 CHAPTER 12 A very few days after the dinner party at the castle, almost everybody in England who had read the newspapers at all knew the romantic story of what had happened in Darring Court. It made a very interesting story when it was told with all the details. There was a little American boy who had been brought to England to be Lord Fauntleroy, and who was said to be so fine and handsome little fellow, and have already made people fond of him. There was old Earl, his grandfather, who was so proud of his heir. There was a pretty young mother who had never been forgiven for marrying Captain Errol. And there was the strange marriage of Beavis, the dead Lord Fauntleroy and the strange wife of whom no one knew anything, suddenly appearing with their 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 rumour that the Earl of Darring Court 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 had never been such excitement before in the county in which Earl Burrow was situated. On market days people stood in groups and talked and wondered what would be done. The farmer's wives invited one another to tea, that they may tell one another. All they had heard, and all they thought, and all they thought other people thought. They related wonderful anecdotes about the Earl's rage, and his determination not to acknowledge the new Lord Fauntleroy, and his hatred of the woman, who was the claimant's mother. But of course it was Mrs. Dibble who could tell the most, and who was more in demand than ever. And a bad look out at this, she said, and 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 creature, and he's parted from her child, for he's got that fond of him, and that set on him, and that proud of him, as he's the most drove mad by what's happened. And what's more, this new one's no lady, and his little lordship's ma'a is. She's a bold-faced black-eyed thing, as Mr. Thomas's no gentleman in livery had bemeaned himself to be gave orders by, and let her come into the house, he says, and he goes out of it, and the boy don't know more compare with the other one than nothing you could mention. And Mercy knows what's going to come of it all, and where it's to end, and you might have knocked me down with a feather when Jane brought the news. In fact, there was excitement everywhere in 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 a brown pony more beautifully than ever, and said mournfully to the coachman that he never taught a young gentleman to ride as, took to it more natural, or was better plucked than one 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 Faunt Roy, who was said not to be Lord Faunt Roy at all. When the first state of affairs had been explained to him, he had felt some little anxiousness and perplexity it is true, but its foundation was not in baffled ambition. While the Earl told him what had happened, he had sat on a stool holding onto his knee, as he so often did when he was listening to anything interesting, and by the time the story was finished he looked quite sober. It makes me feel very queer, he said. It makes me feel queer. The Earl looked at the boy in silence. It made him feel queer too, queerer than he had ever felt in his whole life, and he felt more queer still when he saw that there was a troubled expression on the small face which was usually so happy. Will they take the dearest's house from her, and her carriage? Cedric asked in a rather unsteady anxious little voice. No, said the Earl decidedly in quite a loud voice. In fact, they can take nothing from her. Ah, said Cedric with evident relief. Can't they? Then he looked up at his grandfather, and there was a wistful shade in his eyes, and they looked very big and soft. That other boy, he said rather tremulously, he will have to be your boy now as I was, won't he? No, answered the Earl, and he said it so fiercely and loudly that Cedric quite jumped. No, he exclaimed in wonderment. Won't he? I thought he stood up from his stool quite suddenly. Shall I be your boy even if I'm not going to be an Earl? he said. Should I be your boy just as I was before? And his flush little face was all a light 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 queery his deep eyes shone under them. How very queery. My boy, he said, and if you'll believe it, his voice was queer, almost shaky, and a little broken and hoarse. Not at all what you expect an Earl's voice to be, though he spoke more decidedly and preemptorily than before. Yes, you'll be my little 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 in 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 I couldn't be, and that's what made me feel so queer. The Earl put his hand on his shoulder and drew him nearer. They shall take nothing from you that I can hold for you, he said, drawing his breath hard. I won't believe yet that they can take anything from you. You are made for the place, and, well, you may feel it still. But whatever comes, you shall have all that I can give you, all. It scarcely seemed as if he was 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 deeper hold upon him his fondness for the boy and his pride for 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 set his heart so 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. Haversham, the woman who claimed to be Lady Faunt Roy presented herself at the castle and bought a 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 worn lavery in eye families long enough to know a lady when he see one, and if that was a lady, then he was no judge of females. The one at the