was not one 
 person who accepted the invitation without feeling some curiosity 
 about little Lord Fauntleroy, and wondering if he would be on view. 
 And when the time came he was on view. 
 
 " The lad has good manners," said the Earl. " He will be in 
 no one's way. Children are usually idiots or bores, mine were 
 both, but he can actually answer when he 's spoken to, and be 
 silent when he is not. He is never offensive." 
 
 But he was not allowed to be silent very long. Every one had 
 something to say to him. The fact was they wished to make him 
 talk. The ladies petted him and asked him questions, and the men 
 asked him questions too, and joked with him, as the men on the 
 steamer had done when he crossed the Atlantic. Fauntleroy did 
 not quite understand why they laughed so sometimes when he 
 answered them, but he was so used to seeing people amused when 
 he was quite serious, that he did not mind. He thought the whole 
 evening delightful. The magnificent rooms were so brilliant with 
 lights, there were so many flowers, the gentlemen seemed so gay, 
 and the ladies wore such beautiful, wonderful dresses, and such 
 sparkling ornaments in their hair and on their necks. There was 
 one young lady who, he heard them say, had just come down from 
 London, where she had spent the " season " ; and she was so charm- 
 

 I WAS THINKING HOW BEAUTIFUL YOU ARE,' SAID LORD FAUNTLEROY." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 155 
 
 ing that he could not keep his eyes from her. She was a rather tall 
 young lady with a proud little head, and very soft dark hair, and 
 large eyes the color of purple pansies, and the color on her cheeks 
 and lips was like that of a rose. She was dressed in a beautiful white 
 dress, and had pearls around her throat. There was one strange 
 thing about this young lady. So many gentlemen stood near her, 
 and seemed anxious to please her, that Fauntleroy thought she must 
 be something like a princess. He was so much interested in her 
 that without knowing it he drew nearer and nearer to her, and at 
 last she turned and spoke to him. 
 
 " Come here, Lord Fauntleroy," she said, smiling; "and tell me 
 why you look at me so." 
 
 " I was thinking how beautiful you are," his young lordship 
 replied. 
 
 Then all the gentlemen laughed outright, and the young lady 
 laughed a little too, and the rose color in her cheeks brightened. 
 
 " Ah, Fauntleroy," said one of the gentlemen who had laughed 
 most heartily, " make the most of your time ! When you are older 
 you will not have the courage to say that." 
 
 " But nobody could help saying it," said Fauntleroy sweetly. 
 "Could you help it? Don't you think she is pretty, too?" 
 
 "We are not allowed to say what we think," said the gentleman, 
 while the rest laughed more than ever. 
 
 But the beautiful young lady her name was Miss Vivian 
 Herbert put out her hand and drew Cedric to her side, looking 
 prettier than before, if possible. 
 
 "Lord Fauntleroy shall say what he thinks," she said; "and I 
 am much obliged to him. I am sure he thinks what he says." And 
 she kissed him on his cheek. 
 
 " I think you are prettier than any one I ever saw," said Faunt- 
 leroy, looking at her with innocent, admiring eyes, " except Dear- 
 
156 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 est. Of course, I could n't think any one quite as pretty as Dearest. 
 I think she is the prettiest person in the world." 
 
 " I am sure she is," said Miss Vivian Herbert. And she laughed 
 and kissed his cheek again. 
 
 She kept him by her side a great part of the evening, and the 
 group of which they were the center was very gay. He did not 
 know how it happened, but before long he was telling them all 
 about America, and the Republican Rally, and Mr. Hobbs and Dick, 
 and in the end he proudly produced from his pocket Dick's parting 
 gift, the red silk handkerchief. 
 
 " I put it in my pocket to-night because it was a party," he said. 
 " I thought Dick would like me to wear it at a party." 
 
 And queer as the big, flaming, spotted thing was, there was a 
 serious, affectionate look in his eyes, which prevented his audience 
 from laughing very much. 
 
 " You see, I like it," he said, "because Dick is my friend." 
 
 But -though he was talked to so much, as the Earl had said, he 
 was in no one's way. He could be quiet and listen when others 
 talked, and so no one found him tiresome. A slight smile crossed 
 more than one face when several times he went and stood near his 
 grandfather's chair, or sat on a stool close to him, watching him and 
 absorbing every word he uttered with the most charmed interest. 
 Once he stood so near the chair's arm that his cheek touched 
 the Earl's shoulder, and his lordship, detecting the general smile, 
 smiled a little himself. He knew what the lookers-on were think- 
 ing, and he felt some secret amusement in their seeing what good 
 friends he was with this youngster, who might have been expected 
 to share the popular opinion of him. 
 
 Mr. Havisham had been expected to arrive in the afternoon, 
 but, strange to say, he was late. Such a thing had really never been 
 known to happen before during all the years in which he had been a 
 
LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 157 
 
 visitor at Dqrincourt Castle. He was so late that the guests were 
 on the point of rising to go in to dinner when he arrived. When 
 he approached his host, the Earl regarded him with amazement. 
 He looked as if he had been hurried or agitated ; his dry, keen old 
 face was actually pale. 
 
 "I was detained," he said, in a low voice to the Earl, "by an 
 extraordinary event." 
 
 It was as unlike the methodic old lawyer to be agitated by any- 
 thing as it was to be late, but it was evident that he had been dis- 
 turbed. At dinner he ate scarcely anything, and two or three times, 
 when he was spoken to, he started as if his thoughts were far away. 
 At dessert, when Fauntleroy came in, he looked at him more than 
 once, nervously and uneasily. Fauntleroy noted the look and won- 
 dered at it. He and Mr. Havisham were on friendly terms, and 
 they usually* exchanged smiles. The lawyer seemed to have for- 
 gotten to smile that evening. 
 
 The fact was, he forgot everything but the strange and painful 
 news he knew he must tell the Earl before the night was over the 
 strange news which he knew would be so terrible a shock, and which 
 would change the face of everything. As he looked about at the 
 splendid rooms and the brilliant company, at the people gath- 
 ered together, he knew, more that they might see the bright-haired 
 little fellow near the Earl's chair than for any other reason, as he 
 looked at the proud old man and at little Lord Fauntleroy smiling at 
 his side, he really felt quite shaken, notwithstanding that he was a 
 hardened old lawyer. What a blow it was that he must deal them ! 
 
 He did not exactly know how the long, superb dinner ended. 
 He sat through it as if he were in a dream, and several times he 
 saw the Earl glance at him in surprise. 
 
 But it was over at last, and the gentlemen joined the ladies in 
 the drawing-room. They found Fauntleroy sitting on the sofa with 
 
158 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 Miss Vivian Herbert, the great beauty of the last London season ; 
 they had been looking at some pictures, and he was thanking his 
 companion as the door opened. 
 
 " I 'm ever so much obliged to you for being so kind to me ! " he 
 was saying; " I never was at a party before, and I Ve enjoyed my- 
 self so much ! " 
 
 He had enjoyed himself so much that when the gentlemen 
 gathered about Miss Herbert again and began to talk to her, as he 
 listened and tried to understand their laughing speeches, his eyelids 
 began to droop. They drooped until they covered his eyes two or 
 three times, and then the sound of Miss Herbert's low, pretty laugh 
 would bring him back, and he would open them again for about two 
 seconds. He was quite sure he was not going to sleep, but there 
 was a large, yellow satin cushion behind him and his head sank 
 against it, and after a while his eyelids drooped for the last time. 
 They did not even quite open when, as it seemed a long time after, 
 some one kissed him lightly on the cheek. It was Miss Vivian 
 Herbert, who was going away, and she spoke to him softly. 
 
 " Good-night, little Lord Fauntleroy," she said. " Sleep well." 
 
 And in the morning he did not know that he had tried to open 
 his eyes and had murmured sleepily, " Good-night I'm so glad 
 I saw you you are so pretty " 
 
 He only had a very faint recollection of hearing the gentlemen 
 laugh again and of wondering why they did it. 
 
 No sooner had the last guest left the room, than Mr. Havisham 
 turned from his place by the fire, and stepped nearer the sofa, where 
 he stood looking down at the sleeping occupant. Little Lord Faunt- 
 leroy was taking his ease luxuriously. One leg crossed the other 
 and swung over the edge of the sofa ; one arm was flung easily 
 above his head ; the warm flush of healthful, happy, childish 
 sleep was on his quiet face ; his waving tangle of bright hair strayed 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 159 
 
 over the yellow satin cushion. He made a picture well worth 
 looking at. 
 
 As Mr. Havisham looked at it, he put his hand up and rubbed 
 his shaven chin, with a harassed countenance. 
 
 " Well, Havisham," said the Earl's harsh voice behind him. 
 "What is it? It is evident something has happened. What was 
 the extraordinary event, if I may ask ? " 
 
 Mr. Havisham turned from the sofa, still rubbing his chin. 
 
 " It was bad news," he answered, ''distressing news, my lord 
 the worst of news. I am sorry to be the bearer of it." 
 
 The Earl had been uneasy for some time during the evening, as 
 he glanced at Mr. Havisham, and when he was uneasy he was 
 always ill-tempered. 
 
 " Why do you look so at the boy ! " he exclaimed irritably. 
 "You have been looking at him all the evening as if See here 
 now, why should you look at the boy, Havisham, and hang over him 
 like some bird of ill-omen ! What has your news to do with Lord 
 Fauntleroy ? " 
 
 " My lord," said Mr. Havisham, " I will waste no words. My 
 news has everything to do with Lord Fauntleroy. And if we are to 
 believe it it is not Lord Fauntleroy who lies sleeping before us, but 
 only the son of Captain Errol. And the present Lord Fauntleroy is 
 the son of your son Bevis, and is at this moment in a lodging-house 
 in London." 
 
 The Earl clutched the arms of his chair with both his hands 
 until the veins stood out upon them ; the veins stood out on his fore- 
 head too ; his fierce old face was almost livid. 
 
 " What do you mean ! " he cried out. " You are mad ! Whose 
 lie is this ? " 
 
 " If it is a lie," answered Mr. Havisham, "it is painfully like the 
 truth. A woman came to my chambers this morning. She said your 
 
160 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 son Bevis married her six years ago in London. She showed me her 
 marriage certificate. They quarrelled a year after the marriage, and 
 he paid her to keep away from him. She has a son five years old. 
 She is an American of the lower classes, an ignorant person, and 
 until lately she did not fully understand what her son could claim. 
 She consulted a lawyer and found out that the boy was really Lord 
 Fauntleroy and the heir to the earldom of Dorincourt ; and she, of 
 course, insists on his claims being acknowledged." 
 
 There was a movement of the curly head on the yellow satin 
 cushion. A soft, long, sleepy sigh came from the parted lips, and the 
 little boy stirred in his sleep, but not at all restlessly or uneasily. 
 Not at all as if his slumber were disturbed by the fact that he was 
 being proved a small impostor and that he was not Lord Fauntleroy 
 at all and never would be the Earl of Dorincourt. He only turned 
 his rosy face more on its side, as if to enable the old man who stared 
 at it so solemnly to see it better. 
 
 The handsome, grim old face was ghastly. A bitter smile fixed 
 itself upon it. 
 
 11 I should refuse to believe a word of it," he said, " if it were 
 not such a low, scoundrelly piece of business that it becomes quite 
 possible in connection with the name of my son Bevis. It is quite 
 like Bevis. He was always a disgrace to us. Always a weak, 
 untruthful, vicious young brute with low tastes my son and heir, 
 Bevis, Lord Fauntleroy. The woman is an ignorant, vulgar person, 
 you say? " 
 
 " I am obliged to admit that she can scarcely spell her own 
 name," answered the lawyer. She is absolutely uneducated and 
 openly mercenary. She cares for nothing but the money. She is 
 very handsome in a coarse way, but 
 
 The fastidious old lawyer ceased speaking and gave a sort of 
 shudder. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. l6l 
 
 The veins on the old Earl's forehead stood out like purple 
 cords. Something else stood out upon it too cold drops of moist- 
 ure. He took out his handkerchief and swept them away. His smile 
 grew even more bitter. 
 
 " And I," he said, "I objected to to the other woman, the 
 mother of this child " (pointing to the sleeping form on the sofa) ; 
 " I refused to recognize her. And yet she could spell her own name. 
 I suppose this is retribution." 
 
 Suddenly he sprang up from his chair and began to walk up 
 and down the room. Fierce and terrible words poured forth from 
 his lips. His rage and hatred and cruel disappointment shook him 
 as a storm shakes a tree. His violence was something dreadful to 
 see, and yet Mr. Havisham noticed that at the very worst of his 
 wrath he never seemed to forget the little sleeping figure on the 
 yellovv satin cushion, and that he never once spoke loud enough to 
 awaken it. 
 
 " I might have known it," he said. " They were a disgrace to me 
 from their first hour ! I hated them both ; and they hated me ! Bevis 
 was the worse of the two. I will not believe this yet, though ! I will 
 contend against it to the last. But it is like Bevis it is like him ! " 
 
 And then he raged again and asked questions about the 
 woman, about her proofs, and pacing the room, turned first white 
 and then purple in his repressed fury. 
 
 When at last he had learned all there was to be told, and knew 
 the worst, Mr. Havisham looked at him with a feeling of anxiety. 
 He looked broken and haggard and changed. His rages had always 
 been bad for him, but this one had been worse than the rest because 
 there had been something more than rage in it. 
 
