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

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  Speaker 1: Twelve, a very few days after the dinner party at
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  Speaker 1: the castle. Almost everybody in England who read the newspapers
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  Speaker 1: at all knew the romantic story of what had happened
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  Speaker 1: at Dorincourt. It made a very interesting story when it
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  Speaker 1: was told with all the details. There was the little
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  Speaker 1: American boy who had been brought to England to be
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  Speaker 1: Lord Fauntleroy, and who was said to be so fine
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  Speaker 1: and handsome, a little fellow, and who have already made
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  Speaker 1: people fond of him. There was the old Earl, his grandfather,
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  Speaker 1: who was so proud of his heir. There was the
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  Speaker 1: pretty young mother who had never been forgiven for marrying
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  Speaker 1: Captain Errol. And there was the strange marriage of Bevis,
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  Speaker 1: the dead Lord Fauntleroy, and the strange wife of whom
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  Speaker 1: no one knew anything, suddenly appearing with her son and
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  Speaker 1: saying that he was the real Lord Fauntleroy and must
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  Speaker 1: have his rights. All these things were talked about and
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  Speaker 1: written about, and caused a tremendous sensation. And then there
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  Speaker 1: came the rumor that the Earl of Dorincourt was not
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  Speaker 1: satisfied with the turn affairs had taken, and would perhaps
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  Speaker 1: contest the claim by law, and the matter might end
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  Speaker 1: with a wonderful trial. There never had been such excitement
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  Speaker 1: before in the county in which Earlborough was situated. On
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  Speaker 1: market days, people stood in groups and talked and wondered
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  Speaker 1: what would be done. The farmers wives invited one another
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  Speaker 1: to tea that they might tell one another all they
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  Speaker 1: had heard, and all they thought, and all they thought
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  Speaker 1: other people thought. They related wonderful anecdotes about the Earl's
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  Speaker 1: rage and his determination not to acknowledge the new Lord Fauntleroy,
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  Speaker 1: and his hatred of the woman who was the claimant's mother.
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  Speaker 1: But of course it was missus Dibble who could tell
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  Speaker 1: the most, and who was more in demand than ever.
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  Speaker 1: And a bad look out it is, she said. And
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  Speaker 1: if you were to ask me, ma'am, I should say
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  Speaker 1: that it was a judgment on him for the way
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  Speaker 1: he's treated that sweet young creature as he parted from
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  Speaker 1: her child. For he's got that fond of him, and
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  Speaker 1: that set on him, and that proud of him, as
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  Speaker 1: he's almost drove mad by what's happened. And what's more,
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  Speaker 1: this new one's no lady as his little lordship's maw is.
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  Speaker 1: She's a bold faced black eyed thing, as mister Thomas says,
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  Speaker 1: no gentleman in livery had bemean himself to be gave
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  Speaker 1: orders by and let her come into the house, he says,
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  Speaker 1: and he goes out of it. And the boy don't
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  Speaker 1: no more compare with the other one than nothing you
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  Speaker 1: could mention. And mercy knows what's going to come of
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  Speaker 1: it all, and where it's to end. And you might
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  Speaker 1: have knocked me down with a feather when Jane brought
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  Speaker 1: the news. In fact, there was excitement everywhere at the castle,
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  Speaker 1: in the library where the Earl and mister Havisham sat
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  Speaker 1: and talked, in the servants hall, where mister Thomas and
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  Speaker 1: the butler and the other the men and women servants
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  Speaker 1: gossiped and exclaimed at all times of the day, And
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  Speaker 1: in the stables, where Wilkins went about his work in
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  Speaker 1: a quite depressed state of mind, and groomed the brown
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  Speaker 1: pony more beautifully than ever, and said mournfully to the
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  Speaker 1: coachman that he never taught a young gentleman to ride,
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  Speaker 1: as took to it more natural, or was a better
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  Speaker 1: plucked one than he was. He was a one as
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  Speaker 1: it were some pleasure to ride behind, But In the
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  Speaker 1: midst of all the disturbance, there was one person who
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  Speaker 1: was quite calm and untroubled. That person was the little
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  Speaker 1: Lord Fauntleroy, who was said not to be Lord Fauntleroy
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  Speaker 1: at all. When first the state of affairs had been
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  Speaker 1: explained to him, he had felt some little anxiousness and perplexity,
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  Speaker 1: it is true, but its foundation was not in baffled ambition.
