“Lord Fauntleroy will be comfortable, I am sure,” he replied. “It was with a view to his happiness that the Earl desired that you should be near enough to him to see him often.”

He did not think it would be discreet^[28] to repeat the exact words the Earl had used, which were in fact neither polite nor friendly.

When the door opened, Mr. Havisham actually hesitated for a moment before looking at Cedric. It would, perhaps, have seemed very strange to a great many people who knew him, if they could have known the interesting sensations that passed through Mr. Havisham when he looked down at the boy, who ran into his mother’s arms. He recognized in an instant that he was one of the finest and handsomest little fellows he had ever seen.

Cedric did not knowhe was beingobserved^[29], and he only behaved himself in his ordinary manner. He shook hands with Mr. Havisham in his friendly way when they were introduced to each other, and he answered all his questions with the unhesitating readiness^[30] with which he answered Mr. Hobbs.

That morning Mr. Havisham had quite a long conversation with Cedric. He asked Mrs. Errol to leave him and Cedric together. Mr. Havisham sat in an armchair on one side of the open window; on the other side was another still larger chair, and Cedric sat in that and looked at Mr. Havisham. There was a short silence after Mrs. Errol went out, and Cedric seemed to be studying Mr. Havisham, and Mr. Havisham was certainly studying Cedric. He could not make up his mind as to what an elderly gentleman should say to a little boy, who wore short knickerbockers^[31] and red stockings on legs which were not long enough to hang over a big chair when he sat well back in it.

But Cedric relieved him by suddenly beginning the conversation himself.

“Do you know,” he said, “I don’t know what an earl is?”

“Don’t you?” said Mr. Havisham.

“No,” replied Ceddie. “And I think when a boy is going to be one, he need to know it. Don’t you?”

“Well-yes,” answered Mr. Havisham.

“Would you mind,” said Ceddie respectfully-“would you mind explaining it to me? What made him an earl?”

“A king or queen, in the first place,” said Mr. Havisham. “Generally, he is made an earl because he has done some service to his sovereign^[32], or some great deed^[33].”

“Oh!” said Cedric; “that’s like the President.”

“Is it?” said Mr. Havisham. “Is that why your presidents are elected?”

“Yes,” answered Ceddie cheerfully. “When a man is very good and knows a great deal, he is elected president. They have torch-light processions and bands, and everybody makes speeches. I used to think I might perhaps be a president, but I never thought of being an earl. I didn’t know about earls,”

“It is rather different from being a president,” said Mr. Havisham.

“Is it?” asked Cedric. “How? Are there no torch-light processions?”

Mr. Havisham crossed his own legs and put the tips of his fingers carefully together. He thought perhaps the time had come to explain matters rather more clearly.

“An earl is-is a very important person,” he began.

“So is a president!” put in Ceddie. “The torch-light processions are five miles long, and they shoot up rockets, and the band plays! Mr. Hobbs took me to see them.”

“An earl,” Mr. Havisham went on, feeling rather uncertain, “is often of very ancient lineage^[34]-”

“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-lineage. She’s a hundred, I should think, and yet she is out there when it rains, even. I’m sorry for her. 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 anyone that’s so poor and has such ancient lin-lineage.”

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 for 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? We’ll tell her when she comes in. She always likes to hear interesting 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^[35],” 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 advantage-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 interesting expression. “Some earls have a great deal of money.”

He was interested 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 counter in, 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 bad. 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 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 around and choose for herself. And then Dick-”

“Who is Dick?” asked Mr. Havisham.

“Dick is a boot-black^[36],” said his young lordship, quite warming up in his interest in plans. “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.”

“And what would you like to do for him?” inquired the lawyer, rubbing his chin and smiling a strange smile.

“Well,” said Lord Fauntleroy, “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 cheats, and that makes Dick mad. It would make you mad, you know, if you were blacking boots as hard as you could, and your partner did not. 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.”

“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: ‘Blessings be on you, for a beautiful lady.’ And I think Mr. Hobbs would like a gold watch and chain to remember me by, and a meerschaum pipe^[37].”

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^[38].”

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. He once made me a sword out of wood. He’s a very talented man.”

He ran out of the room, and Mr. Havisham stood up from his chair. He seemed to have something in his mind which he wished to speak of.

He hesitated for 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 wants his grandson to look forward with some pleasure to his future life in England, and also to his acquaintance^[39] 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 togratify^[40] them, and to tell him that his grandfather 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 help this poor woman, I believe that the Earl would be displeased if he was not gratified.”

“Oh!” she said, “that was very kind of the Earl; Cedric will be so glad! He has always been fond of Bridget and Michael. 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^[41]. 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.

“I do not know that you have realized,” he said, “that the Earl of Dorincourt is an exceedingly rich man. If you will call Lord Fauntleroy back and allow me, I will 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 hardly believe that it is true.”

“It is quite true,” said Mr. Havisham, with a dry smile. “A great change has taken place in your son’s life, a great deal of power will lie in his hands.”

Then his mother went for Cedric and brought him back into the parlor.

His little face looked quite anxious when he came in. He was very sorry for Bridget.

“Dearest said you wanted me,” he said to Mr. Havisham. “I’ve been talking to Bridget.”

Mr. Havisham looked down at him for a moment.

“The Earl of Dorincourt-” he began, and then he glanced involuntarily^[42] at Mrs. Errol.

Little Lord Fauntleroy’s mother suddenly kneeled down by him and put both her tender arms around his childish body.

“Ceddie,” she said, “the Earl is your grandpapa, your own papa’s father. He wishes you to be happy and to make other people happy. He told Mr. Havisham so, and gave him a great deal of money for you. You can give some to Bridget now; enough to pay her rent and buy Michael everything. Isn’t that fine, Ceddie? Isn’t he good?” And she kissed the child on his round cheek, where the bright color suddenly flashed up in his excited amazement.

He looked from his mother to Mr. Havisham.

“Can I have it now?” he cried. “Can I give it to her this minute? She’s just going.”

Mr. Havisham handed him the money and Ceddie flew out of the room with it.

“Bridget!” they heard him shout, as he ran into the kitchen. “Bridget, wait a minute! Here’s some money. It’s for you, and you can pay the rent. My grandpapa gave it to me. It’s for you and Michael!”

“Oh, Master Ceddie!” cried Bridget, in an awe-stricken^[43] voice. “It’s twenty-five dollars here. Where is the mistress?”

“I think I will have to go and explain it to her,” Mrs. Errol said.

So she, too, went out of the room and Mr. Havisham was left alone for a while.

Cedric and his mother came back soon after. Cedric was in high spirits^[44]. He sat down in his own chair, between his mother and the lawyer.

“She cried!” he said. “She said she was crying for joy! I never saw anyone cry for joy before. My grandpapa must be a very good man. I didn’t know he was such a good man. It’s more-more agreeable to be an earl than I thought it was.”