 He came slowly back to the sofa, at last, and stood near it. 
 " If any one had told me I could be fond of a child," he said, his 
 harsh voice low and unsteady, " I should not have believed them. 
 1 1 
 
1 62 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 I always detested children my own more than the rest. I am 
 fond of this one ; he is fond of me " (with a bitter smile). " I am 
 not popular ; I never was. But he is fond of me. He never was 
 afraid of me he always trusted me. He would have filled my 
 place better than I have filled it. I know that. He would have 
 been an honor to the name." 
 
 He bent down and stood a minute or so looking at the happy, 
 sleeping face. His shaggy eyebrows were knitted fiercely, and yet 
 somehow he did not seem fierce at all. He put up his hand, 
 pushed the bright hair back from the forehead, and then turned 
 away and rang the bell. 
 
 When the largest footman appeared, he pointed to the sofa. 
 "Take" he said, and then his voice changed a little "take 
 Lord Fauntleroy to his room." 
 
XI 
 
 WHEN Mr. Hobbs's young friend left him to go to Dorin- 
 court Castle and become Lord Fauntleroy, and the 
 grocery-man had time to realize that the Atlantic Ocean 
 lay between himself and the small companion who had spent so 
 many agreeable hours in his society, he really began to feel very 
 lonely indeed. The fact was, Mr. Hobbs was not a clever man nor 
 even a bright one ; he was, indeed, rather a slow and heavy person, 
 and he had never made many acquaintances. He was not mentally 
 energetic enough to know how to amuse himself, and in truth he 
 never did anything of an entertaining nature but read the news- 
 papers and add up his accounts. It was not very easy for him to 
 add up his accounts, and sometimes it took him a long time to bring 
 them out right ; and in the old days, little Lord Fauntleroy, who had 
 learned how to add up quite nicely with his fingers and a slate and 
 pencil, had sometimes even gone to the length of trying to help him ; 
 and, then too, he had been so good a listener and had taken such an 
 interest in what the newspaper said, and he and Mr. Hobbs had held 
 such long conversations about the Revolution and the British and 
 the elections and the Republican party, that it was no wonder his 
 going left a blank in the grocery store. At first it seemed to Mr. 
 Hobbs that Cedric was not really far away, and would come back 
 again ; that some day he would look up from his paper and see the 
 little lad standing in the door- way, in his white suit and red stockings, 
 and with his straw hat on the back of his head, and would hear him 
 
164 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 say in his cheerful little voice: " Hello, Mr. Hobbs ! This is a 
 hot day is n't it ? " But as the days passed on and this did not 
 happen, Mr. Hobbs felt very dull and uneasy. He did not even 
 enjoy his newspaper as much as he used to. He would put the 
 paper down on his knee after reading it, and sit and stare at the 
 high stool for a long time. There were some marks on the long 
 legs which made him feel quite dejected and melancholy. They 
 were marks made by the heels of the next Earl of Dorincourt, when 
 he kicked and talked at the same time. It seems that even youth- 
 ful earls kick the legs of things they sit on ; noble blood and lofty 
 lineage do not prevent it. After looking at those marks, Mr. Hobbs. 
 would take out his gold watch and open it and stare at the inscrip- 
 tion : " From his oldest friend, Lord Fauntleroy, to Mr. Hobbs. 
 When this you see, remember me." And after staring at it awhile, 
 he would shut it up with a loud snap, and sigh and get up 
 and go and stand in the door-way between the box of potatoes 
 and the barrel of apples and look up the street. At night, when 
 the store was closed, he would light his pipe and walk slowly 
 along the pavement until he reached the house where Cedric had 
 lived, on which there was a sign that read, " This House to Let"; 
 and he would stop near it and look up and shake his head, and 
 puff at his pipe very hard, and after a while walk mournfully 
 back again. 
 
 This went on for two or three weeks before any new idea came 
 to him. Being slow and ponderous, it always took him a long time to 
 reach a new idea. As a rule, he did not like new ideas, but preferred 
 old ones, After two or three weeks, however, during which, instead 
 of getting better, matters really grew worse, a novel plan slowly 
 and deliberately dawned upon him. He would go to see Dick. 
 He smoked a great many pipes before he arrived at the conclusion, 
 but finally he did arrive at it. He would go to see Dick. He 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 165 
 
 knew all about Dick. Cedric had told him, and his idea was that 
 perhaps Dick might be some comfort to him in the way of talking 
 things over. 
 
 So one day when Dick was very hard at work blacking a cus- 
 tomer's boots, a short, stout man with a heavy face and a bald head 
 stopped on the pavement and stared for two or three minutes at the 
 bootblack's sign, which read : 
 
 " PROFESSOR DICK TIPTON 
 CAN'T BE BEAT." 
 
 He stared at it so long that Dick began to take a lively interest 
 in him, and when he had put the finishing touch to his customer's 
 boots, he said : 
 
 " Want a shine, sir ? " 
 
 The stout man came forward deliberately and put his foot on 
 the rest. 
 
 "Yes," he said. 
 
 Then when Dick fell to work, the stout man looked from Dick 
 to the sign and from the sign to Dick. 
 
 " Where did you get that? " he asked. 
 
 " From a friend o' mine," said Dick, "a little feller. He guv' 
 me the whole outfit. He was the best little feller ye ever saw. He 's 
 in England now. Gone to be one o' them lords." 
 
 " Lord Lord "asked Mr. Hobbs, with ponderous slowness, 
 " Lord Fauntleroy Coin' 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 fore- 
 head, " ever since he was born. We was lifetime acquaintances - 
 that 's what we was." 
 
1 66 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 It really made him feel quite agitated to speak of it. He pulled 
 the splendid gold watch out of his pocket and opened it, and showed 
 the inside of the case to Dick. -^^^m^^^^^s^^^^-^^^ 
 
 " ' When this you see, remem- 
 ber me/ " he read. " That was his 
 parting keepsake to me ' I don't 
 want you to forget me ' those 
 was his words I 'd ha' remem- 
 
 bered him," he 
 went on, shak- 
 ing his head, "if 
 he had n't given 
 
 g> ai1 
 
 I had n't seen 
 hide nor hair on 
 him again. He was a companion as any man would remember." 
 
 " He was the nicest little feller I ever see," said Dick. " An' as to 
 sand I never seen so much sand to a little feller. I thought a 
 
 WHY, BOSS!" EXCLAIMED DICK, " DO YOU KNOW 
 HIM YOURSELF ? " 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 167 
 
 heap o' him, I did, an' we was friends, too we was sort o' chums 
 from the fust, .that little young un an' me. I grabbed his ball from 
 under a stage fur him, an' he never forgot it ; an' he 'd come down 
 here, he would, with his mother or his nuss and he 'd holler: 
 * Hello, Dick ! ' at me, as friendly as if he was six feet high, when he 
 war n't knee high to a grasshopper, and was dressed in gal's 
 clo'es. He was a gay little chap, and when you was down on your 
 luck, it did you good to talk to him." 
 
 " That 's so," said Mr. Hobbs. " It was a pity to make a earl 
 out of him. He would have shone in the grocery business or dry 
 goods either ; he would have shone / " And he shook his head with 
 deeper regret than ever. 
 
 It proved that they had so much to say to each other that it 
 was not possible to say it all at one time, and so it was agreed that 
 the next night Dick should make a visit to the store and keep Mr. 
 Hobbs company. The plan pleased Dick well enough. He had been 
 a street waif nearly all his life, but he had never been a bad boy, and 
 he had always had a private yearning for a more respectable kind of 
 existence. Since he had been in business for himself, he had made 
 enough money to enable him to sleep under a roof instead of out in 
 the streets, and he had begun to hope he might reach even a higher 
 plane, in time. So, to be invited to call on a stout, respectable man 
 who owned a corner store, and even had a horse and wagon, seemed 
 to him quite an event. 
 
 " Do you know anything about earls and castles?" Mr. Hobbs 
 inquired. "I 'd like to know more of the particklars." 
 
 1 ( There 's a story about some on 'em in the Penny Story 
 Gazette" said Dick. " It 's called the ' Crime of a Coronet; or, The 
 Revenge of the Countess May.' It 's a boss thing, too. Some of 
 us boys 're takin' it to read." 
 
 " Bring it up when you come," said Mr. Hobbs, "an' I '11 pay for 
 it. Bring all you can find that have any earls in 'em. If there are 
 
1 68 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 n't earls, markises '11 do, or dooks though he never made mention 
 of any dooks or markises. We did go over coronets a little, but I 
 never happened to see any. I guess they don't keep 'em 'round 
 here." 
 
 " Tiffany 'd have 'em if anybody did," said Dick, "but I don't 
 know as I 'd know one if I saw it." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs did not explain that he would not have known one 
 if he saw it. He merely shook his head ponderously. 
 
 " I s'pose there is very little call for 'em," he said, and that ended 
 the matter. 
 
 This was the beginning of quite a substantial friendship. When 
 Dick went up to the store, Mr. Hobbs received him with great 
 hospitality. He gave him a chair tilted against the door, near a 
 barrel of apples, and after his young visitor was seated, he made a 
 jerk at them with the hand in which he held his pipe, saying : 
 
 " Help yerself." 
 
 Then he looked at the story papers, and after that they read 
 and discussed the British aristocracy ; and Mr. Hobbs smoked his 
 pipe very hard and shook his head a great deal. He shook it most 
 when he pointed out the high stool with the marks on its legs. 
 
 " There 's his very kicks," he said impressively ; " his very kicks. 
 I sit and look at 'em by the hour. This is a world of ups an' it 's a 
 world of downs. Why, he 'd set there, an' eat crackers out of a 
 box, an' apples out of a barrel, an' pitch his cores into the street ; 
 an' now he 's a lord a-livin' in a castle. Them 's a lord's kicks ; 
 they '11 be a earl's kicks some day. Sometimes I says to myself, 
 says I, < Well, I '11 be jiggered ! '" ' 
 
 He seemed to derive a great deal of comfort from his reflections 
 and Dick's visit. Before Dick went home, they had a supper in the 
 small back-room ; they had crackers and cheese and sardines, 
 and other canned things out of the store, and Mr. Hobbs solemnly 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 169 
 
 opened two bottles of ginger ale, and pouring out two glasses, pro- 
 posed a toast. 
 
 " Here 's to him/" he said, lifting his glass, "an' may he teach 
 'em a lesson earls an' markises an' dooks an' all ! " 
 
 After that night, the two saw each other often, and Mr. Hobbs 
 was much more comfortable and less desolate. They read the 
 Penny Story Gazette, and many other interesting things, and gained 
 a knowledge of the habits of the nobility and gentry which would 
 have surprised those despised classes if they had realized it. One 
 day Mr. Hobbs made a pilgrimage to a book store down town, for 
 the express purpose of adding to their library. He went to the clerk 
 and lean.ed over the counter to speak to him. 
 
 1 1 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 have 
 n't what you want." 
 
 " Have n't ? " said Mr. Hobbs, anxiously. " Well, say markises 
 then or dooks." 
 
 " I know of no such book," answered the clerk. 
 
 Mr. Hobbs was much disturbed. He looked down on the 
 floor, then he looked up. 
 
 " None about female earls ? " he inquired. 
 
 " I 'm afraid not," said the clerk with a smile. 
 
 " Well," exclaimed Mr. Hobbs, " I '11 be jiggered ! " 
 
 He was just going out of the store, when the clerk called him 
 back and asked him if a story in which the nobility were chief char- 
 acters would do. Mr. Hobbs said it would if he could not get an 
 entire volume devoted to earls. So the clerk sold him a book called 
 "The Tower of London," written by Mr. Harrison Ainsworth, and 
 he carried it home. 
 
170 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 When Dick came they began to read it. It was a very wonderful 
 and exciting book, and the scene was laid in the reign of the famous 
 English queen who is called by some people Bloody Mary. And as 
 Mr. Hobbs heard of Queen Mary's deeds and the habit she had of 
 chopping people's heads off, putting them to the torture, and burn- 
 ing them alive, he became very much excited. He took his pipe out 
 of his mouth and stared at Dick, and at last he was obliged to mop 
 the perspiration from his brow with his red pocket handkerchief. 
 
 " Why, he aint safe ! " he said. " He aint safe ! If the women 
 folks can sit up on their thrones an' give the word for things "like 
 that to be done, who 's to know what 's happening to him this very 
 minute? He 's no more safe than nothing ! Just let a woman like 
 that get mad, an' no one 's safe ! " 
 
 " Well," said Dick, though he looked rather anxious himself; "ye 
 see this 'ere un is n't the one that 's bossin' things now. I know her 
 name 's Victory, an' this un here in the book, her name 's Mary." 
 
 " So it is," said Mr. Hobbs, still mopping his forehead ; " so it is. 
 An' the newspapers are not sayin' anything about any racks, thumb- 
 screws, or stake-burnin's, but still it does n't seem as if 't was safe 
 for him over there with those queer folks. Why, they tell me they 
 don't keep the Fourth o' July ! " 
 
 He was privately uneasy for several days ; and it was not until 
 he received Fauntleroy's letter and had read it several times, both 
 to himself and to Dick, and had also read the letter Dick got about 
 the same time, that he became composed again. 
 
 But they both found great pleasure in their letters. They read 
 and re-read them, and talked them over and enjoyed every word of 
 them. And they spent days over the answers they sent, and read 
 them over almost as often as the letters they had received. 
 
