Little Lord Fauntleroy
“An earl,” Mr. Havisham went on, feeling rather uncertain of his ground,
“is frequently of very ancient lineage----”
“What's that?” asked Ceddie.
“Of very old family--extremely old.”
“Ah!” said Cedric, thrusting his hands deeper into his pockets. “I
suppose that is the way with the apple-woman near the park. I dare say
she is of ancient lin-lenage. She is so old it would surprise you how
she can stand up. She's a hundred, I should think, and yet she is out
there when it rains, even. I'm sorry for her, and so are the other boys.
Billy Williams once had nearly a dollar, and I asked him to buy five
cents' worth of apples from her every day until he had spent it all.
That made twenty days, and he grew tired of apples after a week; but
then--it was quite fortunate--a gentleman gave me fifty cents and I
bought apples from her instead. You feel sorry for any one that's so
poor and has such ancient lin-lenage. She says hers has gone into her
bones and the rain makes it worse.”
Mr. Havisham felt rather at a loss as he looked at his companion's
innocent, serious little face.
“I am afraid you did not quite understand me,” he explained. “When I
said 'ancient lineage' I did not mean old age; I meant that the name
of such a family has been known in the world a long time; perhaps for
hundreds of years persons bearing that name have been known and spoken
of in the history of their country.”
“Like George Washington,” said Ceddie. “I've heard of him ever since I
was born, and he was known about, long before that. Mr. Hobbs says
he will never be forgotten. That's because of the Declaration of
Independence, you know, and the Fourth of July. You see, he was a very
brave man.”
“The first Earl of Dorincourt,” said Mr. Havisham solemnly, “was created
an earl four hundred years ago.”
“Well, well!” said Ceddie. “That was a long time ago! Did you tell
Dearest that? It would int'rust her very much. We'll tell her when she
comes in. She always likes to hear cur'us things. What else does an earl
do besides being created?”
“A great many of them have helped to govern England. Some of them have
been brave men and have fought in great battles in the old days.”
“I should like to do that myself,” said Cedric. “My papa was a soldier,
and he was a very brave man--as brave as George Washington. Perhaps
that was because he would have been an earl if he hadn't died. I am glad
earls are brave. That's a great 'vantage--to be a brave man. Once I used
to be rather afraid of things--in the dark, you know; but when I thought
about the soldiers in the Revolution and George Washington--it cured
me.”
“There is another advantage in being an earl, sometimes,” said Mr.
Havisham slowly, and he fixed his shrewd eyes on the little boy with a
rather curious expression. “Some earls have a great deal of money.”
He was curious because he wondered if his young friend knew what the
power of money was.
“That's a good thing to have,” said Ceddie innocently. “I wish I had a
great deal of money.”
“Do you?” said Mr. Havisham. “And why?”
“Well,” explained Cedric, “there are so many things a person can do with
money. You see, there's the apple-woman. If I were very rich I should
buy her a little tent to put her stall in, and a little stove, and then
I should give her a dollar every morning it rained, so that she could
afford to stay at home. And then--oh! I'd give her a shawl. And, you
see, her bones wouldn't feel so badly. Her bones are not like our bones;
they hurt her when she moves. It's very painful when your bones hurt
you. If I were rich enough to do all those things for her, I guess her
bones would be all right.”
“Ahem!” said Mr. Havisham. “And what else would you do if you were
rich?”
“Oh! I'd do a great many things. Of course I should buy Dearest all
sorts of beautiful things, needle-books and fans and gold thimbles and
rings, and an encyclopedia, and a carriage, so that she needn't have to
wait for the street-cars. If she liked pink silk dresses, I should buy
her some, but she likes black best. But I'd take her to the big stores,
and tell her to look 'round and choose for herself. And then Dick----”
“Who is Dick?” asked Mr. Havisham.
“Dick is a boot-black,” said his young lordship, quite warming up in
his interest in plans so exciting. “He is one of the nicest boot-blacks
you ever knew. He stands at the corner of a street down-town. I've
known him for years. Once when I was very little, I was walking out
with Dearest, and she bought me a beautiful ball that bounced, and I
was carrying it and it bounced into the middle of the street where the
carriages and horses were, and I was so disappointed, I began to cry--I
was very little. I had kilts on. And Dick was blacking a man's shoes,
and he said 'Hello!' and he ran in between the horses and caught the
ball for me and wiped it off with his coat and gave it to me and said,
'It's all right, young un.' So Dearest admired him very much, and so did
I, and ever since then, when we go down-town, we talk to him. He says
'Hello!' and I say 'Hello!' and then we talk a little, and he tells me
how trade is. It's been bad lately.”
“And what would you like to do for him?” inquired the lawyer, rubbing
his chin and smiling a queer smile.
“Well,” said Lord Fauntleroy, settling himself in his chair with a
business air, “I'd buy Jake out.”
“And who is Jake?” Mr. Havisham asked.
“He's Dick's partner, and he is the worst partner a fellow could have!
Dick says so. He isn't a credit to the business, and he isn't square. He
cheats, and that makes Dick mad. It would make you mad, you know, if you
were blacking boots as hard as you could, and being square all the time,
and your partner wasn't square at all. People like Dick, but they don't
like Jake, and so sometimes they don't come twice. So if I were rich,
I'd buy Jake out and get Dick a 'boss' sign--he says a 'boss' sign goes
a long way; and I'd get him some new clothes and new brushes, and start
him out fair. He says all he wants is to start out fair.”
