THE EXPOSURE.
It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things to
happen. It had taken only a few minutes, apparently, to change all the
fortunes of the little boy dangling his red legs from the high stool in
Mr. Hobbs's store, and to transform him from a small boy, living the
simplest life in a quiet street, into an English nobleman, the heir to
an earldom and magnificent wealth. It had taken only a few minutes,
apparently, to change him from an English nobleman into a penniless
little impostor, with no right to any of the splendours 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. There seemed no doubt that she had been married to Bevis, Lord
Fauntleroy, but Mr. Havisham found out that her story of the boy's being
born in a certain part of London was false; and just when they all were
in the midst of the 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. Our best plan will be to cable at once for these
two Tiptons, say nothing about them to her, and suddenly confront her
with them when she is not expecting it. My opinion is that she will
betray herself on the spot."
And that was what actually happened. She was told nothing, but one fine
morning, as she sat in her sitting-room at the inn called "The
Dorincourt Arms," making some very fine plans for herself, Mr. Havisham
was announced; and when he entered, he was followed by no leas than
three persons--one was a sharp-faced boy and one was a big young man,
and the third was the Earl of Dorincourt.
She sprang to her feet and actually uttered a cry of terror. She had
thought of these new-comers as being thousands of miles away, when she
had ever thought of them at all, which she had scarcely done for years.
She had never expected to see them again. It must be confessed that Dick
grinned a little when he saw her.
"Hello, Minna!" he said,
The big young man--who was Ben--stood still a minute and looked at her.
"Do you know her?" Mr. Havisham asked, glancing from one to the other.
"Yes," said Ben. "I know her and she knows me. I can swear to her in any
court, and I can bring a dozen others who will. Her father is a
respectable sort of man, 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 hand suddenly and turned on her.
"Where's the child?" he demanded. "He's going with me! He is done with
you, and so am I!"
And just as he finished saying the words, the door leading into the
bedroom opened a little, and the boy, probably attracted by the sound of
the loud voices, looked in. He was not a handsome boy, but he had rather
a nice face, and he was quite like Ben, his father, as any one could
see, and there was the three-cornered scar on his chin.
Ben walked up to him and took his hand, and his own was trembling.
"Tom," he said to the little fellow. "I'm your father; I've come to take
you away. Where's your hat?"
The boy pointed to where it lay on a chair. It evidently rather pleased
him to hear that he was going away. 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 business-like in his tones that,
probably feeling that the safest thing she could do would be to get out
of the way, she gave him one savage look and dashed past him into the
next room and slammed the door.
"We shall have no more trouble with her," said Mr. Havisham.
And he was right; for that very night she left the Dorincourt Arms and
took the train to London, and was seen no more.
* * * * *
When the Earl left the room after the interview, he went at once to his
carriage.
"To Court Lodge," he said to Thomas.
"To Court Lodge," said Thomas to the coachman as he mounted the box;
"an' you may depend on it, things is taking a uniggspected turn."
When the carriage stopped at Court Lodge, Cedric was in the drawing-room
with his mother.
The Earl came in without being announced. He looked an inch or so
taller, and a great many years younger. His deep eyes flashed.
"Where," he said, "is Lord Fauntleroy?"
Mrs. Errol came forward, a flush rising to her cheek.
"Is it Lord Fauntleroy?" she asked. "Is it, indeed?"
The Earl put out his hand and grasped hers.
"Yes," he answered, "it is."
Then he put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder.
"Fauntleroy," he said in his unceremonious, authoritative way, "ask your
mother when she will come to us at the Castle."
Fauntleroy flung his arms around his mother's neck.
"To live with us!" he cried. "To live with us always!"
The Earl looked at Mrs. Errol, and Mrs. Errol looked at the Earl. His
lordship was entirely in earnest. He had made up his mind to waste no
time in arranging this matter. He had begun to think it would suit him
to make friends with his heir's mother.
"Are you quite sure you want me?" said Mrs. Errol, with her soft, pretty
smile.
"Quite sure," he said bluntly. "We have always wanted you, but we were
not exactly aware of it. We hope you will come."