 It was rather a labor for Dick to write his. All his knowledge of 
 reading and writing he had gained during a few months, when he 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 1 71 
 
 had lived with his elder brother, and had gone to a night-school ; 
 but, being a sharp boy, he had made the most of that brief educa- 
 tion, and had spelled out things in newspapers since then, and prac- 
 ticed writing with bits of chalk on pavements or walls or fences. He 
 told Mr. Hobbs all about his life and about his elder brother, who 
 had been rather good to him after their mother died, when Dick 
 was quite a little fellow. Their father had died some time before. 
 The brother's name was Ben, and he had taken care of Dick as 
 well as he could, until the boy was old enough to sell newspapers 
 and run errands. They had lived together, and as he grew older 
 Ben had managed to get along until he had quite a decent place 
 in a store. * 
 
 " And then," exclaimed Dick with disgust, " blest if he did n't go 
 an' marry a gal ! Just went and got spoony an' had n't any more 
 sense left ! Married her, an' set up housekeepin' in two back rooms. 
 An' a hefty un she was, a regular tiger-cat. She 'd tear things to 
 pieces when she got mad, and she was mad all the time. Had a 
 baby just like her, yell day 'n' night ! An' if I did n't have to 
 'tend it ! an' when it screamed, she 'd fire things at me. She fired a 
 plate at me one day, an' hit the baby cut its chin. Doctor said 
 he 'd carry the mark till he died. A nice mother she was ! Crackey ! 
 but did n't we have a time Ben 'n' mehself 'n' the young un. She 
 was mad at Ben because he did n't make money faster ; 'n' at last 
 he went out West with a man to set up a cattle ranch. An' had n't 
 been gone a week 'fore one night, I got home from sellin' my papers, 
 'n' the rooms wus locked up 'n' empty, 'n' the woman o' the house, 
 she told me Minna 'd gone shown a clean pair o' heels. Some un 
 else said she 'd gone across the water to be nuss to a lady as had a 
 little baby, too. Never heard a word of her since nuther has 
 Ben. If I 'd ha' bin him, I would n't ha' fretted a bit 'n' I guess 
 he did n't. But he thought a heap o' her at the start. Tell you, he 
 
172 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 was spoons on her. She was a daisy-lookin' gal, too, when she was 
 dressed up 'n' not mad. She 'd big black eyes V black hair down to 
 her knees ; she 'd make it into a rope as big as your arm, and twist 
 it 'round 'n' 'round her head ; 'n' I tell yo.u her eyes 'd snap ! Folks 
 used to say she was part /tali-un said her mother or father 'd come 
 from there, 'n' it made her queer. I tell ye, she was one of 'em 
 she was ! " 
 
 He often told Mr. Hobbs stories of her and of his brother Ben, 
 who, since his going out West, had written once or twice to Dick. 
 Ben's luck had not been good, and he had wandered from place to 
 place ; but at last he had settled on a ranch in California, where he 
 was at work at the time when Dick became acquainted with Mr. 
 Hobbs. 
 
 " That gal," said Dick one day, "she took all the grit out o' him. 
 I could n't help feelin' sorry for him sometimes." 
 
 They were sitting in the store door-way together, and Mr. 
 Hobbs was filling his pipe. 
 
 " He ought n't to 've married," he said solemnly, as he rose to 
 get a match. "Women I never could see any use in 'em, 
 myself." 
 
 As he took the match from its box, he stopped and looked down 
 on the counter. 
 
 " Why!" he said, "if here is n't a letter! I did n't see it before. 
 The postman must have laid it down when I was n't noticin', or the 
 newspaper slipped over it." 
 
 He picked it up and looked at it carefully. 
 
 "It 's from him!" he exclaimed. "That 's the very one it 's 
 from ! " 
 
 He forgot his pipe altogether. He went back to his chair quite 
 excited and took his pocket-knife and opened the envelope. 
 
 " I wonder what news there is this time," he said. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 173 
 
 And then he unfolded the letter and read as follows : 
 
 " DORINCOURT CASTLE 
 " My dear Mr. Hobbs 
 
 " I write this in a great hury becaus i have something curous to tell you i know you 
 will be very mutch suprised my dear frend when i tel you. It is all a mistake and i 
 am not a lord and i shall not have to be an earl there is a lady whitch was marid to 
 my uncle bevis who is dead and she has a little boy and he is lord fauntleroy becaus 
 that is the way it is in England the earls eldest sons little boy is the earl if every body 
 else is dead i mean if his farther and grandfarther are dead my grandfarther is not dead but 
 my uncle bevis is and so his boy is lord Fauntleroy and i am not becaus my papa was 
 the youngest son and my name is Cedric Errol like it was when i was in New York 
 and all the things will belong to the other boy i thought at first i should have to give 
 him my pony and cart but my grandfarther says i need not my grandfarther is very 
 sorry and i think he does not like the lady but preaps he thinks dearest and i are sorry 
 because i shall not be an earl i would like to be an earl now better than i thout i would 
 at first becaus this is a beautifle castle and i like every body so and when you are rich 
 you can do so many things i am not rich now becaus when your papa is only the 
 youngest son he is not very rich i am going to learn to work so that i can take care of 
 dearest i have been asking Wilkins about grooming horses preaps i might be a groom 
 or a coachman, the lady brought her little boy to the castle and my grandfarther and 
 Mr. Havisham talked to her i think she was angry she talked loud and my grandfarther 
 was angry too i never saw him angry before i wish it did not make them all mad i thort 
 i would tell you and Dick right away becaus you would be intrusted so no more at 
 present with love from 
 
 "your old frend "CEDRIC ERROL (Not lord Fauntleroy)." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs fell back in his chair, the letter dropped on his 
 knee, his pen-knife slipped to the floor, and so did the envelope. 
 " Well ! " he ejaculated, " I am jiggered ! " 
 
 He was so dumfounded that he actually changed his exclama- 
 tion. It had always been his habit to say, " I will be jiggered, "" 
 but this time he said, " I am jiggered." Perhaps he really was jig- 
 gered. There is no knowing. 
 
 " Well," said Dick, " the whole thing 's bust up, has n't it ? " 
 
174 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Bust! " said Mr. Hobbs. " It 's my opinion it 's a put-up job 
 o' the British 'ristycrats to rob him of his rights because he 's an 
 American. They Ve had a spite agin us ever since the Revolution, 
 an' they 're takin' it out on him. I told you he was n't safe, an' 
 see what 's happened ! Like as not, the whole gover'ment 's got 
 together to rob him of his lawful ownin's." 
 
 He was very much agitated. He had not approved of the 
 change in his young friend's circumstances at first, but lately he had 
 become more reconciled to it, and after the receipt of Cedric's letter 
 he had perhaps even felt some secret pride in his young friend's 
 magnificence. He might not have a good opinion of earls, but he 
 knew that even in America money was considered rather an agree- 
 able thing, and if all the wealth and grandeur were to go with the 
 title, it must be rather hard to lose it. 
 
 "They 're trying to rob him!" he said, "that 's what they 're 
 doing, and folks that have money ought to look after him." 
 
 And he kept Dick with him until quite a late hour to talk it 
 over, and when that young man left, he went with him to the corner 
 of the street ; and on his way back he stopped opposite the empty 
 house for some time, staring at the " To Let," and smoking his pipe, 
 in much disturbance of mind. 
 
XII 
 
 A VERY few days after the dinner party at the Castle, almost 
 everybody in England who read the newspapers at all knew 
 the romantic story of what had happened at Dorincourt. It 
 made a very interesting story when it was told with all the details. 
 There was the little American boy who had been brought to Eng- 
 land to be Lord Fauntleroy, and who was said to be so fine and 
 handsome a little fellow, and to have already made people fond of 
 him ; there was the old Earl, his grandfather, who was so proud of 
 his heir ; there was the pretty young mother who had never been 
 forgiven for marrying Captain Errol ; and there was the strange 
 marriage of Bevis, the dead Lord Fauntleroy, and the strange wife, 
 of whom no one knew anything, suddenly appearing with her son, 
 and saying that he was the real Lord Fauntleroy and must have his 
 rights. All these things were talked about and written about, and 
 caused a tremendous sensation. And then there came the rumor 
 that the Earl of Dorincourt was not satisfied with the turn affairs 
 had taken, and would perhaps contest the claim by law, and the 
 matter might end with a wonderful trial. 
 
 There never had been such excitement before in the county 
 in which Erleboro was situated. On market-days, people stood in 
 groups and talked and wondered what would be done ; the farmers' 
 wives invited one another to tea that they might tell one another all 
 they had heard and all they thought and all they thought other 
 people thought. They related wonderful anecdotes about the Earl's 
 
 175 
 
176 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 rage and his determination not to acknowledge the new Lord 
 Fauntleroy, and his hatred of the woman who was the claimant's 
 mother. But, of course, it was Mrs. Dibble who could tell the most, 
 and who was more in demand than ever. 
 
 " An' a bad lookout it is," she said. "An' if you were to ask me, 
 ma'am, I should say as it was a judgment on him for the way he 's 
 treated that sweet young cre'tur' as he parted from her child, for 
 he 's got that fond of him an' that set on him an' that proud of him 
 as he 's a'most drove mad by what 's happened. An' what 's more, 
 this new one 's no lady, as his little lordship's ma is. She J s a bold- 
 faced, black-eyed thing, as Mr. Thomas says no gentleman in livery 
 'u'd bemean hisself to be gave orders by ; and let her come into the 
 house, he says, an' he goes out of it. An' the boy don't no more 
 compare with the other one than nothin' you could mention. An' 
 mercy knows what 's goin' to come of it all, an' where it 's to end, an' 
 you might have knocked me down with a feather when Jane brought 
 the news." 
 
 In fact there was excitement everywhere at the Castle : in the 
 library, where the Earl and Mr. Havisham sat and talked ; in the 
 servants' hall, where Mr. Thomas and the butler and the other men 
 and women servants gossiped and exclaimed at all times of the day ; 
 and in the stables, where Wilkins went about his work in a quite 
 depressed state of mind, and groomed the brown pony more beauti- 
 fully than ever, and said mournfully to the coachman that he "never 
 taught a young gen'leman to ride as took to it more nat'ral, or was 
 a better-plucked one than he was. He was a one as it were some 
 pleasure to ride behind." 
 
 But in the midst of all the disturbance there was one person who 
 was quite calm and untroubled. That person was the little Lord 
 Fauoitleroy who was said not to be Lord Fauntleroy at all. When 
 first the state of affairs had been explained to him, he had felt some 
 
* SHALL I BE YOUR BOY, EVEN IF I 'M NOT GOING TO BE AN EARL?' SAID CEDRIC." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 179 
 
 little anxiousness and perplexity, it is true, but its foundation was 
 not in baffled ambition. 
 
 While the Earl told him what had happened, he had sat on a 
 stool holding on to his knee, as he so often did when he was listen- 
 ing to anything interesting ; and by the time the story was finished 
 he looked quite sober. 
 
 " It makes me feel very queer," he said; "it makes me feel 
 queer ! " 
 
 The Earl looked at the boy in silence. It made him feel queer, 
 too queerer than he had ever felt in his whole life. And he felt more 
 queer still when he saw that there was a troubled expression on the 
 small face which was usually so happy. 
 
 "Will they take Dearest's house from her and her carnage?" 
 Cedric asked in a rather unsteady, anxious little voice. 
 
 "No!" said the Earl decidedly in quite a loud voice, in fact. 
 " They can take nothing from her." 
 
 " Ah ! " said Cedric, with evident relief. " Can't they ? " 
 
 Then he looked up at his grandfather, and there was a wistful 
 shade in his eyes, and they looked very big and soft. 
 
 "That other boy," he said rather tremulously "he will have 
 to to be your boy now as I was wont he ? " 
 
 "No!" answered the Earl and he said it so fiercely and loudly 
 that Cedric quite jumped. 
 
 " No ?" he exclaimed, in wonderment. "Wont he? I thought " 
 
 He stood up from his stool quite suddenly. 
 
 "Shall I be your boy, even if I 'm not going to be an earl?" 
 he said. " Shall I be your boy, just as I was before ? " And his 
 flushed little face was all alight with eagerness. 
 
 How the old Earl did look at him from head to foot, to be sure ! 
 How his great shaggy brows did draw themselves together, and 
 how queerly his deep eyes shone under them how very queerly ! 
 
l8o LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " My boy ! " he said and, if you '11 believe it, his very voice 
 was queer, almost shaky and a little broken and hoarse, not at all 
 what you would expect an Earl's voice to be, though he spoke more 
 decidedly and peremptorily even than before, " Yes, you '11 be my 
 boy as long as I live ; and, by George, sometimes I feel as if you 
 were the only boy I had ever had." 
 
 Cedric's face turned red to the roots of his hair ; it turned red 
 with relief and pleasure. He put both his hands deep into his 
 pockets and looked squarely into his noble relative's eyes. 
 
 "Do you?" he said. "Well, then, I don't care about the earl 
 part at all. I don't care whether I'm an earl or not. I thought 
 you see, I thought the one that was going to be the Earl would 
 have to be your boy, too, and and I could n'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 wont believe yet that they can 
 take anything from you. You were made for the place, and well, 
 you may fill it still. But whatever comes, you shall have all that I 
 can give you all ! " 
 
 It scarcely seemed as if he were speaking to a child, there was 
 such determination in his face and voice ; it was more as if he were 
 making a promise to himself and perhaps he was. 
 
 He had never before known how deep a hold upon him his 
 fondness for the boy and his pride in him had taken. He had never 
 seen his strength and good qualities and beauty as he seemed to see 
 them now. To his obstinate nature it seemed impossible more 
 than impossible to give up what he had so set his heart upon. And 
 he had determined that he would not give it up without a fierce 
 struggle. 
 