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  Speaker 1: While the Earl told him what had happened, he had
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  Speaker 1: sat on a stool, holding on to his knee, as
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  Speaker 1: he so often did when he was listening to anything interesting,
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  Speaker 1: and by the time the story was finished he looked
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  Speaker 1: quite sober. It makes me feel very queer, he said,
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  Speaker 1: It makes me feel queer. The Earl looked at the
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  Speaker 1: boy in silence. It made him feel queer, too, queerer
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  Speaker 1: than he had ever felt in his whole life. And
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  Speaker 1: he felt more queer still when he saw that there
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  Speaker 1: was a troubled expression on the small face which was
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  Speaker 1: usually so happy. Will they take dearest's house from her
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  Speaker 1: and her carriage? Cedric gasped in a rather unsteady, anxious
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  Speaker 1: little voice. No, said the Earl decidedly, in quite a
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  Speaker 1: loud voice. In fact, they can take nothing from her, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: said Cedric, with evident relief. Can't they? Then he looked
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  Speaker 1: up at his grandfather, and there was a wistful shade
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  Speaker 1: in his eyes, and they looked very big and soft.
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  Speaker 1: That other boy, he said, rather tremulus. He will have
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  Speaker 1: to to be your boy now as I was. Won't he? No,
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  Speaker 1: answered the earl, And he said it so fiercely and
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  Speaker 1: loudly that Cedric quite jumped. No, he exclaimed in wonderment,
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  Speaker 1: won't he? I thought? He stood up from his stool
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  Speaker 1: quite suddenly. Shall I be your boy, even if I'm
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  Speaker 1: not going to be an earl? He said? Shall I
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  Speaker 1: be your boy just as I was before? And his
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  Speaker 1: flushed little face was all alight with eagerness. How the
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  Speaker 1: old Earl did look at him from head to foot
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  Speaker 1: to be sure, How his great shaggy brows did draw
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  Speaker 1: themselves together, and how queerly his deep eyes shone under them,
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  Speaker 1: How very queerly, my boy, he said, And if you
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  Speaker 1: will believe it, his very voice was queer, almost shaky,
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  Speaker 1: and a little broken and hoarse, not at all what
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  Speaker 1: you would expect an earl's voice to be, though he
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  Speaker 1: spoke more decidedly and peremptorily even than before. Yes, you'll
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  Speaker 1: be my boy as long as I live, And by George,
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  Speaker 1: sometimes I feel as if you were the only boy
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  Speaker 1: I had ever had. Cedric's face turned red to the
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  Speaker 1: roots of his hair. It turned red with relief and pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: He put both his hands deep into his pockets and
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  Speaker 1: looked squarely into his noble relative's eyes. Do you, he said, Well,
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  Speaker 1: then I don't care about the earl part at all.
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  Speaker 1: I don't care whether I'm an earl or not. I thought,
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  Speaker 1: you see, I thought the one that was going to
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  Speaker 1: be the earl would have to be your boy too,
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  Speaker 1: and and I couldn't be. That was what made me
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  Speaker 1: feel so queer. The Earl put his hand on his
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  Speaker 1: shoulder and drew him nearer. They shall take nothing from
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  Speaker 1: you that I can hold for you, he said, drawing
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  Speaker 1: his breath home. I won't believe yet that they can
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  Speaker 1: take anything from you. You were made for the place,
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  Speaker 1: and well you may fill it still, But whatever comes
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  Speaker 1: you shall have all that I can give you all.
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  Speaker 1: It scarcely seemed as if he were speaking to a child.
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  Speaker 1: There was such determination in his face and voice. It
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  Speaker 1: was more as if he were making a promise to himself,
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  Speaker 1: and perhaps he was. He had never before known how
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  Speaker 1: deep a hold upon him his fondness for the boy
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  Speaker 1: and his pride in him had taken. He had never
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  Speaker 1: seen his strength and good qualities and beauty as he
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  Speaker 1: seemed to see them now. To his obstinate nature, it
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  Speaker 1: seemed impossible, more than impossible, to give up what he
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  Speaker 1: had so set his heart upon, and he had determined
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  Speaker 1: that he would not give it up without a fierce struggle.
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  Speaker 1: Within a few days after she had seen mister Havisham,
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  Speaker 1: the woman who claimed to be Lady aunt Leroy presented
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  Speaker 1: herself at the castle and brought her child with her.
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  Speaker 1: She was sent away. The Earl would not see her,
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  Speaker 1: she was told by the footman at the door. His
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  Speaker 1: lawyer would attend to her case. It was Thomas who
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  Speaker 1: gave the message, and who expressed his opinion of her
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  Speaker 1: freely afterward in the servants hall. He hoped, he said,
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  Speaker 1: as he had more livery and high families long enough
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  Speaker 1: to know a lady when he see one, and if
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  Speaker 1: that was a lady, he was no judge of females.