lodge, added Thomas Loftley, American or no American, sees one of the right sort as any gentleman you recognize with all a high. I remarked it to myself when Henry went fusty cold here. The woman drove away, the look on her handsome common-face, half frightened, half fierce. Mr. Haversham had noticed during his interviews with her that though she had a passionate temper and a coarse, insolent manner, she was neither so clever nor so bold as she meant to be. She seemed sometimes to be almost overwhelmed by the position in which she had placed herself. It was as if she had not expected to meet with such opposition. She is evidently, the lawyer said to Mrs. Errol, a person from the lower walks of life. She is uneducated and untrained in everything, and quite unused to meeting people like ourselves on any terms of equality. She does not know what to do. Her visit to the castle quite cowed her. She was infuriated, but she was cowed. The Earl would not receive her, but I advised him to go with me to the Doron Court 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 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 beefling 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 Faunt Roy. 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 of 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 Beavis 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 a 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 earliest self, madam, she said in tremulous awe. When Mrs. Errol entered the drawing room, a very tall, majestic-looking old man was standing on the tiger-skin rug. He had a handsome, grim old face, with an aquiline profile, and a long white moustache, 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 quite a 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. This lady, Laura Dayell, 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 moustache and pulled it fiercely. Do you know, he said, why I have come here? I have seen Mr. Havisham, Mrs. Errol began, and he has told me of the claims which have been made. I have come to tell you, said the Earl, that they will be investigated and contested if a contest can be made. I have come to tell you that the boy shall be defended with all the power of the law. His rights, the soft voice interrupted him. He must have nothing that is not his by right, even if the law can give it to him, she said. Unfortunately the law cannot, said the Earl, if it could it should. This outrageous woman and her child. Perhaps she cares for him as much as I care for Cedric, my lord, said little Mrs. Errol. And if she was your elder son's wife, her son is Lord Fauntelroy, and mine is not. She was no more afraid of him than Cedric had been, and she looked at him just as Cedric would have looked, and he, having been an old tyrant all his life, was privately pleased by it. People so seldom dared to differ from him that there was an entertaining novelty to 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, a, 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's 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 moustache more violently than ever. Yes, he is fond of me, he said, and I am fond of him. I can't say I ever was fond of anything before. I am fond of him. He pleased me from the first. I am an old man, and was tired of my life. He has given me something to live for. I am proud of him. I was satisfied to think of his taking 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 fear-side has 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 to be the wife of my son Beavus, 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 come to you merely because you are like the boy, and he cares for you, and I care for him. Treat me as well as you can, for the boy's sake. He said it all in his harsh voice, and almost roughly, but somehow he seemed so broken down for the time that Mrs. Errol was touched to the heart. She got up and moved an armchair a little forward. I wish you would sit down, she said in a soft, pretty sympathetic way. You have been so much troubled that you are very tired, and you need all your strength. It was just as new to him to be spoken to and cared for in that gentle, simple way as it was to be contradicted. He was reminded of the boy again, and he actually did, as she asked him. Perhaps his disappointment and wretchedness were good discipline for him. If he had not been wretched he might have continued to hate her, but just at present he found her a little soothing. Almost anything would have seemed pleasant by contrast with Lady Faunt Roy, and this one had so sweet a face and voice, and a pretty dignity when she spoke or moved. Very soon, through the quiet magic of these influences, he began to feel less gloomy, and then he talked still more. Whatever happens, he said, the boy shall be provided for. He shall be taken care of, now and in the future. Before he went away he glanced around the room. Do you like the house? he demanded. Very much she answered. This is a cheerful room, he said. May I come up 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. Francis Hodgson Burnett Chapter 13 One paper described his young friend Cedric as an infinite arms, another as a young man at Oxford, winning all the honors and distinguishing himself by writing Greek poems. One said he was engaged to a young lady of great beauty who was the daughter of a duke. Another said he had just been married. The only thing in fact which was not said was that he was a little boy between seven and eight with handsome legs and curly hair. One