 Within a few days after she had seen Mr. Havisham, the 
 woman who claimed to be Lady Fauntleroy presented herself at the 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 181 
 
 Castle, and brought her child with her. She was sent away. The 
 Earl would not see her, she was told by the footman at the door; his 
 lawyer would attend to her case. It was Thomas who gave the 
 message, and who expressed his opinion of her freely afterward, in 
 the servants' hall. He "hoped," he said, "as he had wore livery in 
 'igh famblies long enough 
 to know a lady when he 
 see one, an' if that was a 
 lady he was no judge o' 
 females." 
 
 " The one at the Lodge," 
 added Thomas loftily, 
 "'Merican or no 'Merican, 
 she 's one o' the right sort, 
 as any gentleman 'u'd rec- 
 kinize with 'alf a heye. I 
 remarked it myself to 
 Henery when fust we 
 called there." 
 
 The woman drove 
 away ; the look on her 
 handsome, common face 
 half frightened, half fierce. 
 Mr. Havisham had noticed, 
 during his interviews with 
 her, that though she had 
 
 a passionate temper, and a coarse, insolent manner, she was neither so 
 clever nor so bold as she meant to be ; she seemed sometimes to be 
 almost overwhelmed by the position in which she had placed herself. 
 It was as if she had not expected to meet with such opposition. 
 
 "She is evidently," the lawyer said to Mrs. Errol, "a person 
 from the lower walks of life. She is uneducated and untrained in 
 
 SHE WAS TOLD BY THE FOOTMAN AT THE DOOR 
 THAT THE EARL WOULD NOT SEE HER. 
 
1 82 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 everything, and quite unused to meeting" people like ourselves 
 on any terms of equality. She does not know what to do. Her 
 visit to the Castle quite cowed her. She was infuriated, but she 
 was cowed. The Earl would not receive her, but I advised him 
 to go with me to the Dorincourt Arms, where she is staying. 
 When she saw him enter the room, she turned white, though she 
 flew into a rage at once, and threatened and demanded in one 
 breath." 
 
 The fact was that the Earl had stalked into the room and 
 stood, looking like a venerable aristocratic giant, staring at the 
 woman from under his beetling brows, and not condescending 
 a word. He simply stared at her, taking her in from head to 
 foot as if she were some repulsive curiosity. He let her talk and 
 demand until she was tired, without himself uttering a word, and 
 then he said : 
 
 "You say you are my eldest son's wife. If that is true, and if 
 the proof you offer is too much for us, the law is on your side. In 
 that case, your boy is Lord Fauntleroy. The matter will be sifted to 
 the bottom, you may rest assured. If your claims are proved, you 
 will be provided for. I want to see nothing of either you or the 
 child so long as I live. The place will unfortunately have enough 
 of you after my death. You are exactly the kind of person I should 
 have expected my son Bevis to choose." 
 
 And then he turned his back upon her and stalked out of the 
 room as he had stalked into it. 
 
 Not many days after that, a visitor was announced to Mrs. 
 Errol, who was writing in her little morning room. The maid, who 
 brought the message, looked rather excited ; her eyes were quite 
 round with amazement, in fact, and being young and inexperienced, 
 she regarded her mistress with nervous sympathy. 
 
 " It 's the Earl hisself, ma'am ! " she said in tremulous awe. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 183 
 
 When Mrs. Errol entered the drawing-room, a very tall, majes- 
 tic-looking old man was standing on the tiger-skin rug. He had a 
 handsome, grim old face, with an aquiline profile, a long white 
 mustache, and an obstinate look. 
 
 " Mrs. Errol, I believe?" he said. 
 
 " Mrs. Errol," she answered. 
 
 " I am the Earl of Dorincourt," he said. 
 
 He paused a moment, almost unconsciously, to look into her 
 uplifted eyes. They were so like the big, affectionate, childish eyes 
 he had seen uplifted to his own so often every day during the last 
 few months, that they gave him a quite curious sensation. 
 
 " The boy is very like you," he said abruptly. 
 
 "It has been often said so, my lord," she replied, "but I have 
 been glad to think him like his father also." 
 
 As Lady Lorridaile had told him, her voice was very sweet, and 
 her manner was very simple and dignified. She did not seem in the 
 least troubled by his sudden coming. 
 
 "Yes," said the Earl, "he is like my son too." He put his 
 hand up to his big white mustache and pulled it fiercely. " Do you 
 know," he said, "why I have come here?" 
 
 "I have seen Mr. Havisham," Mrs. Errol began, "and he has 
 told me of the claims which have been made " 
 
 " I have come to tell you," said the Earl, "that they will be inves- 
 tigated and contested, if a contest can be made. I have come to tell 
 you that the boy shall be defended with all the power of the law. 
 
 His rights " 
 
 The soft voice interrupted him. 
 
 " He must have nothing that is not his by right, even if the law 
 can give it to him," she said. 
 
 " Unfortunately the law can not," said the Earl. " If it could, it 
 should. This outrageous woman and her child " 
 
1 84 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Perhaps she cares for him as much as I care for Cedric, my 
 lord," said little Mrs. Errol. " And if she was your eldest son's wife, 
 her son is Lord Fauntleroy, and mine is not." 
 
 She was no more afraid of him than Cedric had been, and she 
 looked at him just as Cedric would have looked, and he, having been 
 an old tyrant all his life, was privately pleased by it. People so sel- 
 dom dared to differ from him that there was an entertaining novelty 
 in it. 
 
 "I suppose," he said, scowling slightly, "that you would much 
 prefer that he should not be the Earl of Dorincourt." 
 Her fair young face flushed. 
 
 " It is a very magnificent thing to be the Earl of Dorincourt, my 
 lord," she said. " I know that, but I care most that he should be 
 what his father was brave and just and true always." 
 
 " In striking contrast to what his grandfather was, eh? " said his 
 lordship sardonically. 
 
 " I have not had the pleasure of knowing his grandfather," replied 
 
 Mrs. Errol, "but I know my little boy believes " She stopped 
 
 short a moment, looking quietly into his face, and then she added, 
 " I know that Cedric loves you." 
 
 " Would he have loved me," said the Earl dryly, " if you had told 
 him why I did not receive you at the Castle ? " 
 
 "No," answered Mrs. Errol, "I think not. That was why I did 
 not wish him to know." 
 
 "Well," said my lord brusquely, "there are few women who 
 would not have told him." 
 
 He suddenly began to walk up and down the room, pulling his 
 great mustache more violently than ever. 
 
 " Yes, he is fond of me," he said, "and I am fond of him. I can't 
 say I ever was fond of anything before. I am fond of him. He 
 pleased me from the first. I am an old man, and was tired of my 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 185 
 
 life. He has given me something to live for. I am proud of him. 
 I was satisfied to think of his taking his place some day as the head 
 of the family." 
 
 He came back and stood before Mrs. Errol. 
 
 " I am miserable," he said. " Miserable ! " 
 
 He looked as if he was. Even his pride could not keep his 
 voice steady or his hands from shaking. For a moment it almost 
 seemed as if his deep, fierce eyes had tears in them. " Perhaps it is 
 because I am miserable that I have come to you," he said, quite 
 glaring down at her. " I used to hate you ; I have been jealous of 
 you. This wretched, disgraceful business has changed that. After 
 seeing that repulsive woman who calls herself the wife of my son 
 Bevis, I actually felt it would be a relief to look at you. I have 
 been an obstinate old fool, and I suppose I have treated you badly. 
 You are like the boy, and the boy is the first object in my life. I am 
 miserable, and I came to you merely because you are like the boy, 
 and he cares for you, and I care for him. Treat me as well as you 
 can, for the boy's sake." 
 
 He said it all in his harsh voice, and almost roughly, but some- 
 how he seemed so broken down for the time that Mrs. Errol was 
 touched to the heart. She got up and moved an arm-chair a little 
 forward. 
 
 " I wish you would sit down," she said in a soft, pretty, sympa- 
 thetic way. " You have been so much troubled that you are very 
 tired, and you need all your strength." 
 
 It was just as new to him to be spoken to and cared for in that 
 gentle, simple way as it was to be contradicted. He was reminded 
 of "the boy" again, and he actually did as she asked him. Perhaps 
 his disappointment and wretchedness were good discipline for him ; 
 if he had not been wretched he might have continued to hate her, 
 but just at present he found her a little soothing. Almost anything 
 
1 86 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 would have seemed pleasant by contrast with Lady Fauntleroy ; and 
 this one had so sweet a face and voice, and a pretty dignity when 
 she spoke or moved. Very soon, through the quiet magic of these 
 influences, he began to feel less gloomy, and then he talked still more. 
 
 ''Whatever happens," he said, " the boy shall be provided for. 
 He shall be taken care of, now and in the future." 
 
 Before he went away, he glanced around the room. 
 
 " Do you like the house?" he demanded. 
 
 u Very much," she answered. 
 
 " This is a cheerful room," he said. " May I come here again 
 and talk this matter over ? " 
 
 " As often as you wish, my lord," she replied. 
 
 And then he went out to his carriage and drove away, Thomas 
 and Henry almost stricken dumb upon the box at the turn affairs 
 had taken. 
 
XIII 
 
 OF course, as soon as the story of Lord Fauntieroy and the 
 difficulties of the Earl of Dorincourt were discussed in the 
 English newspapers, they were discussed in the American 
 newspapers. The story was too interesting" to be passed over 
 lightly, and it was talked of a great deal. There were so many 
 versions of it that it would have been an edifying thing to buy all 
 the papers and compare them. Mr. Hobbs read so much about it 
 that he became quite bewildered. One paper described his young 
 friend Cedric as an infant in arms, another as a young man at 
 Oxford, winning all the honors, and distinguishing himself by writ- 
 ing Greek poems ; one said he was engaged to a young lady of 
 great beauty, who was the daughter of a duke ; another said he had 
 just been married ; the only thing, in fact, which was not said was 
 that he was a little boy between seven and eight, with handsome 
 legs and curly hair. One said he was no relation to the Earl of 
 Dorincourt at all, but was a small impostor who had sold newspapers 
 and slept in the streets of New York before his mother imposed upon 
 the family lawyer, who came to America to look for the Earl's heir. 
 Then came the descriptions of the new Lord Fauntieroy and his 
 mother. Sometimes she was a gypsy, sometimes an actress, some- 
 times a beautiful Spaniard ; but it was always agreed that the Earl 
 of Dorincourt was her deadly enemy, and would not acknowledge 
 her son as his heir if he could help it, and as there seemed to be 
 some slight flaw in the papers she had produced, it was expected 
 
1 88 LITTLE LORD EAUNTLEROY. 
 
 that there would be a long trial, which would be far more interesting 
 than anything ever carried into court before. Mr. Hobbs used to 
 read the papers until his head was in a whirl, and in the evening he 
 and Dick would talk it all over. They found out what an important 
 personage an Earl of Dorincourt was, and what a magnificent income 
 he possessed, and how many estates he owned, and how stately and 
 beautiful was the Castle in which he lived ; and the more they 
 learned, the more excited they became. 
 
 " Seems like somethin' orter be done," said Mr. Hobbs. " Things 
 like them orter be held on to earls or no earls." 
 
 But there really was nothing they could do but each write a 
 letter to Cedric, containing assurances of their friendship and sym- 
 pathy. They wrote those letters as soon as they could after receiv- 
 ing the news ; and after having written them, they handed them 
 over to each other to be read. 
 
 This is what Mr. Hobbs read in Dick's letter . 
 
 " DERE FREND: i got ure letter an Mr. Hobbs got his an we are sory u are down on 
 ure luck an we say hold on as longs u kin an dont let no one git ahed of u. There 
 is a lot of ole theves wil make al they kin of u ef u dont kepe ure i skined. But this 
 is mosly to say that ive not forgot wot u did fur me an if there aint no better way cum 
 over here an go in pardners with me. Biznes is fine an ile see no harm cums to u 
 Enny big feler that trise to cum it over u wil hafter setle it fust with Perfessor Dick 
 Tipton So no more at present DICK." 
 
 And this was what Dick read in Mr. Hobbs's letter: 
 
 " DEAR SIR : Yrs received and wd say things looks bad. I believe its a put up 
 job and them thats done it ought to be looked after sharp. And what I write to say 
 is two things. Im going to look this thing up. Keep quiet and 111 see a lawyer and 
 do all I can And if the worst happens and them earls is too many for us theres a 
 partnership in the grocery business ready for you when yure old enough and a home 
 and a friend in . 
 
 " Yrs truly, SILAS HOBBS." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 189 
 
 "Well," said Mr. Hobbs, "he 's pervided for between us, if he 
 aint a earl." 
 
 " So he is," said Dick. " I'd ha' stood by him. Blest if I did n't 
 like that little feller fust-rate." 
 
 The very next morning, one of Dick's customers was rather 
 surprised. He was a young lawyer just beginning practice as 
 poor as a very young lawyer can possibly be, but a bright, ener- 
 getic young fellow, with sharp wit and a good temper. He had a 
 shabby office near Dick's stand, and every morning Dick blacked his 
 boots for him, and quite often they were not exactly water-tight, but 
 he. always had a friendly word or a joke for Dick. 
 
 That particular morning, when he put his foot on the rest, he 
 had an illustrated paper in his hand an enterprising paper, with 
 pictures in it of conspicuous people and things.' He had just fin- 
 ished looking it over, and when the last boot was polished, he 
 handed it over to the boy. 
 