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  Speaker 1: The one at the lodge, added Thomas lawfully, Merican or
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  Speaker 1: no American. She is one of the right sort, as
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  Speaker 1: any gentleman would recognize with all eye. I remarked it
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  Speaker 1: myself to Henery. When fust we called there, the woman
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  Speaker 1: drove away, the look on her handsome, calm and face,
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  Speaker 1: half frightened, half fierce. Mister Havisham had noticed during his
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  Speaker 1: interviews with her that though she had a passionate him
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  Speaker 1: and a coarse, insolent manner, she was neither so clever
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  Speaker 1: nor so bold as she meant to be. She seemed
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  Speaker 1: sometimes to be almost overwhelmed by the position in which
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  Speaker 1: she had placed herself. It was as if she had
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  Speaker 1: not expected to meet with such opposition. She is, evidently,
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  Speaker 1: the lawyer said to missus Errol, a person from the
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  Speaker 1: lower walks of life. She is uneducated and untrained in everything,
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  Speaker 1: and quite unused to meeting people like ourselves on any
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  Speaker 1: terms of equality. She does not know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: Her visit to the castle quite cowed her. She was infuriated,
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  Speaker 1: but she was cowed. The Earl would not receive her,
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  Speaker 1: but I advised him to go with me to the
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  Speaker 1: Dorincourt Arms, where she is staying. When she saw him
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  Speaker 1: enter the room, she turned white, though she flew into
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  Speaker 1: a rage at once, and threatened and demanded in one breath.
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  Speaker 1: The fact was that the Earl had stalked into the
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  Speaker 1: room and stood looking like a venor aristocratic giant, staring
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  Speaker 1: at the woman from under his beagling brows, and not
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  Speaker 1: condescending a word. He simply stared at her, taking her
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  Speaker 1: in from head to foot as if she were some
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  Speaker 1: repulsive curiosity. He let her talk and demand until she
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  Speaker 1: was tired, without himself uttering a word. And then he said,
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  Speaker 1: you say you are my eldest son's wife. If that
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  Speaker 1: is true, and if the proof you offer is too
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  Speaker 1: much for us, the law is on your side. In
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  Speaker 1: that case, your boy is Lord Fauntleroy, the matter will
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  Speaker 1: be sifted to the bottom. You may rest assured if
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  Speaker 1: your claims are proved, you will be provided for. I
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  Speaker 1: want to see nothing of either you or the child
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  Speaker 1: so long as I live. The place will unfortunately have
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  Speaker 1: enough of you after my death. You are exactly the
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  Speaker 1: kind of person I should have expected my son Bevis
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  Speaker 1: to choose. And then he turned his back upon her
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  Speaker 1: and stalked out of the room as he had stalked
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  Speaker 1: into it. Not many days after that, a visitor was
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  Speaker 1: announced to missus Errol, who was writing in her little
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  Speaker 1: mourning room. The maid who brought the message looked rather excited.
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  Speaker 1: Her eyes were quite round with amazement in fact, and
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  Speaker 1: being young and inexperienced, she regarded her mistress with nervous sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Earl hisself, ma'am, she said in tremulous awe.
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  Speaker 1: When missus Errol entered the drawing room, a very tall,
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  Speaker 1: majestic looking old man was standing on the tiger skin rug.
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  Speaker 1: He had a handsome, grim old face, with an aquiline profile,
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  Speaker 1: a long white mustache, and an obstinate look. Missus Errol,
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  Speaker 1: I believe, he said, missus Errol, she answered, I am
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  Speaker 1: the Earl of Dorincourt. He said. He paused a moment,
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  Speaker 1: almost unconsciously, to look into her uplifted eyes. They were
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  Speaker 1: so like the big, affectionate, childish eyes he had seen
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  Speaker 1: uplifted to his own so often every day during the
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  Speaker 1: last few months, that they gave him quite a curious sensation.
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  Speaker 1: The boy is very like you, he said abruptly. It
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  Speaker 1: has been often said so, my lord, she replied, but
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  Speaker 1: I have been glad to think him like his father.
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  Speaker 1: Also as lady Loridale had told him. Her voice was
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  Speaker 1: very sweet, and her manner was very simple and dignified.
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  Speaker 1: She did not seem in the least troubled by his
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  Speaker 1: sudden coming. Yes, said the Earl, he is like my
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  Speaker 1: son too. He put his hand up to his big
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  Speaker 1: white mustache and pulled it fiercely. Do you know, he said,
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  Speaker 1: why I have come here. I have seen mister Havisham
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  Speaker 1: Missus Errol began, and he has told me of the
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  Speaker 1: claims which have been made. I have come to tell you,
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  Speaker 1: said the Earl, that they will be investigated and contested.
