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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven. On the following Sunday morning, mister Mordan had
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  Speaker 1: a large congregation. Indeed, he could scarcely remember any Sunday
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  Speaker 1: on which the church had been so crowded. People appeared
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  Speaker 1: upon the scene who seldom did him the honor of
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  Speaker 1: coming to hear his sermons. There were even people from Hazelton,
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  Speaker 1: which was the next parish. There were hardy, sunburned farmers,
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  Speaker 1: stout comfortable, apple cheeked wives and their best bonnets and
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  Speaker 1: most gorgeous shawls, and half a dozen children or so
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  Speaker 1: to each family. The doctor's wife was there with her
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  Speaker 1: four daughters, Missus Kimsey, and mister Kimsey, who kept the
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  Speaker 1: druggists shop and made pills and dead up powders for
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  Speaker 1: everybody within ten miles sat in their pew. Missus Dibble
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  Speaker 1: and hers, Miss Smith, the village dressmaker, and her friend,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Perkins, the milliner, sat in theirs. The doctor's young
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  Speaker 1: man was present, and the druggist's apprentice. In fact, almost
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  Speaker 1: every family on the country side was represented in one
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  Speaker 1: way or another. In the course of the preceding week,
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  Speaker 1: many wonderful stories had been told of little Lord Fauntleroy.
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  Speaker 1: Missus dibble had been kept so busy attending to customers
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  Speaker 1: who came in to buy a pennyworth of needles or
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  Speaker 1: a hop berth of tape, and to hear what she
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  Speaker 1: had to relate that the little shop bell over the
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  Speaker 1: door had nearly tinkled itself to death. Over the coming
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  Speaker 1: and going. Missus dibble knew exactly how his small lordship's
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  Speaker 1: rooms had been furnished for him, what expensive toys had
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  Speaker 1: been bought, how there was a beautiful brown pony awaiting him,
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  Speaker 1: and a small groom to attend it, and a little
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  Speaker 1: dog cart with silver mounted harness. And she could tell
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  Speaker 1: too what all the servants had said when they had
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  Speaker 1: caught glimpses of the child on the night of his arrival,
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  Speaker 1: and how every female below stairs had said it was
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  Speaker 1: a shame so it was to part the poor pretty
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  Speaker 1: deer from his mother, and had all declared their hearts
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  Speaker 1: came into their mouths when he went alone into the
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  Speaker 1: library to see his grandfather, for there was no knowing
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  Speaker 1: how he'd be treated, and his lordship's temper was enough
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  Speaker 1: to fluster them with old heads on their shoulders, let
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  Speaker 1: alone a child. But if you'll believe me, Missus Jennifer Mum,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Dibble had said, fear that child does not know,
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  Speaker 1: So mister Thomas hisself says, and set and smile he did,
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  Speaker 1: and talked to his lordship as if they'd been friends
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  Speaker 1: ever since his first hour, and the Earl so took aback.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Thomas says that he couldn't do nothing but listen
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  Speaker 1: and stare from under his eyebrows. And it's mister Thomas's opinion,
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  Speaker 1: Missus Bates Mum, that bad as he is, he was
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  Speaker 1: pleased in his secret soul, and proud too for a
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  Speaker 1: handsomer little fellow, or with better manners, though so old fashioned,
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  Speaker 1: mister Thomas says he'd never wished to see. And then
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  Speaker 1: there had come the story of Higgins. The reverend mister
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  Speaker 1: Mortid had told it his own dinner table, and the
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  Speaker 1: servants who had heard it had told it in the kitchen,
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  Speaker 1: and from there it had spread like wildfire. And on
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  Speaker 1: market day, when Higgins had appeared in town, he had
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  Speaker 1: been questioned on every side, and Knewick had been questioned too,
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  Speaker 1: and in response had shown to two or three people
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  Speaker 1: the note signed Fauntleroy. And so the farmer's wives had
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  Speaker 1: found plenty to talk of over their tea and their shopping,
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  Speaker 1: and they had done the subject full justice and made
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  Speaker 1: the most of it. And on Sunday they had either