 " Here 's a paper for you, Dick," he said ; " you can look it over 
 when you drop in at Delmonico's for your breakfast. Picture of an 
 English castle in it, and an English earl's daughter-in-law. Fine 
 young woman, too, lots of hair, though she seems to be raising 
 rather a row. You ought to become familiar with the nobility and 
 gentry, Dick. Begin on the Right Honorable the Earl of Dorin- 
 court and Lady Fauntleroy. Hello ! I say, what 's the matter?" 
 
 The pictures he spoke of were on the front page, and Dick was 
 staring at one of them with his eyes and mouth open, and his sharp 
 face almost pale with excitement. 
 
 "What 's to pay, Dick?" said the young man. "What has 
 paralyzed you ? " 
 
 Dick really did look as if something tremendous had happened. 
 He pointed to the picture, under which was written : 
 
 " Mother of Claimant (Lady Fauntleroy)." 
 
190 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROV. 
 
 It was the picture of a handsome woman, with large eyes and 
 heavy braids of black hair wound around her head. 
 
 " Her ! " said Dick. " My, I know her better 'n I know you ! " 
 The young man began to laugh. 
 
 " Where did you meet her, Dick ? " he said. " At Newport ? Or 
 when you ran over to Paris the last time ? " 
 
 Dick actually forgot to grin. He began to gather his brushes 
 and things together, as if he had something to do which would put 
 an end to his business for the present. 
 
 " Never mind," he said. " I know her! An I Ve struck work 
 for this mornin'." 
 
 And in less than five minutes from that time he was tearing 
 through the streets on his way to Mr. Hobbs and the coraer store. 
 Mr. Hobbs could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses when 
 he looked across the counter and saw Dick rush in with the paper 
 in his hand. The boy was out of breath with running; so much 
 out of breath, in fact, that he could scarcely speak as he threw the 
 paper down on the counter. 
 
 " Hello!" exclaimed Mr. Hobbs. "Hello! What you got 
 there?" 
 
 " Look at it! " panted Dick. " Look at that woman in the pict- 
 ure ! That 's what you look at ! She aint no 'ristocrat, she aint ! " 
 with withering scorn. " She 's no lord's wife. You may eat me, 
 if it aint Minna Minna! I 'd know her anywheres, an' so J d Ben. 
 Jest ax him." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs dropped into his seat. 
 
 " I knowed it was a put-up job," he said. " I knowed it ; and they 
 done it on account o' him bein' a 'Merican ! " 
 
 " Done it ! " cried Dick, with disgust. "She done it, that 's who 
 done it. She was allers up to her tricks ; an' I '11 tell yer w^ot come 
 to me, the minnit I saw her pictur. There was one o' them papers we 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 1 91 
 
 saw had a letter in it that said somethin' 'bout her boy, an' it said he 
 had a scar on his chin. Put them two together her 'n' that there 
 scar! Why, that there boy o' hers aint no more a lord than I am! 
 It 's Bens boy, the little chap she hit when she let fly that plate 
 at me." 
 
 Professor Dick Tipton had always been a sharp boy, and earn- 
 ing his living in the streets of a big city had made him still sharper. 
 He had learned to keep his eyes open and his wits about him, and 
 it must be confessed he enjoyed immensely the excitement and 
 impatience of that moment. If little Lord Fauntleroy could only 
 have looked into the store that morning, he would certainly have 
 been interested, even if all the discussion and plans had been 
 intended to decide the fate of some other boy than himself. 
 
 Mr. Hobbs was almost overwhelmed by his sense of responsi- 
 bility, and Dick was all alive and full of energy. He began to write 
 a letter to Ben, and he cut out the picture and inclosed it to him, 
 and Mr. Hobbs wrote a letter to Cedric and one to the Earl. They 
 were in the midst of this letter- writing when a new idea came to 
 Dick. 
 
 "Say," he said, "the feller that give me the paper, he 's a lawyer. 
 Let 's ax him what we 'd better do. Lawyers knows it all." 
 
 Mr. Hobbs was immensely impressed by this suggestion and 
 Dick's business capacity. 
 
 " That 's so ! " he replied. "This here calls for lawyers." 
 
 And leaving the store in the care of a substitute, he struggled 
 into his coat and marched down-town with Dick, and the two pre- 
 sented themselves with their romantic story in Mr. Harrison's office, 
 much to that young man's astonishment. 
 
 If he had not been a very young lawyer, with a very enterpris- 
 ing mind and a great deal of spare time on his hands, he might 
 not have been so readily interested in what they had to say, for it 
 
192 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 all certainly sounded very wild and queer ; but he chanced to want 
 something to do very much, and he chanced to know Dick, and 
 Dick chanced to say his say in a very sharp, telling sort of way. 
 
 " And," said Mr. Hobbs, " say what your time 's worth a' hour 
 and look into this thing thorough, and / 'II pay the damage, Silas 
 Hobbs, corner of Blank street, Vegetables and Fancy Groceries." 
 
 " Well," said Mr. Harrison, " it will be a big thing if it turns out 
 all right, and it will be almost as big a thing for me as for Lord 
 Fauntleroy; and, at any rate, no harm can be done by investigating. 
 It appears there has been some dubiousness about the child. The 
 woman contradicted herself in some of her statements about his age, 
 and aroused suspicion. The first persons to be written to are Dick's 
 brother and the Earl of Dorincourt's family lawyer." 
 
 And actually, before the sun went down, two letters had been 
 written and sent in two different directions one speeding out of 
 New York harbor on a mail steamer on its way to England, and the 
 other on a train carrying letters and passengers bound for Cali- 
 fornia. And the first was addressed to T. Havisham, Esq., and the 
 second to Benjamin Tipton. 
 
 And after the store was closed that evening, Mr. Hobbs and 
 Dick sat in the back-room and talked together until midnight. 
 
XIV 
 
 IT is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful 
 things to happen. It had taken only a few minutes, apparently, 
 to change all the fortunes of the little boy dangling- his red legs 
 from the high stool in Mr. Hobbs's store, and to transform him from 
 a small boy, living the simplest life in a quiet street, into an English 
 nobleman, the heir to an earldom and magnificent wealth. It had 
 taken only a few minutes, apparently, to change him from an English 
 nobleman into a penniless little impostor, with no right to any of the 
 splendors he had been enjoying. And, surprising as it may appear, 
 it did not take nearly so long a time as one might have expected, to 
 alter the face of everything again and to give back to him all that 
 he had been in danger of losing. 
 
 It took the less time because, after all, the woman who had 
 called herself Lady Fauntleroy was not nearly so clever as she was 
 wicked ; and when she had been closely pressed by Mr. Havisham's 
 questions about her marriage and her boy, she had made one or two 
 blunders which had caused suspicion to be awakened; and then she 
 had lost her presence of mind and her temper, and in her excitement 
 and anger had betrayed herself still further. All the mistakes she 
 made were about her child. There seemed no doubt that she had 
 been married to Bevis, Lord Fauntleroy, and had quarreled with 
 him and had been paid to keep away from him; but Mr. Havisham 
 found out that her story of the boy's being born in a certain part of 
 London was false ; and just when they all were in the midst of the 
 
 13 193 
 
194 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 commotion caused by this discovery, there came the letter from the 
 young lawyer in New York, and Mr. Hobbs's letters also. 
 
 What an evening it was when those letters arrived, and when 
 Mr. Havisham and the Earl sat and talked their plans over in the 
 library ! 
 
 " After my first three meetings with her," said Mr. Havisham, " I 
 began to suspect her strongly. It appeared to me that the child was 
 older than she said he was, and she made a slip in speaking of the 
 date of his birth and then tried to patch the matter up. The story 
 these letters bring fits in with several of my suspicions. Our best plan 
 will be to cable at once for these two Tiptons, say nothing about 
 them to her, and suddenly confront her with them when she is not 
 expecting it. She is only a very clumsy plotter, after all. My 
 opinion is that she will be frightened out of her wits, and will betray 
 herself on the spot." 
 
 And that was what actually happened. She was told nothing, 
 and Mr. Havisham kept her from suspecting anything by continuing 
 to have interviews with her, in which he assured her he was investi- 
 gating her statements ; and she really began to feel so secure that 
 her spirits rose immensely and she began to be as insolent as might 
 have been expected. 
 
 But one fine morning, as she sat in her sitting-room at the 
 inn called "The Dorincourt Arms," making some very fine plans for 
 herself, Mr. Havisham was announced ; and when he entered, he 
 was followed by no less than three persons one was a sharp-faced 
 boy and one was a big young man and the third was the Earl 
 of Dorincourt. 
 
 She sprang to her feet and actually uttered a cry of terror. It 
 broke from her before she had time to check it. She had thought 
 of these new-comers as being thousands of miles away, when she had 
 ever thought of them at all, which she had scarcely done for years. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 195 
 
 She had never expected to see them again. It must be confessed 
 that Dick grinned a little when he saw her. 
 
 -Hello, Minna!" he said. 
 
 The big young man who was Ben stood still a minute and 
 looked at her. 
 
 " Do you know her?" Mr. Havisham asked, glancing from one to 
 the other. 
 
 " Yes," said Ben. " I know her and she knows me." And he 
 turned his back on her and went and stood looking out of the 
 window, as if the sight of her was hateful to him, as indeed it was. 
 Then the woman, seeing herself so baffled and exposed, lost all con- 
 trol over herself and flew into such a rage as Ben and Dick had often 
 seen her in before. Dick grinned a trifle more as he watched 
 her and heard the names she called them all and the violent threats 
 she made, but Ben did not turn to look at her. 
 
 *' I can swear to her in any court," he said to Mr. Havisham, "and 
 I can bring a dozen others who will. Her father is a respectable 
 sort of man, though he 's low down in the world. Her mother was 
 just like herself. She 's dead, but he 's alive, and he 's honest 
 enough to be ashamed of her. He '11 tell you who she is, and 
 whether she married me or not." 
 
 Then he clenched his hand suddenly and turned on her. 
 
 "Where 's the child?" he demanded. "He 's going with me ! 
 He is done with you, and so am I ! " 
 
 And just as he finished saying the words, the door leading into 
 the bedroom opened a little, and the boy, probably attracted by the 
 sound of the loud voices, looked in. He was not a handsome boy, 
 but he had rather a nice face, and he was quite like Ben, his father, as 
 any one could see, and there was the three-cornered scar on his chin. 
 Ben walked up to him and took his hand, and his own was 
 trembling. 
 
196 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I could swear to him, too. Tom," he said to 
 the little fellow, "I 'm your father ; I 've come to take you away. 
 Where 's your hat ? " 
 
 The boy pointed to where it lay on a chair. It evidently 
 rather pleased him to hear that he was going away. He had been 
 so accustomed to queer experiences that it did not surprise him to 
 be told by a stranger that he was his father. He objected so much 
 to the woman who had come a few months before to the place where 
 he had lived since his babyhood, and who had suddenly announced 
 that she was his mother, that he was quite ready for a change. Ben 
 took up the hat and marched to the door. 
 
 "If you want me again," he said to Mr. Havisham, "you know 
 where to find me." 
 
 He walked out of the room, holding the child's hand and not 
 looking at the woman once. She was fairly raving with fury, and 
 the Earl was calmly gazing at her through his eyeglasses, which he 
 had quietly placed upon his aristocratic, eagle nose. 
 
 " Come, come, my young woman," said Mr. Havisham. " This 
 wont do at all. If you don't want to be locked up, you really must 
 behave yourself." 
 
 And there was something so very business-like in his tones 
 that, probably feeling that the safest thing she could do would be to 
 get out of the way, she gave him one savage look and dashed past 
 him into the next room and slammed the door. 
 
 " We shall have no more trouble with her," said Mr. Havisham. 
 And he was right ; for that very night she left the Dorincourt 
 
 Arms and took the train to London, and was seen no more. 
 
 #*##*##* 
 
 When the Earl left the room after the interview, he went at 
 once to his carriage. 
 
 " To Court Lodge," he said to Thomas. 
 
"'ARE YOU QUITE SURE YOU WANT ME?' SAID MRS. ERROL." 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 199 
 
 " To Court Lodge," said Thomas to the coachman as he mounted 
 the box ; " an' you may depend on it, things are taking a unigg- 
 spected turn." 
 
 When the carriage stopped at Court Lodge, Cedric was in the 
 drawing-room with his mother. 
 
 The Earl came in without being announced. He looked an 
 inch or so taller, and a great many years younger. His deep eyes 
 flashed. 
 
 " Where," he said, "is Lord Fauntleroy?" 
 
 Mrs. Errol came forward, a flush rising to her cheek. 
 " Is it Lord Fauntleroy ? " she asked. " Is it, indeed ! " 
 
 The Earl put out his hand and grasped hers. 
 " Yes," he answered, "it is." 
 
 Then he put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder. 
 " Fauntleroy," he said in his unceremonious, authoritative way, 
 " ask your mother when she will come to us at the Castle." 
 
 Fauntleroy flung his arms around his mother's neck. 
 " To live with us ! " he cried. " To live with us always ! " 
 
 The Earl looked at Mrs. Errol, and Mrs. Errol looked at the 
 Earl. His lordship was entirely in earnest. He had made up his 
 mind to waste no time in arranging this matter. He had begun to 
 think it would suit him to make friends with his heir's mother. 
 
 " Are you quite sure you want me ? " said Mrs. Errol, with her 
 soft, pretty smile. 
 
 "Quite sure," he said bluntly. "We have always wanted you, 
 but we were not exactly aware of it. We hope you will come." 
 