said he was no relation to the Earl of Dorncourt at all, but was a small imposter 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 description of the new Lord Fauntler and his mother. Sometimes she was a gypsy, sometimes an actress, sometimes a beautiful Spaniard. But it was always agreed that the Earl of Dorncourt was her deadly enemy and would not acknowledge her son as his heir if he could help it. And as there seemed to be some slight flaw in the papers, she had produced it was expected that there would be a long trial which would be far more interesting than anything ever carried in 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 Dorncourt 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 something ought to be done, said Mr. Hobbs. Things like them ought to be held on to, Earl's or no Earl's. But there really was nothing they could do, but each write a letter to Cedric containing assurances of their friendship and sympathy. They wrote those letters as soon as they could after receiving the news. And after having written them, they handed them over to each other to be read. This is what Mr. Hobbs read in Dick's letter. Dear friend, I got your letter and Mr. Hobbs got his, and we are sorry you are down on your luck, and we say hold on as long as you can, and don't let no one get ahead of you. There is a lot of old thieves will make all they keen of you if you don't keep your eye skinned. But this is mostly to say that I've not forgot what you did for me, and there ain't no better way. Come over here and go in partners with me. Business is fine, and I'll see no harm comes to use. Any big feller that tries to come it over you will have to settle at first with Professor Dick Tipton. So no more at present, Dick. And this was what Dick read in Mr. Hobbs' letter. Dear sir, yours received, and we'd say things looks bad. I believe it's a put-up job, and that's them that's done it ought to be looked after sharp. And what I write to say is two things. I'm going to look this thing up. Keep quiet, and I'll see a lawyer and do all I can. And if the worst happens and them earls is too many for yous, there's a partnership in the grocery business ready for you when you're old enough and a home and a friend in, yours truly, Silas Hobbs. Well, said Mr. Hobbs, he's provided for between us if he ain't a earl. So he is, said Dick. I'd have stood by him. Blessed if I didn't like that little feller, fussed rate. The very next morning one of Dick's customers was rather surprised. He was a young lawyer just beginning practice. As poor as a very young lawyer can possibly be, but a bright energetic young fellow with sharp wit and a good temper. He had a shabby office near Dick's stand, and every morning Dick blacked his boots for him, and quite often they were not exactly watertight, but he always had a friendly word or a joke for Dick. That particular morning when he put his foot on the rest he had an illustrated paper in his hand, an enterprising paper with pictures in it of conspicuous people and things. He had just finished looking it over, and when the last boot was polished he handed it over to the boy. Here's a paper for you, Dick, he said. You can look it over when you drop in at Delmonaco'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 honourable the earl of Dorncourt 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 paralysed you? Dick really did look as if something tremendous had happened. He pointed to the picture under which was written, Mother of Claimant, Lady Fauntleroy. It was the picture of a handsome woman with large eyes and heavy braids of black hair wound around her head. Her, said Dick, my, I know her better and 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, and I've struck work for this morning. And in less than five minutes from that time he was tearing through the streets on his way to Mr. Hobbs in the corner store. Mr. Hobbs could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses when he looked across the counter and saw Dick rush in with a paper in his hand. The boy was out of breath with running, so much out of breath in fact that he could scarcely speak, as he threw the paper down on the counter. Hello, exclaimed Mr. Hobbs, hello, what you got there? Look at it, Panted Dick, look at that woman in the picture. That's what you look at. She ain't no Ristocrat, she ain't. With withering scorn. She's no Lord's wife. You may eat me if it ain't Mina, Mina. I'd know her anywheres, and so'd Ben, just 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 of him being American. Done it, cried Dick with disgust. She's done it. That's who done it. She was allers up to her tricks. And I'll tell you what came to me the minute I saw her picture. There was one of them papers we saw had a letter in it that said something about her boy, and said he had a scar on his chin. Put them two together, her and that little scar. Why that there boy hers ain't no more Lord than I am, it's Ben's boy. The little chap she hit when she let fly that plate at me. Professor Dick Tipton had always been a sharp boy, and earning his living in the streets of a big city had made him still sharper. He had learned to keep his eyes open and his wits about him. And it must be confessed he enjoyed immensely the excitement and impatience of that moment. If little Lord Fauntleroy could only have looked into the store that morning he would certainly have been interested, even if all the discussion and plans had been intended to decide the fate of some other boy than himself. Mr. Hobbs