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  Speaker 1: walked to church or had been driven in their gigs
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  Speaker 1: by their husbands, who were perhaps a trifle curious themselves
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  Speaker 1: about the new little lord who was to be in
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  Speaker 1: time the owner of the soil. It was by no
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  Speaker 1: means the Earl's have it to attend church, but he
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  Speaker 1: chose to appear on this first Sunday. It was his
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  Speaker 1: whim to present himself in the huge family pew, with
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  Speaker 1: Fauntleroy at his side. There were many loiterers in the churchyard,
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  Speaker 1: and many lingerers in the lane that morning. There were
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  Speaker 1: groups at the gates and in the porch, and there
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  Speaker 1: had been much discussion as to whether my Lord would
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  Speaker 1: really appear or not. When this discussion was at its height,
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  Speaker 1: one good woman suddenly uttered an exclamation, eh. She said
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  Speaker 1: that must be the mother, pretty young thing. All who
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  Speaker 1: heard turned and looked at the slender figure in black
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  Speaker 1: coming up the path. The veil was thrown back from
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  Speaker 1: her face, and they could see how fair and sweet
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  Speaker 1: it was, and how the bright hair curled as softly
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  Speaker 1: as a child's under the little widow's cap. She was
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  Speaker 1: not thinking of the people about. She was thinking of
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  Speaker 1: Cedric and of his visits to her, and his joy
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  Speaker 1: over his new pony, on which he had actually ridden
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  Speaker 1: to her door the day before, sitting very straight and
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  Speaker 1: looking very proud and happy. But soon she could not
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  Speaker 1: help being attracted by the fact that she was being
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  Speaker 1: looked at, and that her arrival had created some sort
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  Speaker 1: of sensation. She first noticed it because an old woman
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  Speaker 1: in a red cloak made a bobbing courtesy to her,
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  Speaker 1: and then another did the same thing and said, God,
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  Speaker 1: bless you, my lady, and one man after another took
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  Speaker 1: off his hat as she passed. For a moment she
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  Speaker 1: did not understand, and then she realized that it was
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  Speaker 1: because she was little Lord Fauntleroy's mother that they did so,
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  Speaker 1: And she flushed rather shyly, and smiled and bowed too,
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  Speaker 1: and said thank you in a gentle voice to the
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  Speaker 1: old woman who had blessed her. To a person who
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  Speaker 1: had always lived in a bustling, crowded American city, this
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  Speaker 1: simple deference was very novel, and at first just a
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  Speaker 1: little embarrassing, But after all she could not help liking
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  Speaker 1: and being touched by the friendly, warm heartedness of which
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  Speaker 1: it seemed to speak. She had scarcely passed through the
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  Speaker 1: stone porch into the church before the great event of
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  Speaker 1: the day happened. The carriage from the castle, with its
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  Speaker 1: handsome horses and tall liveried servants, bowled around the corner
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  Speaker 1: and down the green lane. Here they come, went from
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  Speaker 1: one looker on to another, And then the carriage drew up,
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  Speaker 1: and Thomas stepped down and opened the door, and a
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  Speaker 1: little boy, dressed in black velvet and with a splendid
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  Speaker 1: mop of bright waving hair, jumped out. Every Man, woman
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  Speaker 1: and child looked curiously upon him. He's that captain over again,
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  Speaker 1: said those of the onlookers who remembered his father. He's
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  Speaker 1: the Captain's self to the life. He stood there in
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  Speaker 1: the sunlight, looking up at the Earl as Thomas helped
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  Speaker 1: that nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest that could
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  Speaker 1: be imagined. The instant he could help, he put out
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  Speaker 1: his hand and offered his shoulder, as if he had
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  Speaker 1: been seven feet high. It was plain enough to everyone that,
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  Speaker 1: however it might be, with other people, the Earl of
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  Speaker 1: Dorincourt struck no terror into the breast of his grandson.