XV 
 
 BEN took his boy and went back to his cattle ranch in Cali- 
 fornia, and he returned under very comfortable circumstances. 
 Just before his going, Mr. Havisham had an interview with 
 him in which the lawyer told him that the Earl of Dorincourt wished 
 to do something for the boy who might have turned out to be Lord 
 Fauntleroy, and so he had decided that it would be a good plan to 
 invest in a cattle ranch of his own, and put Ben in charge of it on 
 terms which would make it pay him very well, and which would 
 lay a foundation for his son's future. And so when Ben went away, 
 he went as the prospective master of a ranch which would be almost 
 as good as his own, and might easily become his own in time, as 
 indeed it did in the course of a few years ; and Tom, the boy, grew 
 up on it into a fine young man and was devotedly fond of his father ; 
 and they were so successful and happy that Ben used to say that 
 Tom made up to him for all the troubles he had ever had. 
 
 But Dick and Mr. Hobbs who had actually come over with 
 the others to see that things were properly looked after did not 
 return for some time. It had been decided at the outset that the Earl 
 would provide for Dick, and would see that he received a solid educa- 
 tion; and Mr. Hobbs had decided that as he himself had left a reliable 
 substitute in charge of his store, he could afford to wait to see the 
 festivities which were to celebrate Lord Fauntleroy's eighth birthday. 
 All the tenantry were invited, and there were to be feasting and dancing 
 and games in the park, and bonfires and fire-works in the evening. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 2OI 
 
 " Just like the Fourth of July! " said Lord Fauntleroy. "It seems 
 a pity my birthday was n't on the Fourth, does n't it ? For then we 
 could keep them both together." 
 
 It must be confessed that at first the Earl and Mr. Hobbs were 
 not as intimate as it might have been hoped they would become, in 
 the interests of the British aristocracy. The fact was that the Earl 
 had known very few grocery-men, and Mr. Hobbs had not had many 
 very close acquaintances who were earls ; and so in their rare inter- 
 views conversation did not flourish. It must also be owned that Mr. 
 Hobbs had been rather overwhelmed by the splendors Fauntleroy 
 felt it his duty to show him. 
 
 The entrance gate and the stone lions and the avenue impressed 
 Mr. Hobbs somewhat at the beginning, and when he saw the Castle, 
 and the flower-gardens, and the hot-houses, and the terraces, and 
 the peacocks, and the dungeon, and the armor, and the great stair- 
 case, and the stables, and the liveried servants, he really was quite 
 bewildered. But it was the picture gallery which seemed to be the 
 finishing stroke. 
 
 " Somethin' in the manner of a museum ? " he said to Fauntleroy, 
 when he was led into the great, beautiful room. 
 
 " N no ! " said Fauntleroy, rather doubtfully. " I don't think 
 it 's a museum. My grandfather says these are my ancestors." 
 
 "Your aunt's sisters!" ejaculated Mr. Hobbs. "All of 'em? 
 Your great-uncle, he must have had a family ! Did he raise 'em 
 all?" ' 
 
 And he sank into a seat and looked around him with quite an 
 agitated countenance, until with the greatest difficulty Lord Fauntle- 
 roy managed to explain that the walls were not lined entirely with 
 the portraits of the progeny of his great-uncle. 
 
 He found it necessary, in fact, to call in the assistance of Mrs. 
 Mellon, who knew all about the pictures, and could tell who painted 
 
2O2 
 
 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 them and when, and who added romantic stories of the lords and 
 ladies who were the originals. When Mr. Hobbs once understood, 
 and had heard some of these stories, he was very much fascinated 
 and liked the picture gallery almost better than anything else ; and 
 he would often walk over from the village, where he staid at the 
 
 Dorincourt Arms, and would 
 spend half an hour or so wan- 
 dering about the gallery, star- 
 ing at the painted ladies and 
 gentlemen, who also stared 
 at him, and shaking his head 
 nearly all the time. 
 
 " And they was all earls ! " 
 he would say, " er pretty nigh 
 it ! An' he 's goin' to be one 
 of 'em, an' own it all ! " 
 
 Privately he was not 
 nearly so much disgusted with 
 earls and their mode of life as 
 he had expected to be, and it 
 is to be doubted whether his 
 strictly republican principles 
 were not shaken a little by 
 ?1* IIT a closer acquaintance with 
 castles and ancestors and all 
 the rest of it: At any rate, 
 one day he uttered a very 
 
 '" MY GRANDFATHER SAYS THESE ARE MY ANCESTORS,' rpmar k a b1 e and UneXDPrtpd 
 SAID FAUNTLEROY." 
 
 sentiment : 
 
 " I would n't have minded bein' one of 'em myself! " he said 
 which was really a great concession. 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 203 
 
 What a grand day it was when little Lord Fauntleroy's birthday 
 arrived, and how his young lordship enjoyed it ! How beautiful the 
 park looked, filled with the thronging people dressed in their gayest 
 and best, and with the flags flying from the tents and the top of the 
 Castle ! Nobody had staid away who could possibly come, because 
 everybody was really glad that little Lord Fauntleroy was to be little 
 Lord Fauntleroy still, and some day was to be the master of every- 
 thing. Every one wanted to have a look at him, and at his pretty, 
 kind mother, who had made so many friends. And positively every 
 one liked the Earl rather better, and felt more amiably toward him 
 because the little boy loved and trusted him so, and because, also, 
 he had now made friends with and behaved respectfully to his heir's 
 mother. It was said that he was even beginning to be fond of her, 
 too, and that between his young lordship and his young lordship's 
 mother, the Earl might be changed in time into quite a well-behaved 
 old nobleman, and everybody might be happier and better off. 
 
 What scores and scores of people there were under the trees, 
 and in the tents, and on the lawns ! Farmers and farmers' wives in 
 their Sunday suits and bonnets and shawls ; girls and their sweet- 
 hearts ; children frolicking and chasing about ; and old dames in 
 red cloaks gossiping together. At the Castle, there were ladies and 
 gentlemen who had come to see the fun, and to congratulate the 
 Earl, and to meet Mrs. Errol. Lady Lorredaile and Sir Harry were 
 there, and Sir Thomas Asshe and his daughters, and Mr. Havisham, 
 of course, and then beautiful Miss Vivian Herbert, with the loveliest 
 white gown and lace parasol, and a circle of gentlemen to take care 
 of her though she evidently liked Fauntleroy better than all of 
 them put together. And when he saw her and ran to her and put his 
 arm around her neck, she put her arms around him, too, and kissed 
 him as warmly as if he had been her own favorite little brother, and 
 she said : 
 
204 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 " Dear little Lord Fauntleroy ! dear little boy ! I am so glad ! 
 I am so glad ! " 
 
 And afterward she walked about the grounds with him, and let 
 him show her everything. And when he took her to where Mr. 
 Hobbs and Dick were, and said to her, " This is my old, old friend 
 Mr. Hobbs, Miss Herbert, and this is my other old friend Dick. I 
 told them how pretty you were, and I told them they should see you 
 if you came to my birthday," she shook hands with them both, and 
 stood and talked to them in her prettiest way, asking them about 
 America and their voyage and their life since they had been in Eng- 
 land; while Fauntleroy stood by, looking up at her with adoring 
 eyes, and his cheeks quite flushed with delight because he saw that 
 Mr. Hobbs and Dick liked her so much. 
 
 " Well," said Dick solemnly, afterward, " she 's the daisiest gal I 
 ever saw ! She 's well, she 's just a daisy, that 's what she is, 'n' no 
 mistake ! " 
 
 Everybody looked after her as she passed, and every one looked 
 after little Lord Fauntleroy. And the sun shone and the flags flut- 
 tered and the games were played and the dances danced, and as the 
 gayeties went on and the joyous afternoon passed, his little lordship 
 was simply radiantly happy. 
 
 The whole world seemed beautiful to him. 
 
 There was some one else who was happy, too, an old man, 
 who, though he had been rich and noble all his life, had not often 
 been very honestly happy. Perhaps, indeed, I shall tell you that I 
 think it was because he was rather better than he had been that he 
 was rather happier. He had not, indeed, suddenly become as good 
 as Fauntleroy thought him; but, at least, he had begun to love some- 
 thing, and he had several times found a sort of pleasure in doing the 
 kind things which the innocent, kind little heart of a child had sug- 
 gested, and that was a beginning. And every day he had been 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 205 
 
 more pleased with his son's wife. It was true, as the people said, 
 that he was beginning to like her too. He liked to hear her sweet 
 voice and to see her sweet face ; and as he sat in his arm-chair, he 
 used to watch her and listen as she talked to her boy ; and he heard 
 loving, gentle words which were new to him, and he began to see 
 why the little fellow who had lived in a New York side street and 
 known grocery-men and made friends with boot-blacks, was still so 
 well-bred and manly a little fellow that he made no one ashamed of 
 him, even when fortune changed him into the heir to an English 
 earldom, living in an English castle. 
 
 It was really a very simple thing, after all, it was only that he 
 had lived near a kind and gentle heart, and had been taught to think 
 kind thoughts always and to care for others. It is a very little thing, 
 perhaps, but it is the best thing of all. He knew nothing of earls 
 and castles ; he was quite ignorant of all grand and splendid things ; 
 but he was always lovable because he was simple and loving. To be 
 so is like being born a king. 
 
 As the old Earl of Dorincourt looked at him that day, moving 
 about the park among the people, talking to those he knew and 
 making his ready little bow when any one greeted him, entertaining 
 his friends Dick and Mr. Hobbs, or standing near his mother or Miss 
 Herbert listening to their conversation, the old nobleman was very 
 well satisfied with him. And he had never been better satisfied than 
 he was when they went down to the biggest tent, where the more 
 important tenants of the Dorincourt estate were sitting down to the 
 grand collation of the day. 
 
 They were drinking toasts ; and, after they had drunk the 
 health of the Earl, with much more enthusiasm than his name had 
 ever been greeted with before, they proposed the health of " Little 
 Lord Fauntleroy." And if there had ever been any doubt at all as to 
 whether his lordship was popular or not, it would have been settled 
 
206 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 
 
 that instant. Such a clamor of voices, and such a rattle of glasses 
 and applause ! They had begun to like him so much, those warm- 
 hearted people, that they forgot to feel any restraint before the ladies 
 and gentlemen from the castle, who had come to see them. They 
 made quite a decent uproar, and one or two motherly women looked 
 tenderly at the little fellow where he stood, with his mother on one 
 side and the Earl on the other, and grew quite moist about the eyes, 
 and said to one another : 
 
 u God bless him, the pretty little dear! " 
 
 Little Lord Fauntleroy was delighted. He stood and smiled, 
 and made bows, and flushed rosy red with pleasure up to the roots 
 of his bright hair. 
 
 " Is it because they like me, Dearest?" he said to his mother. 
 " Is it, Dearest? I 'm so glad ! " 
 
 And then the Earl put his hand on the child's shoulder and said 
 to him : 
 
 " Fauntleroy, say to them that you thank them for their kind- 
 
 ness." 
 
 Fauntleroy gave a glance up at him and then at his mother. 
 
 " Must I ? " he asked just a trifle shyly, and she smiled, and so did 
 Miss Herbert, and they both nodded. And so he made a little step 
 forward, and everybody looked at him such a beautiful, innocent 
 little fellow he was, too, with his brave, trustful face! and he spoke 
 as loudly as he could, his childish voice ringing out quite clear and 
 strong. 
 
 "I 'm ever so much obliged to you!" he said, "and I hope 
 you '11 enjoy my birthday because I Ve enjoyed it so much and 
 I 'm very glad I 'm going to be an earl ; I did n't think at first I should 
 like it, but now I do and I love this place so, and I think it is 
 beautiful and and and when I am an earl, I am going to try to 
 be as good as my grandfather." 
 
LORD FAUNTLEROY MAKES A SPEECH TO THE TENANTS. 
 
 207 
 
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 209 
 
 And amid the shouts and clamor of applause, he stepped back 
 with a little sigh of relief, and put his hand into the Earl's and stood 
 close to him, smiling and leaning against his side. 
 
 And that would be the very end of my story ; but I must add 
 one curious piece of information, which is that Mr. Hobbs became so 
 fascinated with high life and was so reluctant to leave his young 
 friend that he actually sold his corner store in New York, and settled 
 in the English village of Erlesboro, where he opened a shop which 
 was patronized by the Castle and consequently was a great success. 
 And though he and the Earl never became very intimate, if you will 
 believe me, that man Hobbs became in time more aristocratic than 
 his lordship himself, and he read the Court news every morning, 
 and followed all the doings of the House of Lords ! And about ten 
 years after, when Dick, who had finished his education and was 
 going to visit his brother in California, asked the good grocer if he 
 did not wish to return to America, he shook his head seriously. 
 
 " Not to live there," he said. " Not to live there; I want to be 
 near him, an' sort o' look after him. It 's a good enough country for 
 them that 's young an' stirrin' but there 's faults in it. There 's not 
 an auntsister among 'em nor an earl ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
SCR/BNER'S 'BOOKS FO'J{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 A NEW EDITION OF AN OLD FAVORITE. 
 
 HANS BRINKER; 
 
 OR, THE SIL2VER SKATES. 
 
 A STORY OF LIFE IN HOLLAND. 
 
 BY MARY MAPES DODGE. 
 
 One vol., I2mo, with sixty beautiful Illustrations, 
 
 $1.50. 
 