was almost overwhelmed by his sense of responsibility, and Dick was all alive and full of energy. He began to write a letter to Ben, and he cut out the picture and enclosed it to him. And Mr. Hobbs wrote a letter to Cedric and went to the Earl. They were in the midst of this letter writing when a new idea came to Dick. Say, he said, the fellow that give me the paper, he's a lawyer. Let's ask him what we'd better do. Lawyers know it all. Mr. Hobbs was immensely impressed by this suggestion and Dick's business capacity. That so, he replied, this here calls for lawyers. And living the store in the care of a substitute he struggled into his coat and marched downtown with Dick, and the two presented themselves with their romantic story in Mr. Harrison's office much to that young man's astonishment. If he had not been a very young lawyer with a very enterprising mind and a great deal of spare time on his hands he might not have been so readily interested in what they had to say, for it all certainly sounded very wild and queer. But he chanced to want something to do very much, and he chanced to know Dick, and Dick chanced to say his say in a very sharp telling sort of way. And said Mr. Hobbs, say, what's your time worth an hour? And look into this thing thorough, and I'll pay the damage. Silas Hobbs, corner of Blank Street, vegetables and fancy groceries. Well, said Mr. Harrison, it will be a big thing if it turns out all right, and it will be almost as big a thing for me as for Lord Fauntleroy. And at any rate no harm can be done by investigating. It appears there has been some dubiousness about the child. The woman contradicted herself in some of her statements about his age and aroused suspicion. The first persons to be written to are Dick's brother and the Earl of Dorn Court's family lawyer. And actually before the sun went down, two letters had been written and sent in two different directions, one speeding out of New York Harbor on a mail steamer on its way to England, and the other on a train carrying letters and passengers bound for California. And the first was addressed to T. Havisham Esquire, 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. 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 imposter, 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 boys being born in a certain part of London was false, and just when they all were in the midst of the commotion caused by this discovery, there came the letter from the young lawyer in New York, and Mr. Hobbs's letters also. What an evening it was when those letters arrived, and when Mr. Havisham and the Earl sat and talked their plans over in the library. After my first three meetings with her, said Mr. Havisham, I began to suspect her strongly. It appeared to me that the child was older than she said he was, and she made a slip in speaking of the date of his birth, and then tried to patch the matter up. The story these letters bring fits in with several of my suspicions. Our best plan will be to cable at once for these two Tipton's—say nothing about them to her—and suddenly confront her with them when she is not expecting it. She is only a very clumsy plotter after all. My opinion is that she will be frightened out of her wits, and will betray herself on the spot. And that was what actually happened. She was told nothing, and Mr. Havisham kept her from suspecting anything by continuing to have interviews with her, in which he assured her he was investigating her statements, and she really began to feel so secure that her spirits rose immensely, and she began to be as insolent as might have been expected. But one fine morning, as she sat in her sitting-room at the inn called the door-and-court 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 door-and-court. 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 newcomers as being thousands of miles away, when she had ever thought of them at all, which she had scarcely done for years. She had never expected to see them again. It must be confessed that Dick grinned a little when he saw her. Hello, Mina, he said. The big young man, who was Ben, stood still a minute and looked at her. Do you know her? Mr. Havisham asked, glancing from one to the other. Yes, said Ben, I know her and she knows me. And he turned his back on her, and went and stood looking out of the window, as if the sight of her was hateful to him, as indeed it was. Then the woman, seeing herself so baffled and exposed, lost all control over herself, and flew into such a rage as Ben and Dick had often seen her in before. Dick grinned a trifle more as he watched her, and heard the names she called them all and the violent threats she made. But Ben did not turn to look at her. I can swear to her in any court, he said to Mr. Havisham, and I can bring a dozen others who will. Her father is a respectable sort of man, though he is low down in the world. Her mother was just like herself. She is dead, but he is alive, and he is honest enough to be ashamed of her. He will tell you who she is, and whether she married me or not. Then he clenched his hand suddenly and turned on her. Where is the child? he demanded. He is 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 anyone could see, and there was the three-cornered scar on his chin. Ben walked up to him and took his hand, and his own was trembling. Yes, he said, I could swear to him too. Tom, he said to the little fellow, I am your father, I have come to take you away. Where is your hat? The boy pointed to where it lay on a chair. It evidently rather