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  Speaker 1: Just lean on me. They heard him say, how glad
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  Speaker 1: the people are to see you, and how well they
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  Speaker 1: all seem to know you. Take off your cap, Fauntleroy,
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  Speaker 1: said the earl. They are bowing to you. To me,
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  Speaker 1: cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, bearing
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  Speaker 1: his bright head to the crowd, and turning, shining puzzled
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  Speaker 1: eyes on them as he tried to bow to every
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  Speaker 1: one at once. God bless your lordship, said the curtseying,
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  Speaker 1: red cloaked old woman who had spoken to his mother.
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  Speaker 1: Long life to you. Thank you, ma'am, said Fauntleroy, And
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  Speaker 1: then they went into the church and were looked at there.
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  Speaker 1: On their way up the aisle to the square red
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  Speaker 1: cushioned and curtained pew. When Fauntleroy was fairly seated, he
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  Speaker 1: made two discoveries which pleased him. The first that across
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  Speaker 1: the church, where he could look at her, his mother
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  Speaker 1: sat and smiled at him. The second that at one
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  Speaker 1: end of the pew, against the wall, knelt two quaint
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  Speaker 1: figures carven in stone, facing each other as they kneeled
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  Speaker 1: on either side of a pillar. Supporting two stone missiles,
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  Speaker 1: their pointed hands folded as if in prayer, their dress
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  Speaker 1: very antique and strange. On the tablet by them was
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  Speaker 1: written something of which he could only read, though curious words.
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  Speaker 1: Hereliath the body of Gregory Arthur, first Earl of Dorincourt,
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  Speaker 1: also of Alison Hildegarde. His wife may I whisper, inquired
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  Speaker 1: his lordship, devoured by curiosity, what is it? Said his grandfather?
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  Speaker 1: Who are they? Some of your ancestors, answered the Earl,
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  Speaker 1: who lived a few hundred years ago. Perhaps, said Lord Fauntleroy,
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  Speaker 1: regarding them with respect. Perhaps I got my spelling from them.
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  Speaker 1: And then he proceeded to find his place in the
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  Speaker 1: church service. When the music began, he stood up and
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  Speaker 1: looked across at his mother, smiling. He was very fond
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  Speaker 1: of music, and his mother and he often sang together,
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  Speaker 1: so he joined in with the rest, his pure, sweet
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  Speaker 1: high voice rising as clear as the song of a bird.
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  Speaker 1: He quite forgot himself in his pleasure in it. The
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  Speaker 1: Earl forgot himself a little too, as he sat in
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  Speaker 1: his curtained, shielded corner of the pew and watched the
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  Speaker 1: boy Cedric stood with the big psalter open in his hands,
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  Speaker 1: singing with all his childish might. His face a little
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  Speaker 1: uplifted happily, and as he sang, a long ray of
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  Speaker 1: sunshine crept in and slanting through a golden pane of
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  Speaker 1: a stained glass window, brightened the falling hair about his
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  Speaker 1: young head. His mother, as she looked at him across
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  Speaker 1: the church, felt a thrill pass through her heart, and
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  Speaker 1: a prayer rose in it too, a prayer that the pure,
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  Speaker 1: simple happiness of his childish soul might last, and that
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  Speaker 1: the strange great fortune which had fallen to him might
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  Speaker 1: bring no wrong or evil with it. There were many soft,
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  Speaker 1: anxious thoughts in her tender heart in those new days.
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  Speaker 1: Oh seti, she had said to him the evening before,
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  Speaker 1: as she hung over him, and saying good night before
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  Speaker 1: he went away. Oh satti, dear, I wish for your sake.
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  Speaker 1: I was very clever and could say a great many
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  Speaker 1: wise things. But only be good, dear, Only be brave,
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  Speaker 1: Only be kind and true always, and then you will
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  Speaker 1: never hurt any one so long as you live, and
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  Speaker 1: you may help many, And the big world may be
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  Speaker 1: better because my little child was born. And that is
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  Speaker 1: best of all, said he. It is better than everything else,
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  Speaker 1: that the world should be a little better because a
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  Speaker 1: man has lived, even ever so little better, dearest. And
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  Speaker 1: on his return to the castle, Fauntleroy had repeated her
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  Speaker 1: words to his grandfather. And I thought about you when
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  Speaker 1: she said that, he ended, And I told her that
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  Speaker 1: was the way the world was, because you had lived.