 Hans Brink- 
 er has long 
 been recognized 
 as one of the 
 few classics of 
 juvenile litera- 
 ture ; the cor- 
 dial apprecia- 
 tion with which 
 it was first re- 
 ceived increas- 
 ing from year to 
 year, until the 
 original pistes 
 have become 
 badly worn from 
 constant use. 
 The publishers 
 have therefore 
 reissued at half 
 
 its original price their beautiful Holiday Edition, of which on its first appearance the 
 Nation said, " We some time ago expressed our opinion that Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge's delight- 
 ful children's story called 'Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates ' deserved an entirely new 
 dress, with illustrations made in Holland instead of America. The publishers have just issued 
 an edition in accordance with this suggestion. The pictures are admirable, and the whole 
 volume, in appearance and contents, need not fear comparison with any juvenile publication of 
 the year or of many years." 
 
 ' This book has been a great favorite, not only in America but in other lands." Boston Advertiser. 
 
 ' For children, what could be better as a gift than a copy of Mrs. Dodge's l Hans Brinker; or, The Silver 
 Skates.' This is one of the most charming of juvenile stories, dealing with fresh scenes and a strange life, and 
 told with sweet simplicity and great beauty." Congregationalist. 
 
SCR/BNERS 'BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 THE Beys- * 
 
 LIBRARY OF L2E6ENB & CHIVALRY 
 
 EDITED BY SIDNEY LANIER, 
 And Richly Illustrated by Fredericks, Bensell, and Kappes. 
 
 Four volumes, cloth, uniform binding, price, per set, 
 Sold separately, price, per volume, 
 
 $7.00. 
 
 $2.00. 
 
 Mr. Lanier's books, in which he presents to boy 
 readers the old English classics of history and 
 legend in such attractive form, are now issued in 
 four uniform volumes, well made and well illus- 
 trated. While they are stories of action and stir- 
 ring incident, which make them extremely exciting, 
 they teach those lessons which manly, honest boys 
 ought to learn. The oath of the young fourteenth 
 century knight made him vow to speak the truth, 
 to perform a promise to the utmost, to reverence 
 all women, to maintain right and honesty, to help 
 the weak, to treat high and low with courtesy, to be 
 fair to a bitter foe, and to pursue simplicity, mod- 
 esty and gentleness of heart and bearing ; and the 
 nineteenth century knight is he who takes the same 
 oath of fidelity to truth, honesty and purity of 
 heart. The illustrations are full of fire and spirit, 
 and add very much to one's enjoyment of the book. 
 
 THE BOY'S KING ARTHUR. 
 
 BEINQ SIR THOMAS MALLORY'S HISTORY OF KING ARTHUR 
 AND His KNIQHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. 
 
 THE BOY'S FROISSART. 
 
 BEING SIR JOHN FROISSART'S CHRONICLES OF ADVENTURE, 
 BATTLE, AND CUSTOM IN ENGLAND, FRANCE, SPAIN, ETC. 
 
 THE BOY'S PERCY. 
 
 THE 
 
 KNIGHTLY LEGENDS OF WALES; 
 OR, THE BOY'S MABINOGION. 
 
 "Amid all the strange and fanciful scenery of these stories, character and the ideals of character remain at the 
 simplest and purest. The romantic history transpires in the healthy atmosphere of the open air on the green earth 
 beneath the open sky. * * * The figures of Right, Truth, Justice, Honor t Purity, Courage, Reverence for Law, 
 are always in the background ; and the grand passion inspired by the book is for strength to do well and nobly in 
 the world." The Independent. 
 
 "It is quite the beau ideal of a book for a present to an intelligent boy or girl." Baltimore Gazette. 
 
SCRIBNER'S 'BOOKS FO<R_ THE YOUNG. 
 
 LIBRARY 0F PLBCK AND ACTION, 
 
 l^our volumes, 121110, in a toox, illustrated, 
 Sold separately, price per volume, 
 
 1.50. 
 
 A JOLLY FELLOWSHIP, 
 
 BY FRANK R. STOCKTON. 
 
 HANS BRINKER; 
 
 Or, THE SILVER SKATES. 
 
 \ Story of Ufe in Holland. 
 
 BY MRS. MARY MAPES DODGE. 
 
 THE BOY EMIGRANTS, 
 
 BY NOAH BROOKS. 
 
 PHAETON ROGERS, 
 
 BY ROSSITER JOHNSON. 
 
 In the "Boy's Library of Pluck and 
 Action" the design was to bring together 
 the representative and most popular books 
 of four of the best known writers for 
 young people. The names of Mary 
 Mapes Dodge, Frank R. Stockton, Noah 
 Biooks and Rossiter Johnson are familiar 
 ones in every household, and a set of 
 books, to which each has contributed one, 
 forms a present that will delight the heart 
 of every boy who likes manly, spirited 
 and amusing tales. The volumes are 
 beautifully illustrated and uniformly 
 fecund in a most attractive form. 
 
SCR/BNER'S 'BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 THE MAKING OF NEW ENGLAND 
 
 1580-1643. 
 
 BY SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE 
 With many Illustrations and Maps. 
 
 One Volume, 121110, 
 
 $1.50* 
 
 Mr. Drake's work 
 
 occupies a position 
 
 between the larger 
 
 and the lesser his- 
 tories. For young 
 
 people, who could 
 
 not read the more 
 
 exhaustive work and 
 
 who yet require 
 
 something more than 
 
 the bare outlines of 
 
 a school history, this 
 
 book will be found 
 
 specially well fitted. 
 
 In his preface the author says: " To enhance the interest of this story, emphasis has been giver* 
 to everything that went to make up the home-life of the pioneer settlers, or that relates to their 
 various avocations." In all history no better examples of manliness, energy and conscientiousness 
 could be found, to be read about and studied by a child whose character is just forming. The 
 story is told in such a vivid way that it is as interesting and absorbing as a romance. 
 
 THE MAYFLOWER. 
 
 STOKE CHURCH, STAR ISLAND. 
 
 EARLY PRINTING-PRESS. 
 
 WOOL-WHEEL. 
 
 SPINNING-WHEEL. 
 
SCRIBNER'S "BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 AMONG THE LAW- MAKERS. 
 
 Senatorial page. His record of the memorable 
 scenes and events which came under his ob- 
 servation is enlivened by anecdotes of public 
 men, humorous and exciting episodes at the 
 national capitol, and a great variety of stirring 
 incidents; but the purpose of the book is a 
 more serious one. It is, to exhibit by practical 
 examples the constitutional relations between 
 the three departments of government, and by 
 touching upon every interesting feature of Con- 
 gressional power and procedure, to place in 
 the possession of the reader a clear idea of the 
 methods of this branch of our government, and 
 to enable him to understand and criticise intel- 
 ligently the proceedings of our national rep- 
 resentatives. Although the book is addressed 
 to the younger generation there are not a few 
 of their elders who will find much information 
 :in it that they may be glad to gain, and both 
 young and old cannot but be delighted with 
 Mr. Alton's reminiscences of one of the most 
 exciting periods of our history, that immedi- 
 ately following the civil war. 
 
 BY EDMUND ALTON. 
 
 With many Illustrations oflbe 
 
 Government Buildings, 
 
 Halls of Congress, 
 
 One volume, square 8vo, - $2.50. 
 
 The author of this book was for four 
 years connected with the legislative branch 
 of our Government, in the capacity of a 
 
SCR/BNER'S "BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 BRIG-A-BRAG STORIES. 
 
 Specimen Illustration^ Reduced. 
 
 BY MRS. BURTON HARRISON. 
 
 Illustrated and Cover designed by 
 Walter Crane. 
 
 One volume, 121110, $2.00. 
 
 "When the little boy for whose 
 benefit the various articles of bric-a-brac 
 in his father's drawing-room relate stories 
 appropriate to their several native coun- 
 tries, exclaims, at the conclusion of one of 
 them, 'I almost think there can't be a 
 better one than that ! ' the reader, of 
 whatever age, will probably feel inclined 
 to agree with him. Upon the whole, it is 
 to be wished that every boy and girl in 
 America, or anywhere else, might become 
 intimately acquainted with the contents 
 of this book. There is more virtue in one 
 of these stories than in the entire library 
 of modern juvenile literature." Julian 
 Hawthorne. 
 
 "Few volumes will receive a warmer 
 welcome from children. ... It is 
 praise enough for Mr. Crane's illustrations 
 to say that they harmonize with the stories. 
 We confess to have been beguiled by the 
 book into a forgetfulness of time, cares, 
 and pretty much everything for two con- 
 secutive hours." Christian Intelligencer. 
 
 THE 0L2D-FASHI0NEB FAIRY BOOK 
 
 BY MRS. BURTON HARRISON. 
 Wit}) many Quaint Illustrations by Miss Rosina Emmet. 
 
 One volume, square 161110, ..... 
 
 $2.00. 
 
 " The little ones, who so willingly go back with us to ^ 
 and the kindred stories of our childhood, will gladly welcome Mrs. Burton Harrison's ' Old 
 
 'Jack the Giant-Killer,' 'Blue-beard,' 
 come Mrs. Burton Harrison's ' Old- 
 
 Fashioned Fairy Tales,' where the giant, the dw'arf, the fairy, the wicked princess, the ogre, the 
 metamorphosed prince, and all the heroes of that line come into play and action. As they read 
 the stories which compose this book they will meet with all the familiar actors of the fairy world r 
 in different scenes indeed, and with new deeds of daring, witchcraft, or charming benevolence, 
 but still the same characters of the old-fashioned fairy lore. The graceful pencil of Miss Rosina 
 Emmet has given a pictorial interest to the book, and the many pictures scattered through its* 
 pages accord well with the good old-fashioned character of the tales." Frank R. Stockton. 
 
SCRIBNb'R'S 'BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 THE IV0RY KING. 
 
 A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT AND ITS ALLIES, 
 
 BY CHARLES F. HOLDER. 
 
 Square 8vo, with twenty-four full-page Illustrations. 
 
 $2.00. 
 
 The wonderfully interesting array of facts which Mr. Holder brought together in his 
 Marvels of Animal Life, was the fruit very largely of his personal observations. It forms 
 one of the most stimulating and delightful contributions to the class of Natural History books 
 for the young that has ever been made, and was a fitting forerunner to The Ivory King, which 
 is devoted entirely to the Elephant, and has even a more vivid fascination than the first named 
 volume. The summary of its contents includes the Natural History r f the Elephant, its habits and 
 ways and its intelligence, the Mammoth Three and Four Tusked Elephants, Hunting and Cap- 
 tuiing Wild Elephants, the Elephant in Captivity, Rogue Elephants, the White Elephant, 
 Trained Elephants, Show Elephants, Ivory, War Elephants, etc., etc. The numerous illus'.ra- 
 tions are especially excellent, being drawn from a great variety of sources. 
 
 It would be hard to name a book which would be a more welcome and valued addition to 
 the library of the average boy or girl just beginning to cultivate a love of reading and an interest 
 in the world around them. 
 
 MARVELS OF ANIMAL? LIFE. ; 
 
 BY CHARLES F. HOLDER. 
 Square 8vo f with thirty-two full-page Illustrations, . , . $2.00. 
 
 "One of the most remarkable of recent miblications. . . . The kind of book that ought to find its place in 
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 it furnishes a world of substantial information." Christian Union. 
 
SCRfBNER'S 'BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 "The Prince of Story-Tellers." LONDON TIMES. 
 
 THE W0RKS 0F JtiLES VERNE 
 
 UNIFORM ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 
 
 9 vols., 8vo, extra cloiii, itli over 750 full-page illustrations. 
 
 Irice, per set, in a box, $17.50. 
 
 Sold also in separate volumes. 
 
 The most impossible stories of this imag- 
 inative writer are told in such a realistic 
 manner and wiih so much scientific know- 
 ledge ingeniously wrought into them that 
 they possess a fascination that is all their 
 own. Their great and continued popularity, 
 among both old and young, has led to the 
 publication of this new edition in which all 
 the numerous illustrations of the French 
 edition are retained, and the volumes are 
 issued in a uniform and attractive binding. 
 
 MICHAEL STROGOFF : OR, THE 
 COURIER OF IHE CZAR $2.00 
 
 A FLOATING CITY AND THE BLOCK- 
 ADE RUNNERS 2.00 
 
 HECTOR SERVADAC 2.00 
 
 DICK SANDS 2.00 
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE 
 EARTH 2.00 
 
 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON 
 DIRECT IN NINETY- SEVEN HOURS, 
 TWENTY MINUTES; AND A JOUR- 
 NEY AROUND IT 2.00 
 
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 one vol 2.00 
 
 THE GIANT RAFT. Parti. Eight 
 Hundred Leagues on the Amazon. 
 Part II. The Cryptogram. Com- 
 plete in one vol 2.00 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. Part I. 
 Dropped from the Clouds. Part 
 II. Abandoned. Part III. The 
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 plete work in one vol., with 150 
 illustrations 2.50 
 
SCRfBNER'S 'BOOKS FOT^_ THE YOUNG. 
 
 PRINCE PEERLESS. 
 
 A FAIRY FOLK STORY BOOK 
 
 BY MARGARET COLLIER (MADAME GELLETTI Di CADILHAC). 
 
 Illustrated by JOHN COLLIER. 
 
 One volume, 121110, 
 
 No more charm- 
 ing, more grace- 
 fully written 
 stories of fairy life 
 could be con- 
 ceived of than 
 these which Mad- 
 -ame Di Cadilhac 
 lias given us in 
 this book. They 
 are of the good 
 old-fashioned 
 sort, in which the 
 marvelous plays a 
 significant part, 
 but best of all, the 
 author has the 
 gift of picturing 
 her fairy heroes 
 and heroines so 
 vividly that her 
 young readers will 
 follow their won- 
 derful adventures 
 with the breath- 
 less interest they 
 would take in the 
 same people were 
 they flesh and 
 'blood. 
 