pleased him to hear that he was going away. He had been so accustomed to queer experiences that it did not surprise him to be told by a stranger that he was his father. He objected so much to the woman who had come a few months before to the place where he had lived since his babyhood, and who had suddenly announced that she was his mother, that he was quite ready for a change. Ben took up the hat and marched to the door. If you want me again, he said to Mr. Havisham, you know where to find me. He walked out of the room holding the child's hand, and not looking at the woman once. She was fairly raving with fury, and the Earl was calmly gazing at her through his eyeglasses, which he had quietly placed upon his aristocratic eagle nose. Come, come, my young woman, said Mr. Havisham. This won't do it all. If you don't want to be locked up, you really must behave yourself. And there was something so very businesslike 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 door in court arms, and took the train to London, and was seen no more. When the Earl left the room after the interview he went at once to his carriage. To court lodge, he said to Thomas. To court lodge, said Thomas to the coachman as he mounted the box. And you may depend on it, things are taking an unexpected turn. When the carriage stopped at court lodge, said Rick 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. Earl 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. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Kara Schellenberg. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Francis Hodgson Burnett. Chapter 15. Ben took his boy and went back to his cattle ranch in California, and he returned under very comfortable circumstances. Just before his going, Mr. Havisham had an interview with him, in which the lawyer told him that the Earl of Dorencourt 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. Hobbes, who had actually come over with the others to see that things were properly looked after, did not return for some time. It had been decided at the outset that the Earl would provide for Dick, and would see that he received a solid education. And Mr. Hobbes 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 fireworks in the evening. Just like the Fourth of July, said Lord Fauntleroy, it seems a pity my birthday wasn't on the Fourth, doesn't it, for then we could keep them both together. It must be confessed that at first the Earl and Mr. Hobbes 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. Hobbes had not had many very close acquaintances who were Earl's, and so in their rare interviews conversation did not flourish. It must also be owned that Mr. Hobbes had been rather overwhelmed by the splendours Fauntleroy felt at his duty to show him. The entrance gate, and the stone lions, and the avenue impressed Mr. Hobbes 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 armour, and the great staircase, and the stables, and the liveried servants, he was really quite bewildered. But it was the picture gallery which seemed to be the finishing stroke. Something in the manner of a museum, he said to Fauntleroy, when he was led into the great beautiful room. 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. Hobbes. All of them? Your great-uncle, he must have had a family. Did he raise them all? And he sank into a seat, and looked around him with quite an agitated countenance, until with the greatest difficulty Lord Fauntleroy managed to explain that the walls were not lined entirely with the portraits of the progeny of his great-uncle. He found it necessary, in fact, to call in the assistants of Mrs. Mellon, who knew all about the pictures, and could tell who painted them and when, and who added romantic stories of the lords and ladies who were the originals. When Mr. Hobbes 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 stayed at the Dorancourt arms, and would spend half an hour or so wandering about the gallery, staring at the painted ladies and gentlemen, who also stared at him, and shaking his head nearly all the time. And they was all earls, he would say, or pretty night, and he is going to be one of them and own it all. Privately he was not nearly so much disgusted with earls and their mode of life as he had expected to be, and it is to be doubted whether his strictly republican principles were not shaken a little by a closer acquaintance with castles, and ancestors, and all the rest of it. At any rate one day he uttered a very remarkable and unexpected sentiment. I wouldn't have minded me in one of them myself, he said, which was really a great concession. What a grand day it was when little Lord Fauntleroy's birthday arrived, and how his young lordship enjoyed it. How beautiful the park looked, filled with the thronging people dressed in their gayest and best, and with the flags flying from the tents and the top of the castle. Nobody had stayed away who could possibly come, because everybody was really glad that little Lord Fauntleroy was to be little Lord Fauntleroy still, and some day was to be the master of everything. Everyone wanted to have a look at him, and at his pretty kind mother, who had made so many friends. And positively everyone liked the Earl rather better, and felt more amably toward him because the little boy loved and trusted him so, and because also he had now made friends with and behaved respectfully to his heir's mother. It was said that he was even beginning to be fond of her too, and that between his young lordship and his young lordship's mother