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  Speaker 1: And I was going to try if I could be
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  Speaker 1: like you. And what did she say to that, asked
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  Speaker 1: his lordship, A trifle uneasily, She said that was right,
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  Speaker 1: and we must always look for good in people and
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  Speaker 1: try to be like it. Perhaps it was this, the
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  Speaker 1: old man remembered as he glanced through the divided folds
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  Speaker 1: of the red curtain of his pew. Many times he
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  Speaker 1: looked over the people's heads to where his son's wife
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  Speaker 1: sat alone, and he saw the fair face the unforgiven
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  Speaker 1: dead had loved, and the eyes which are so like
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  Speaker 1: those of the child at his side. But what his
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  Speaker 1: thoughts were, and whether they were hard and bitter or
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  Speaker 1: softened a little, it would have been hard to discover.
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  Speaker 1: As they came out of church, many of those who
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  Speaker 1: had attended the service stood waiting to see them pass.
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  Speaker 1: As they neared the gate. A man who stood with
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  Speaker 1: his hat in his hand, made a step forward, and
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  Speaker 1: then hesitated. He was a middle aged farm with a
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  Speaker 1: careworn face. Well, Higgins, said the Earl. Fauntleroy turned quickly
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  Speaker 1: to look at him. Oh, he exclaimed, Is it mister Higgins. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: answered the Earl dryly. And I suppose he came to
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  Speaker 1: take a look at his new landlord. Yes, my lord,
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  Speaker 1: said the man, his sunburned face reddening. Mister Newitt told
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  Speaker 1: me his young lordship was kind enough to speak for me,
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  Speaker 1: and I thought I'd like to say a word of thanks,
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  Speaker 1: if I might be allowed. Perhaps he felt some wonder
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  Speaker 1: when he saw what a little fellow it was who
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  Speaker 1: had innocently done so much for him, and who stood
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  Speaker 1: there looking up, just as one of his own less
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  Speaker 1: fortunate children might have done, apparently not realizing his own
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  Speaker 1: importance in the least. I've a great deal to thank
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  Speaker 1: your lordship for, he said, A great deal, I oh,
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  Speaker 1: said Fauntleroy. I only wrote the letter. It was my
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  Speaker 1: grandfather who did it. But you know how he is
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  Speaker 1: about always being good to everybody, is missus Higgins? Well? Now,
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  Speaker 1: Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat
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  Speaker 1: startled at hearing his noble landlord presented in the character
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  Speaker 1: of a benevolent being full of engaging qualities. I well, yes,
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  Speaker 1: your lordship, he stammered. The missus is better since the
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  Speaker 1: trouble was took off her mind. It was worrying broke
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  Speaker 1: her down. I'm glad of that, said faul de Roy.
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  Speaker 1: My grandfather was very sorry about your children having the
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  Speaker 1: scarlet fever, and so was I. He has had children himself.
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  Speaker 1: I'm his son's little boy. You know. Higgins was on
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  Speaker 1: the verge of being panic stricken. He felt it would
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  Speaker 1: be the safer and more discreet plan not to look
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  Speaker 1: at the earl, as it had been well known that
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  Speaker 1: his fatherly affection for his sons had been such that
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  Speaker 1: he had seen them about twice a year, and that
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  Speaker 1: when they had been ill, he had promptly to hearted
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  Speaker 1: for London because he would not be bored with doctors
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  Speaker 1: and nurses. It was a little trying, therefore, to his
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  Speaker 1: Lordship's nerves, to be told while he looked on his
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  Speaker 1: eyes gleaming from under his shaggy eyebrows, that he felt
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  Speaker 1: an interest in scarlet fever. You see, Higgins broke in
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  Speaker 1: the Earl with a fine, grim smile. You people have
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  Speaker 1: been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. When you
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  Speaker 1: want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply
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  Speaker 1: to him, get into the carriage, Fauntleroy and Fauntleroy jumped in,
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  Speaker 1: and the carriage rolled away down the green lane, and
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  Speaker 1: even when it turned the corner into the high road,
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  Speaker 1: the Earl was still grimly smiling. End of Chapter seven