 Mr. Collier, 
 the author's 
 brother, who, as 
 a painter, holds a 
 high place in 
 English art, illus- 
 trates the book 
 most beautifully. 
 
 $1.25. 
 
 THE GREAT SNOW MOUNTAIN. 
 
SCR/BNER'S HOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 CHILDREN'S STORIES OF AMERICAN PROGRESS. 
 
 BY HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN WRIGHT. 
 
 With twelve full-page Illustrations from Drawings by J. Steeple Davis. 
 One volume, I2mo, .... . .... $1.50. 
 
 Miss Wright 
 in dealing with 
 the remote and 
 partially legend- 
 ary episodes of 
 the earlier his- 
 tory of our coun- 
 try in her Chil- 
 dren's Stories in 
 A merica n His- 
 tory displayed a 
 remarkable tal- 
 ent for vivid and 
 picturesque nar- 
 ration, which in- 
 sures for her new 
 volume a cordial 
 reception. 
 
 "The Stories 
 of A. merican 
 Progress contain 
 a series of pic- 
 tures of events 
 of the first half 
 of the present 
 century, and the 
 scope of the book 
 comprehends all 
 the prominent 
 steps by which 
 we have reached 
 our present 
 
 position both as regards extent of country and industrial prosperity. They include an account of the first Steam- 
 boat, the Railroad, and the Telegraph, as well as of the purchase of Florida, the War of 1812, and the discovery 
 of Gold. It will be found that no event of importance has been omitted and any child fond of story telling will 
 gain from these two books an amount of knowledge which may far exceed that which is usually acquired from the 
 rigid instruction of the School-room " 
 
 CHILDREN'S STORIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 BY HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN WRIGHT. 
 
 With twelve full-page Illustrations from Drawings by J. Steeple Davis. 
 One volume, i2mo, ........ ' . ' " . 
 
 $1.50. 
 
 "To the teacher or parent endeavoring to convey to her pupil's understanding the fact that there is some- 
 thing worth remembering about America before the battle of Bunker Hill, the Children s Stories will prove a 
 boon. Sketches of the Mound Builders, of De Soto, of Columbus, Cortes, Pocahontas and Pizarro, so clearly and 
 charmingly told as these, will surely rivet the attention of a little leader even when there is a book of fairy tales- 
 to follow." Mrs. Burton Harrison. 
 
SCR/BNER'S 'BOOKS FOT^ THE YOUNG. 
 
 TRE /AERRY 
 ADVENTURES OF R0BIN HOOBl 
 
 Of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire. 
 
 WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 HOWARD PYLE. 
 
 One -volume, quarto, full embossed leather, $4.50 ; cloth, 
 
 $3.00- 
 
 In this book, undoubtedly the most original and elaborate ever produced by an American* 
 artist, Mr. Pyle has gathered Irom the old ballads and legends, and told with pencil and pen, ihe 
 complete and consecutive story of Robin Hood and his merry men in their haunts in Sherwood 
 forest. There is something thoroughly English and home-bred in these episodes in the life of 
 the bold outlaw. His sunny, open-air nature, his matchless skill at archery, his generous dispo- 
 sition, his love of fair play, and his ever-present courtesy to women, form a picture that has no- 
 counterpart in the folk-lore of any other people. 
 
 LITTLE- JOHN -journeys. in-Holy 
 
 " Mr. Pyle has taken the most characteristic of these old ballads, and has turned them into 
 his own fresh, simple, idiomatic prose, and has illustrated them as no other man in America- 
 could have done." N '-#> York Mail and Express. 
 
SCR/BNER'S "BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 A NEW EDITION AT REDUCED PRICE. 
 
 THE 
 
 AMERICAN BOY<S HANBY BeoK 
 
 OR, WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT. 
 
 BY DANIEL C. BEARD. 
 
 'One volume, octavo, fully Illustrated by the Author, 
 
 $2.00. 
 
 Mr. Beard's book is the first to tell the active, inventive and practical American boy the things 
 he really wants to know; the thousand things he wants to do, and the ten thousand ways in 
 which he can do them, with the helps and ingenious contrivances which every boy can either 
 ^procure or make. The author divides the bpok among the sports of the four seasons ; and he 
 .has made an almost exhaustive collection of the cleverest modern devices, besides himself 
 .inventing an immense number of capital and practical ideas. 
 
 OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Kite Time War Kites Novel Modes of 
 Fishing Home-made Fishing Tackle How 
 to Stock, Make and Keep a Fresh-Water 
 Aquarium How to Stock and Keep a Ma- 
 rine Aquarium Knots, Bends and Hitches 
 Dredge, Tangle and Trawl Fishing Home- 
 made Boats How to Rig and Sail Small 
 Boats How to Camp Out Without a Tent 
 How to Rear Wild .Birds Home-made 
 Hunting Apparatus Traps and Trapping 
 Dogs Practical Taxidermy for Boys 
 Snow Houses and Statuary Winged Skaters 
 Winter Fishing Indoor Amusements 
 How to Make a Magic Lantern Puppet 
 Shows Home-made Masquerade and The- 
 atrical Costumes With many other subjects 
 of a kindred nature. 
 
 " It is the memory of the longing that used to possess myself and my boy friends of a few years ago for a real 
 \practical American boy's book that has induced me to offer this volume. Of course such a book cannot, in the nature 
 of things, be exhaustive, nor is it, indeed, desirable that it should be. Its use and principal purpose are to stimulate 
 the inventive faculties in boys, to bring them face to face with practical emergencies when no book can supply the 
 place of their own common sense and the exercise of personal intelligence and ingenuity." from the Author's 
 
 " Each particular department is minutely illustrated and the whole is a complete treasury, invaluable not only 
 to the boys themselves, but to parents and guardians who have at heart their happiness and healthful development 
 of mind and muscle." Pittsburgh Telegraph. 
 
 " The boy who has learned to play all the games and make all the toys of which it teaches, has unconsciously 
 . exercised the inventive faculty that is in him, has acquired skill with his hands, and has become a good mechanic 
 .and an embryo inventor without knowing it." Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin. 
 
SCRIBNER'S 'BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 A NEW AND REVISED EDITION OF 
 
 THE ILLUSTRATED 
 
 llIBRARY OF WONDERS, 
 
 THE V0NBERS OF MAN AND NATURE, 
 
 Intelligence of Animals Mountain Adventures Bodily Strength and Skill Wonder- 
 ful Escapes Thunder and Lightning Advfntures on the Great Hunting Grounds- 
 Wonders of the Human Body The Sublime in Nature. 
 
 THE WONDERS er SCIENCE, 
 
 Wonders of Heat Wonders of the Heavens Wonders of Optics The Sun Wonders 
 of Acoustics Wonders of Water Wonders of the Moon Meteors, Aerolites, Storms,, 
 and Atmospheric Phenomena. 
 
 THE WONDERS or ART & ARCHAEOLOGY, 
 
 Egypt 3,30O Years Ago Wonders of Sculpture Wonders of Glass Making Wonder* 
 of European Art Wonders of Pompeii Wonders of Architecture The Wonders ot 
 Italian Art The Wonders of Engraving. 
 
 Twenty-four -volumes, containing over a Thousand Valuable Illustrations, 
 
 Kacli Set, 8 volumes, in a Box, $8.00. 
 Each volume, 12 mo, complete in Itself. Sold separately at $1.00 per volume. 
 
 The new edition of the "Wonder Library," the success of which has been most extraordinary 
 and lasting, is now completed. The books in this attractive new form will be found more valuable 
 than ever. The series is designed to bring within popular comprehension the various operations and 
 procedures in Science and the Arts, the phenomena and laws of nature, curious and striking 
 facts in natural history, remarkable exploits, archaeological discoveries, and a historical account 
 of the progress of the fine arts. The subjects treated are of universal interest, and they are 
 discussed in a popular and interesting manner. The illustrations are very numerous, and leave* 
 nothing to be desired on the score of completeness; they add materially to the attractiveness and! 
 value of the series, which is by far the most thorough, interesting and valuable of the kind ever 
 produced. 
 
 " For young and old the series, in authority, sound information, and popular interest and usefulness, !* 
 undoubtedly the best ever published." Boston Globe. 
 
 " These books may be bought with the certainty that they will give unbounded pleasure of a good kind to the 
 well-grown children of a family, and that the mature will pick them up as eagerly as those who are younger. 
 Christian A dvocate. 
 
SCR&NER'S 'BOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNG. 
 
 STOCKTON'S P0PB12AR ST0RIES. 
 
 "Stockton has the knack, perhaps genius would be a better word, of writing in the easiest of 
 colloquial English without descending to the plane of the vulgar or common-place. The very 
 perfection of his work hinders the reader from perceiving at once how good of its kind it is. * * 
 With the added charm of a most delicate humor a real humor, mellow, tender, and informed by 
 a singularly quaint and racy fancy his stories become irresistibly attractive.'" PHILADELPHIA 
 TIMES. 
 
 THE STORY OF VITEAU. 
 
 With sixteen full-page illustrations by R. B. Birch. 
 One volume, I2mo, extra cloth, - $1.50. 
 
 A JOLLY FELLOWSHIP. 
 
 One volume, I2mo, illustrated, extra cloth, 
 
 $1.50. 
 
 NEW EDITIONS OF OLD FA VORITES. 
 
 THE FLOATING PRINCE, 
 
 AND OTHER FAIRY TALES. 
 
 With illustrations by Bensell and others. One volume, 
 quarto, boards. Price reduced to - - $1.50. 
 
 ROUNDABOUT RAMBLES IN LANDS OF 
 FACT AND FICTION. 
 
 One volume, quarto, boards, with very attractive litho- 
 graphed cover, 370 pages, 200 illustrations. A new 
 edition. Price reduced from $3.00 to - $1.50. 
 
 TALES OUT OF SCHOOL. 
 
 One volume, quarto, boards, with hand- 
 some lithographed cover, 350 pages, 
 nearly 200 illustrations. A new ed ition. 
 Price reduced from $3.00 to $1.50. 
 
 THE ARMY. 
 
 THE TING-A-LING TALES. 
 
 Illustrated by E. Bensell. 
 One volume, I2tno, - $1.00. 
 
SCRIBNEKS 'BOOKS FOT^ THE YOUNG. 
 
 Tw0 JUVENILES -BV EBV ARD EG612EST0N 
 
 THE HOOSIER SCHOOL-BOY. 
 
 One volume, 121110. \villi full-page illustrations, - 
 
 $1.00. 
 
 IT! 
 
 " NOT THERE, NOT THERE, MY CHILD ! " 
 
 Mr. Eggleston is one of the very few American writers who have succeeded in giving to 
 their work a genuine savor of the soil, a distinctively American Character. The scene of his 
 stories is the Western Reserve, and the characters are types of the early part of this century, in 
 the territory now comprised in Indiana and Ohio. The Hoosier School-boy depicts some charac- 
 teristics of boy life, years ago, on the Ohio, characteristics, however, that were not peculiar to the 
 section only. The story presents a vivid and interesting picture of the difficulties which in those 
 days beset the path of the youth aspiring for an education. 
 
 "Nobody has pictured boy-life with greater power or more fidelity than Mr. Eggleston. This story is one of his 
 best it should be in the hands of every \>oy" Hartford Times. 
 
 QUEER STORIES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS. 
 
 One volume, 121110, - ... $1.00. 
 
 This is a book of such stories as all boys and girls like to tell and to hear, and yet they 
 contain as much wisdom and as many lessons of good conduct, of noble bearing and of self- 
 respecting independence, as might be contained in volumes of sermons and reams of ''good 
 advice," that would not penetrate skin deep nor remain five minutes in the memory of the young 
 people who were aimed at. 
 
SCRIBNER'S HOOKS FOT{ THE YOUNQ. 
 
 THE ST0RY 0F, SIEGFRIED, 
 
 BY JAMES BALDWIN. 
 
 V/ilb a Scries of Superb Illustrations by Howard Pyle. 
 One vclume, square I2mo, - 
 
 THE FORCING OF BALMUNQ. 
 
 $2. 00., 
 
 "To wise parents who- 
 strive, as all parents should 
 do, to regulate and super- 
 vise their children's read- 
 ing, this book is most 
 earnestly commended.. 
 Would there were more 
 of its type and excellence.. 
 It has our most hearty 
 approval and recommen- 
 dation in every way, not 
 only for beauty of illus- 
 tration, which is of the 
 highest order, but for the- 
 fascinating manner in- 
 which the old Norse legend- 
 is told." The Church- 
 man. 
 
 "No more delightful 
 reading for the young can 
 be imagined than that pro- 
 vided in this interesting: 
 book." Boston Sattirday 
 Evening Gazette. 
 
 "It is a good, strong: 
 story ; it comes in among 
 the mass of juvenile books 
 like a wind blown from. 
 Northern woods." Sun- 
 day-School Times. 
 
 TRE STORY OF ROLANB. 
 
 BY JAMES BALDWIN. 
 
 With a Series of Illustrations by R. B. Birch. 
 
 One volume, square i2mo, - $2.00 
 
 This volume is intended as a companion to The Story of Siegfried. As Siegfried was an adaptation of 
 Northern myths and romances to the wants and the understanding of yourg readers, so is this story a similar 
 adaptation of the middle-age romances relating to Charlemagne and his paladins. As Siegfried was the greatest 06" 
 the heroes of the North- so too was Roland the most famous among the Knights of the Middle-Ages.