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14 - Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett · Little Lord Fauntleroy

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  Speaker 1: Burnett, chapter fourteen. It is astonishing how short a time
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  Speaker 1: it takes for very wonderful things to happen. It had
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  Speaker 1: taken only a few minutes, apparently, to change all the
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  Speaker 1: fortunes of the little boy dangling his red legs from
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  Speaker 1: the high stool in mister Hobb's store, and to transform
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  Speaker 1: him from a small boy living the simplest life in
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  Speaker 1: a quiet street into an English nobleman, the heir to
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  Speaker 1: an earldom and magnificent wealth. It had taken only a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes, apparently to change him from an English nobleman
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  Speaker 1: into a penniless little impostor, with no right to any
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  Speaker 1: of the splendors he had been enjoying. And surprising as
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  Speaker 1: it may appear, it did not take nearly so long
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  Speaker 1: a time as one might have expected to alter the
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  Speaker 1: face of everything again, and to give back to him
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  Speaker 1: all he had been in danger of losing. It took
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  Speaker 1: the less time, because, after all, the woman who had
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  Speaker 1: called herself Lady Fauntleroy was not nearly so clever. She
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  Speaker 1: was wicked, And when she had been closely pressed by
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  Speaker 1: mister Havisham's questions about her marriage and her boy, she
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  Speaker 1: had made one or two blunders which had caused suspicion
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  Speaker 1: to be awakened. And then she had lost her presence
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  Speaker 1: of mind and her temper, and in her excitement and anger,
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  Speaker 1: had betrayed herself. Still further, all the mistakes she made
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  Speaker 1: were about her child. There seemed no doubt she had
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  Speaker 1: been married to bevis Lord Fauntleroy, and had quarreled with him,
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  Speaker 1: and had been paid to keep away from him. But
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  Speaker 1: mister Havisham found out that her story of the boys
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  Speaker 1: being born in a certain part of London was false.
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  Speaker 1: And just when they all were in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: the commotion caused by this discovery, there came the letter
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  Speaker 1: from the young lawyer in New York, and mister Hobbs's letters. Also.
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  Speaker 1: What an evening it was when those letters arrived, and
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  Speaker 1: when mister Havisham and the Earl sat and talked their
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  Speaker 1: plans over in the library. After my first three months
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  Speaker 1: meeting with her, said mister Havisham, I began to suspect
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  Speaker 1: her strongly. It appeared to me that the child was
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  Speaker 1: older than she said he was, and she made a
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  Speaker 1: slip in speaking of the date of his birth, and
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  Speaker 1: then tried to patch the matter up. The story these
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  Speaker 1: letters bring fits in with several of my suspicions. Our
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  Speaker 1: best plan will be to cable at once for these
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  Speaker 1: two Tiptons, say nothing about them to her, and suddenly
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  Speaker 1: confront her with them when she is not expecting it.
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  Speaker 1: She is only a very clumsy plotter, after all. My
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  Speaker 1: opinion is that she will be frightened out of her
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  Speaker 1: wits and will betray herself on the spot. And that
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  Speaker 1: was what actually happened. She was told nothing, and mister
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  Speaker 1: Havisham kept her from suspecting anything by continuing to have
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  Speaker 1: interviews with her in which he assured her he was
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  Speaker 1: investigating her statements. And she really began to feel so
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  Speaker 1: secure that her spirits rose immensely, and she began to
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  Speaker 1: be as insolent as might have been expected. But one
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  Speaker 1: fine morning, as she sat in her sitting room at
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  Speaker 1: the inn called the Dorincourt Arms, making some very fine
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  Speaker 1: plans for herself, mister Havisham was announced, and when he entered,
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  Speaker 1: he was followed by no less than three persons. One
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  Speaker 1: was a sharp faced boy, and one was a big
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  Speaker 1: young man, and the third was the Earl of Dorincourt.
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  Speaker 1: She sprang to her feet and actually uttered a cry
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  Speaker 1: of terror. It broke from her before she had time
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  Speaker 1: to check it. She had thought of these newcomers as
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  Speaker 1: being thousands of miles away. When she had ever thought
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  Speaker 1: of them at all, which she had scarcely done for years,
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  Speaker 1: she had never expected to see them again. It must
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  Speaker 1: be confessed that Dick grinned a little when he saw her. Hello, Minna,
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  Speaker 1: he said, The big young man who has been stood
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  Speaker 1: still a minute and looked at her. Do you know her,
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  Speaker 1: mister Havisham asked, glancing from one to the other. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: said Ben, I know her, and she knows me. And
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  Speaker 1: he turned his back on her and went and stood
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  Speaker 1: looking out of the window, as if the sight of
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  Speaker 1: her was hateful to him, as indeed it was. Then
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  Speaker 1: the woman, seeing herself so baffled and exposed, lost all
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  Speaker 1: control over herself and flew into such a rage as
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  Speaker 1: Ben and Dick had often seen her in before. Dick
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  Speaker 1: grinned a trifle more as he watched her and heard
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  Speaker 1: the names she called them all, and the violent threats
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  Speaker 1: she made, But Ben did not turn to look at her.