the Earl might be changed in time into quite a well-behaved old nobleman, and everybody might be happier and better off. What scores and scores of people there were under the trees and in the tents and on the lawns, farmers and farmers' wives in their Sunday suits and bonnets and shawls, girls and their sweethearts, children frolicking and chasing about, and old dames in red cloaks gossiping together. At the castle there were ladies and gentlemen who had come to see the fun, and to congratulate the Earl, and to meet Mrs. Errol. Lady Lora Dale and Sir Harry were there, and Sir Thomas Ash 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 Fondleroy better than all of them put together. And when he saw her and ran to her and put his arm around her neck, she put her arms around him, too, and kissed him as warmly as if he had been her own favorite little brother, and she said, Dear little Lord Fondleroy, 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. Hobbes and Dick were and said to her, This is my old, old friend, Mr. Hobbes, Miss Herbert, and this is my other old friend, Dick. I told them how pretty you were, and I told them they should see you if you came to my birthday. She shook hands with them both, and stood, and talked to them in her prettiest way, asking them about America and their voyage, and their life since they had been in England, while Fondleroy stood by looking up at her with adoring eyes, and his cheeks quite flushed with delight, because he saw that Mr. Hobbes 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, no mistake. Everybody looked after her as she passed, and everyone looked after little Lord Fondleroy. And the sun shone, and the flags fluttered, and the games were played, and the dances danced, and as the gayities went on, and the joyous afternoon passed, his little lordship was simply radiantly happy. The whole world seemed beautiful to him. There was someone 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 Fondleroy thought him, but, at least, he had begun to love something, and he had several times found a sort of pleasure in doing the kind things which the innocent, kind little heart of a child had suggested, and that was the beginning. And every day he had been more pleased with his son's wife. It was true, as the people said, that he was beginning to like her too. He liked to hear her sweet voice, and to see her sweet face, and as he sat in his arm chair he used to watch her, and listen as she talked to her boy, and he heard loving, gentle words which were new to him. And he began to see why the little fellow who had lived in a New York side street, and known grocery men, and made friends with boot-blacks, was still so well-bred and manly a little fellow that he made no one ashamed of him, even when fortune changed him into the air 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 Doroncourt 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. Hobbes, 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 Doroncourt estate were sitting down to the grand collation of the day. They were drinking toasts, and after they had drunk the health of the earl, with much more enthusiasm than his name had ever been greeted with before, they proposed the health of Little Lord Fauntleroy. And if there had ever been any doubt at all as to whether his lordship was popular or not, it would have been set that instant. Such a clamour of voices, and such a rattle of glasses and applause! They had begun to like him so much, those warmhearted people, that they forgot to feel any restraint before the ladies and gentlemen from the castle who had come to see them. They made quite a decent uproar, and one or two motherly women looked tenderly at the little fellow where he stood, with his mother on one side and the earl on the other, and grew quite moist about the eyes, and said to one another, God bless him, the pretty little dear. Little Lord Fauntleroy was delighted. He stood, and smiled, and made boughs, and flushed rosy red with pleasure up to the roots of his bright hair. Is it because they like me, dearest? he said to his mother. Is it, dearest? I'm so glad. And then the earl put his hand on the child's shoulder, and said to him, Fauntleroy, say to them that you thank them for their kindness. Fauntleroy gave a glance up at him, and then at his mother. Must I? he asked, just a trifle shyly, and she smiled, and so did Miss Herbert, and they both nodded. And so he made a little step forward, and everybody looked at him. Such a beautiful, innocent little fellow he was, too, with his brave, trustful face. And he spoke as loudly as he could, his childish voice ringing out quite clear and strong. I'm ever so much obliged to you, he said, and I hope you'll enjoy my birthday, because I've enjoyed it so much, and I'm very glad I'm going to be an earl. I didn't think at first I should like it, but now I do, and I love this place so, and I think it is beautiful, and—and when I am an earl I am going to try to be as good as my grandfather. And amid the shouts and clamour of applause he stepped back with a little sigh of relief, and put his hand into the earls 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. Hobbes 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 Earlsborough, 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 Hobbes 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, and sort of look after him. It's a good enough country for them that's young and stern, but there's faults in it. There's not an aunt, sister among them, nor an earl.