 Chapter 13 of Little Lord Fauntleroi. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Susan Umpel B. Little Lord Fauntleroi by Francis Hodgson Burnett Chapter 13. Of course, as soon as the story of Lord Fauntleroi and the difficulties of the Earl of Dorencourt were discussed in the English newspapers, they were discussed in the American newspapers. The story was too interesting to be passed over lightly, and it was talked of a great deal. There were so many versions of it that it would have been an edifying thing to buy all the papers and compare them. Mr. Hobbs read so much about it that he became quite bewildered. One paper described his young friend Cedric as an infant in arms. Another as a young man at Oxford, winning all the honors and distinguishing himself by writing Greek poems. One said he was engaged to a young lady of great beauty who was the daughter of a Duke. Another said he had just been married. The only thing in fact, which was not said, was that he was a little boy between seven and eight, with handsome legs and curly hair. One said he was no relation to the Earl of Dorencourt 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 Fauntleroi and his mother. Sometimes she was a gypsy, sometimes an actress, sometimes a beautiful Spaniard. But it was always agreed that the Earl of Dorencourt was her deadly enemy, and would not acknowledge her son as his heir if he could help it. And as there seemed to be some slight flaw in the papers she had produced, it was expected that there would be a long trial, which would be far more interesting than anything ever carried into court before. Mr. Hobbs used to read the papers until his head was in a whirl, and in the evening he and Dick would talk it all over. They found out what an important personage in Earl of Dorencourt 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 are 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 who will make all they can of you if you don't keep your eyes skinned. But this is mostly to say that I have not forgot what you did for me. And if 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 you. Any big fella that tries to come it over you will have to settle it first with Professor Dick Kepton. So no more at present, Dick. And this is what Dick read in Mr. Hobbs' letter. Dear sir, yours received and would say things look bad. I believe it's a put up job, and 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 then Earl's is too many for us, 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 an Earl. So he is, said Dick. I just stood by him. Blessed if I didn't like that little fella frustrate. 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 Del Monaco'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 Dorincourt and Lady Fauntleroy. Hello? I say, what's the matter? The pictures he spoke of were on the front page, and Dick was staring at one of them with his eyes and mouth open, and his sharp face almost pale with excitement. What's to pay, Dick? said the young man. What has paralyzed you? Dick really did look as if something tremendous had happened. He pointed to the picture, under which was written, Mother of Claimant, Lady Fauntleroy. It was the picture of a handsome woman, with large eyes and heavy braids of black hair wound around her head. Her, said Dick, my, I know her better 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. Hobbes in the corner store. Mr. Hobbes 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. Hobbes. Hello, what you got there? Look at it, pant and dick. Look at that woman in the picture. That's what you look at. She ain't no aristocrat. 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. Hobbes dropped into his seat. I knowed it was a put up job, he said. I knowed it. And they'd done it on account of him being American. Done it, cried Dick, with disgust. She'd done it. That's who'd done it. She was all hers up to her tricks. And I'll tell you what come 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 it said he had a scar on his chin. Put them two together, her and that their scar. Why? That their boy of hers ain't no more a Lord than I am. It's Ben's boy, the little chap she hit when she let fly that played 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. Hobbes 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. Hobbes 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 fellow that give me the paper, he's a lawyer. Let's ask him what we better do. Lawyers knows it all. Mr. Hobbes 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 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. Hobbes, say what your time's worth an hour, and look into this thing thorough, and I'll pay the damage. Silas Hobbes, 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 Dorncourt'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. Habisham 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. End of Chapter 13. Chapter 14 of Little Lord Fauntleroy This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Susan Unpleby. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Francis Hodgson Burnett. Chapter 14. 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' 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 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 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. Hobbes' letters also. What an evening it was when those letters arrived, and when Mr. Havisham in 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 it once for these two tiptons, say nothing about them to her, and suddenly confront her with them when she is not expecting it. She is only a very clumsy plotter after all. My opinion is that she will be frightened out of her wits, and will betray herself on the spot. And that was what actually happened. She was told nothing, and Mr. Havisham kept her from suspecting anything by continuing to have interviews with her, in which he assured her he was investigating her statements. And she really began to feel so secure that her spirits rose immensely, and she began to be as insolent as might have been expected. But one fine morning, as she sat in her sitting room at the inn called the 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 Doran 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's low down in the world. Her mother was just like herself. She's dead, but he's alive, and he's honest enough to be ashamed of her. He'll tell you who she is, and whether she married me or not. Then he clenched his hands 