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  Speaker 1: I can swear to her in any court, he said
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  Speaker 1: to mister Havisham, and I can bring a dozen others
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  Speaker 1: who will. Her father is a respectable sort of man,
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  Speaker 1: though he's low down in the world. Her mother was
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  Speaker 1: just like herself. She's dead, but he's alive, and he's
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  Speaker 1: honest enough to be ashamed of her. He'll tell you
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  Speaker 1: who she is and whether she married me or not.
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  Speaker 1: Then he clenched his hands suddenly and turned on her.
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  Speaker 1: Where's the child, he demanded. He's going with me. He
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  Speaker 1: is done with you, and so am I. And just
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  Speaker 1: as he finished saying the words, the door leading into
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  Speaker 1: the bedroom opened a little, and the boy, probably attracted
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  Speaker 1: by the sound of the loud voices, looked in. He
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  Speaker 1: was not a handsome boy, but he had rather a
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  Speaker 1: nice face, and he was quite like Ben, his father,
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  Speaker 1: as any one could see, and there was the three
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  Speaker 1: cornered scar on his chin. Ben walked up to him
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  Speaker 1: and took his hand, and his own was trembling. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: he said, I could swear to him too. Tom. He
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  Speaker 1: said to the little fellow, I'm your father. I've come
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  Speaker 1: to take you away. Where's your hat? The boy pointed
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  Speaker 1: to it, where it lay on a chair. It evidently
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  Speaker 1: rather pleased him to hear that he was going away.
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  Speaker 1: He had been so accustomed to queer experiences that it
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  Speaker 1: did not surprise him to be told by a stranger
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  Speaker 1: that he was his father. He objected so much to
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  Speaker 1: the woman who had come a few months before to
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  Speaker 1: the place where he had lived since his babyhood, and
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  Speaker 1: who had suddenly announced that she was his mother, that
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  Speaker 1: he was quite ready for a change. Ben took up
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  Speaker 1: the hat and marched to the door. If you want
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  Speaker 1: me again, he said to mister Havisham, you know where
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  Speaker 1: to find me. He walked out of the room, holding
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  Speaker 1: the child's hand and not looking at the woman once.
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  Speaker 1: She was fairly raving with fury, and the Earl was
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  Speaker 1: calmly gazing at her through his eye glasses, which he
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  Speaker 1: had quietly placed upon his aristocratic eagle nose. Come come,
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  Speaker 1: my young woman, said mister Havisham, This won't do at all.
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  Speaker 1: If you don't want to be locked up, you really
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  Speaker 1: must behave yourself. And there was something so very business
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  Speaker 1: like in his tones that, probably, feeling that the safest
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  Speaker 1: thing she could do would be to get out of
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  Speaker 1: the way, she gave him one savage look and dashed
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  Speaker 1: past him into the next room and slammed the door.
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  Speaker 1: We shall have no more trouble with her, said mister Havisham,
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  Speaker 1: and he was right. For that very night she left
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  Speaker 1: the door in court arms and took the train to London,
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  Speaker 1: and was seen no more. When the Earl left the
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  Speaker 1: room after the interview, he went at once to his
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  Speaker 1: carriage to court Lodge, he said to Thomas. To court Lodge,
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  Speaker 1: said Thomas to the coachman, as he mounted the box.
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  Speaker 1: And you may depend upon it. Things are taken an
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  Speaker 1: unexpected turn. When the carriage stopped at court Lodge, Cedric
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  Speaker 1: was in the drawing room with his mother. The Earl
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  Speaker 1: came in without being announced. He looked an inch or
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  Speaker 1: so taller, and a great many years younger. His deep
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  Speaker 1: eyes flashed where he said, is Lord Fauntleroy. Missus Errol
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  Speaker 1: came forward, a flush rising to her cheek. Is it
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  Speaker 1: Lord Fauntleroy, she asked, Is it? Indeed? The Earl put
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  Speaker 1: out his hand and grasped hers. Yes, he answered it is.
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  Speaker 1: Then he put his other hand on Cedric's shoulder. Fauntleroy,
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  Speaker 1: he said, in his unceremonious, authoritative way, ask your mother
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  Speaker 1: when she will come to us at the castle. Fauntleroy
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  Speaker 1: flung his arms around his mother's neck. To live with us,
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  Speaker 1: he cried, to live with us always. The Earl looked
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  Speaker 1: at missus Errol, and missus Errol looked at the Earl.
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  Speaker 1: His lordship was entirely in earnest. He had made up
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  Speaker 1: his mind to waste no time in arranging this matter.
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  Speaker 1: He had begun to think it would suit him to
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  Speaker 1: make friends with his heir's mother. Are you quite sure
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  Speaker 1: you want me, said missus Errol with her soft, pretty smile.
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  Speaker 1: Quite sure, he said bluntly. We have always wanted you,
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  Speaker 1: but we were not exactly aware of it. We hope
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  Speaker 1: you will come. End of Chapter fourteen