There could have been nothing more confiding and innocent than the way
in which his small lordship told his little story, quoting his friend
Dick's bits of slang in the most candid good faith. He seemed to feel
not a shade of a doubt that his elderly companion would be just as
interested as he was himself. And in truth Mr. Havisham was beginning
to be greatly interested; but perhaps not quite so much in Dick and the
apple-woman as in this kind little lordling, whose curly head was so
busy, under its yellow thatch, with good-natured plans for his friends,
and who seemed somehow to have forgotten himself altogether.
“Is there anything----” he began. “What would you get for yourself, if
you were rich?”
“Lots of things!” answered Lord Fauntleroy briskly; “but first I'd give
Mary some money for Bridget--that's her sister, with twelve children,
and a husband out of work. She comes here and cries, and Dearest gives
her things in a basket, and then she cries again, and says: 'Blessin's
be on yez, for a beautiful lady.' And I think Mr. Hobbs would like a
gold watch and chain to remember me by, and a meerschaum pipe. And then
I'd like to get up a company.”
“A company!” exclaimed Mr. Havisham.
“Like a Republican rally,” explained Cedric, becoming quite excited.
“I'd have torches and uniforms and things for all the boys and myself,
too. And we'd march, you know, and drill. That's what I should like for
myself, if I were rich.”
The door opened and Mrs. Errol came in.
“I am sorry to have been obliged to leave you so long,” she said to Mr.
Havisham; “but a poor woman, who is in great trouble, came to see me.”
“This young gentleman,” said Mr. Havisham, “has been telling me about
some of his friends, and what he would do for them if he were rich.”
“Bridget is one of his friends,” said Mrs. Errol; “and it is Bridget
to whom I have been talking in the kitchen. She is in great trouble now
because her husband has rheumatic fever.”
Cedric slipped down out of his big chair.
“I think I'll go and see her,” he said, “and ask her how he is. He's a
nice man when he is well. I'm obliged to him because he once made me a
sword out of wood. He's a very talented man.”
He ran out of the room, and Mr. Havisham rose from his chair. He seemed
to have something in his mind which he wished to speak of.
He hesitated a moment, and then said, looking down at Mrs. Errol:
“Before I left Dorincourt Castle, I had an interview with the Earl, in
which he gave me some instructions. He is desirous that his grandson
should look forward with some pleasure to his future life in England,
and also to his acquaintance with himself. He said that I must let his
lordship know that the change in his life would bring him money and the
pleasures children enjoy; if he expressed any wishes, I was to gratify
them, and to tell him that his grand-father had given him what he
wished. I am aware that the Earl did not expect anything quite like
this; but if it would give Lord Fauntleroy pleasure to assist this poor
woman, I should feel that the Earl would be displeased if he were not
gratified.”
For the second time, he did not repeat the Earl's exact words. His
lordship had, indeed, said:
“Make the lad understand that I can give him anything he wants. Let him
know what it is to be the grandson of the Earl of Dorincourt. Buy him
everything he takes a fancy to; let him have money in his pockets, and
tell him his grandfather put it there.”
His motives were far from being good, and if he had been dealing with a
nature less affectionate and warm-hearted than little Lord Fauntleroy's,
great harm might have been done. And Cedric's mother was too gentle to
suspect any harm. She thought that perhaps this meant that a lonely,
unhappy old man, whose children were dead, wished to be kind to her
little boy, and win his love and confidence. And it pleased her very
much to think that Ceddie would be able to help Bridget. It made her
happier to know that the very first result of the strange fortune which
had befallen her little boy was that he could do kind things for those
who needed kindness. Quite a warm color bloomed on her pretty young
face.
“Oh!” she said, “that was very kind of the Earl; Cedric will be so
glad! He has always been fond of Bridget and Michael. They are quite
deserving. I have often wished I had been able to help them more.
Michael is a hard-working man when he is well, but he has been ill a
long time and needs expensive medicines and warm clothing and nourishing
food. He and Bridget will not be wasteful of what is given them.”
Mr. Havisham put his thin hand in his breast pocket and drew forth a
large pocket-book. There was a queer look in his keen face. The truth
was, he was wondering what the Earl of Dorincourt would say when he was
told what was the first wish of his grandson that had been granted. He
wondered what the cross, worldly, selfish old nobleman would think of
it.
“I do not know that you have realized,” he said, “that the Earl of
Dorincourt is an exceedingly rich man. He can afford to gratify any
caprice. I think it would please him to know that Lord Fauntleroy had
been indulged in any fancy. If you will call him back and allow me, I
shall give him five pounds for these people.”
“That would be twenty-five dollars!” exclaimed Mrs. Errol. “It will seem
like wealth to them. I can scarcely believe that it is true.”
“It is quite true,” said Mr. Havisham, with his dry smile. “A great
change has taken place in your son's life, a great deal of power will
lie in his hands.”
“Oh!” cried his mother. “And he is such a little boy--a very little boy.
How can I teach him to use it well? It makes me half afraid. My pretty
little Ceddie!”