IN ENGLAND.
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. Havisham. "He
would not really understand; he would only be shocked and hurt; and I
feel sure that his feeling for the Earl will be a more natural and
affectionate one if he does not know that his grandfather dislikes me so
bitterly. 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
many talks with his mother, in which she 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.
The people who had been sea-sick had no sooner recovered from their
sea-sickness, 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 ladies talked to him, there was
always laughter in the group of which he was the centre; 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 shipwrecks and desert islands; he learned to splice ropes
and rig toy ships, and gained an amount of information concerning
"tops'les" and "mains'les," quite surprising. His conversation had,
indeed, quite a nautical flavour at times.
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.
Mary had come with them to attend her mistress, and she had reached the
house before them. When Cedric jumped out of the carriage Mary stood in
the doorway.
Lord Fauntleroy sprang at her with a gay little shout.
"Did you get here, Mary?" he said. "Here's Mary, Dearest."
"I am glad you are here, Mary," Mrs. Errol said to her in a low voice.
"It is such a comfort to me to see you. It takes the strangeness away."
And she held out her little hand, which Mary squeezed encouragingly.
The English servants looked with curiosity at both the boy and his
mother. They had heard all sorts of rumours about them both; they knew
why Mrs. Errol was to live at the lodge and her little boy at the
Castle; 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.
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, isn'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 into a big bright room; its ceiling was low, and the
furniture was heavy and beautifully carved. There was a great tiger-skin
before the fire, and an arm-chair on each side of it. A 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 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 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 income he proposed
to settle upon me. 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 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.
"This is very strange," he said. "He will be very angry. He won't
understand it, but I will deliver your message."
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.
"Well," he said; "well, Havisham, come back, have you? What's the news?"
"Lord Fauntleroy and his mother are at Court Lodge," replied Mr.
Havisham. "They bore the voyage very well and are in excellent health."
The Earl made a half-impatient sound and moved his hand restlessly.
"Glad to hear it," he said brusquely. "So far, so good. Make 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.
"Well?" he said; "go on. What kind of a lad is he? I don't care about
the mother; what sort of a lad is he? Healthy and well grown?"
"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.
"Rather a handsome boy, I think, my lord, as boys go," he said, "though
I am scarcely a judge, perhaps."
There was a silence of a few moments. It was Mr. Havisham who broke it.
"I have a message to deliver from Mrs. Errol," he remarked.
"I don't want any of her messages!" growled his lordship; "the less 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 American! I don't wish to
see her!"
"My lord," said Mr. Havisham, "you can scarcely call her mercenary. She
has asked for nothing. She does not accept the money you offer her."
"All done for effect!" snapped his noble lordship. "She thinks I shall
admire her spirit. I don't admire it! It's only American independence! I
won't have her living like a beggar at my park gates. She shall have the
money, whether she likes it or not!"
"She won't spend it," said Mr. Havisham.
"I don't care whether she spends it or not!" blustered my lord. "She
shall have it sent to 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 because 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 has told him that he
is too young to understand the reason, 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 hasn't told him?"
"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. 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 honour," 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's only seven years old!"
"He has spent those seven years at his mother's side," returned Mr.
Havisham; "and she has all his affection."