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 anyone could see. And there was a three-cornered scar on his chin. Ben walked up to him and took his hand, and his own was trembling. Yes, he said. I could swear to him, too. Tom, he said to the little fellow, I'm your father. I've come to take you away. Where's your hat? The boy pointed to it where it lay on a chair. It evidently rather pleased him to hear that he was going away. He had been so accustomed to queer experiences that it did not surprise him to be told by a stranger that he was his father. He objected so much to the woman who had come a few months before to the place where he had lived since his babyhood, and who had suddenly announced that she was his mother, that he was quite ready for a change. Ben took up the hat and marched to the door. If you want me again, he said to Mr. Havisham, you know where to find me. He walked out of the room holding the child's hand and not looking at the woman once. She was fairly raving with fury, and the earl was calmly gazing at her through his eyeglasses, which he had quietly placed upon his aristocratic eagle nose. Come, come, my young woman, said Mr. Havisham. This won't do at all. If you don't want to be locked up, you really must behave yourself. And there was something so very 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 taken an unexpected 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 at 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. Earl and Mrs. Earl 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 ear's mother. Are you quite sure you want me? Said Mrs. Earl 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. End of chapter 14. Chapter 15 of Little Lord Fauntleroy. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Susan Umpleby. 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 Doringcourt 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 tenetry 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 Earls. And so in their rare interviews conversation did not flourish. It must also be owned that Mr. Hobbes had been rather overwhelmed by the splendor's 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 armor and the great staircase and the stables and the liveried servants, he really was quite bewildered. But it was the picture gallery which seemed to be the finishing stroke. 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 ancestors, 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 assistance of Mrs. Mellon, who knew all about the pictures and could tell who painted them and when and who added romantic stories of the lords and ladies who were the originals. When Mr. 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 door-and-court 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's 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 being 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 someday 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 amiable 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 heirs mother. It was said 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 farmer's wives in their Sunday suits and bonnets and shawls girls in their sweethearts children frolicking and chasing about and old dames and 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 Laura 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 in lace parasol and a circle of gentlemen to take care of her though she evidently liked Faultleroy 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 Faultleroy 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 Faultleroy 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 and no mistake everybody looked after her as she passed and everyone looked after little lord Faultleroy 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 Faultleroy thought him but at least he had begun to love something and he had several times found a sort of pleasure in doing the kind things which the innocent kind little heart of a child had suggested and that was a beginning and every day he had been more pleased with his son's wife it was true as the people said that he was beginning to like her too he liked to hear her sweet voice and to see her sweet face and as he sat in his arm chair he used to watch her and listen as she talked to her boy and he heard loving gentle words which were new to him and he began to see why the little fellow who had lived in a New York side street and known grocery men and made friends with boot blacks was still so well bred and manly a little fellow that he made no one ashamed of him even when fortune changed him into the heir to an English earldom living in an English castle it was really a very simple thing after all it was only that he had lived near a kind and gentle heart and had been taught to think kind thoughts always and to care for others it is a very little thing perhaps but it is the best thing of all he knew nothing of girls 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 Dorencourt looked at him that day moving about the park among the people talking to those he knew and making his ready little bow when anyone 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 Dorencourt estate were sitting down to the grand halation of the day they were drinking toasts and after they had drunk the health of the Earl with much more enthusiasm than his name had ever been greeted with before they proposed the health of little Lord Fauntleroy and if there had ever been any doubt at all as to whether his lordship was popular or not it would have been set that instant such a clamor of voices and such a rattle of glasses and applause they had begun to like him so much those warm-hearted people that they forgot to feel any restraint before the ladies and gentlemen from the castle who had come to see them they made quite a decent uproar and one or two motherly women looked tenderly at the little fellow where he stood with his mother on one side and the Earl on the other and grew quite moist about the eyes and said to one another God bless him the pretty little deer 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 liked 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 admit the shouts and clamor of applause he stepped back with a little sigh of relief and 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 Earlsboro where he opened a shop 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 and 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 End of Chapter 15 End of Little Lord Fauntleroy by Francis Hodgson Burnett