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  Speaker 1: If a contest can be made, I have come to
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  Speaker 1: tell you that the boy shall be defended with all
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  Speaker 1: the power of the law. His rights, the soft voice
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  Speaker 1: interrupted him. He must have nothing that is not his
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  Speaker 1: by right, even if the law can give it to him,
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  Speaker 1: she said. Unfortunately, the law cannot, said the earl. If
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  Speaker 1: it could, it should this outrageous woman and her child.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps she cares for him as much as I care
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  Speaker 1: for Cedric, my lord, said little missus Errol. And if
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  Speaker 1: she was your eldest son's wife, her son is Lord Fauntleroy,
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  Speaker 1: and mine is not. She was no more afraid of
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  Speaker 1: him than Cedric had been. And she looked at him
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  Speaker 1: just as Cedric would have looked. And he, having been
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  Speaker 1: an old tyrant all his life, was privately pleased by it.
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  Speaker 1: People so seldom dared to differ from him that there
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: was an entertaining novelty in it. I suppose, he said,
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: scowling slightly, that you would much prefer that he should
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  Speaker 1: not be the Earl of Dorincourt. Her fair young face flushed.
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  Speaker 1: It is a very magnificent thing to be the Earl
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  Speaker 1: of Dorincourt, my lord, she said, I know that, But
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  Speaker 1: I care most that he should be what his father was,
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  Speaker 1: brave and just and true always and striking contrast to
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  Speaker 1: what his grandfather was. Eh, said his lordship sardonically. I
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  Speaker 1: have not had the pleasure of knowing his grandfather, replied
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  Speaker 1: missus Errol. But I know my little boy believes. She
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: stopped short a moment, looking quietly into his face, and
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  Speaker 1: then she added, I know that Cedric loves you. Would
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  Speaker 1: he have loved me, said the Earl dryly, if you
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: had told him why I did not receive you at
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: the castle, No, answered missus Errol. I think not that
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: was why I did not wish him to know, well,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: said my lord brusquely. There are few women who would
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: not have told him. He suddenly began to walk up
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and down the room, pulling his great mustache more violently
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  Speaker 1: than ever. Yes, he is fond of me, he said,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and I am fond of him. I can't say I
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  Speaker 1: ever was fond of anything before. I am fond of him.
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  Speaker 1: He pleased me from the first. I am an old
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  Speaker 1: man and was tired of my life. He has given
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  Speaker 1: me something to live for. I am proud of him.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: I was satisfied to think of his taking his place
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  Speaker 1: some day as the head of the family. He came
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: back and stood before missus Errol. I am miserable, he said, miserable.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: He looked as if he was. Even his pride could
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: not keep his voice steady or his hands from shaking.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: For a moment, it almost seemed as if his deep,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: fierce eyes had tears in them. Perhaps it is because
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I am miserable that I have come to you, he said,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: quite glaring down at her. I used to hate you.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I have been jealous of you. This wretched, disgraceful business
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: has changed that. After seeing that repulsive woman who calls
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: herself the wife of my son, Bevis. I actually felt
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: it would be a relief to look at you. I
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: have been an obstinate, old fool, and I suppose I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: have treated you badly. You are like the boy, and
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the boy is the first object in my life. I
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: am miserable, and I came to you merely because you
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: are like the boy, and he cares for you, and
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I care for him. Treat me as well as you can,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: for the boy's sake. He said it all in his
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: harsh voice, almost roughly, but somehow he seemed so broken
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: down for the time that Missus Arrow was touched to
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: the heart. She got up and moved an arm chair
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  Speaker 1: a little forward. I wish you would sit down, she said,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: in a soft, pretty sympathetic way. You have been so
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: much troubled that you were very tired, and you need
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: all your strength. It was just as new to him
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  Speaker 1: to be spoken to and cared for in that gentle,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: simple way as it was to be contradicted. He was
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: reminded of the boy again, and he actually did as
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: she asked him. Perhaps his disappointment and wretchedness were good
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: discipline for him. If he had not been wretched, he
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: might have continued to hate her, but just at present
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: he found her a little soothing. Almost anything would have
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: seemed pleasant by contrast with Lady Fauntleroy, and this one
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: had so sweet a face and voice, and a pretty
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: dignity when she spoke or moved. Very soon, through the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: quiet magic of these influences, he began to feel less gloomy.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: And then he talked still more. Whatever happens, he said,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the boy shall be provided for. He shall be taken
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: care of now and in the future. Before he went away,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: he glanced around the room. Do you like the house,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: he demanded, very much? She answered, this is a cheerful room,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: he said. May I come here again and talk this
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: matter over as often as you wish? My lord, she replied,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: And then he went out to his carriage and drove away.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Thomas and Henry almost stricken dumb upon the box. If
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: the turn affairs had taken end of chapter twelve.