IX
The fact was, his lordship the Earl of Dorincourt thought in thosedays, of many things of which he had never thought before, and all histhoughts were in one way or another connected with his grandson. Hispride was the strongest part of his nature, and the boy gratified it atevery point. Through this pride he began to find a new interest in life.He began to take pleasure in showing his heir to the world. The worldhad known of his disappointment in his sons; so there was an agreeabletouch of triumph in exhibiting this new Lord Fauntleroy, who coulddisappoint no one. He wished the child to appreciate his own power andto understand the splendor of his position; he wished that others shouldrealize it too. He made plans for his future.
Sometimes in secret he actually found himself wishing that his own pastlife had been a better one, and that there had been less in it that thispure, childish heart would shrink from if it knew the truth. It was notagreeable to think how the beautiful, innocent face would look if itsowner should be made by any chance to understand that his grandfatherhad been called for many a year "the wicked Earl of Dorincourt." Thethought even made him feel a trifle nervous. He did not wish the boyto find it out. Sometimes in this new interest he forgot his gout,and after a while his doctor was surprised to find his noble patient'shealth growing better than he had expected it ever would be again.Perhaps the Earl grew better because the time did not pass so slowly forhim, and he had something to think of beside his pains and infirmities.
One fine morning, people were amazed to see little Lord Fauntleroyriding his pony with another companion than Wilkins. This new companionrode a tall, powerful gray horse, and was no other than the Earlhimself. It was, in fact, Fauntleroy who had suggested this plan. As hehad been on the point of mounting his pony, he had said rather wistfullyto his grandfather:
"I wish you were going with me. When I go away I feel lonely becauseyou are left all by yourself in such a big castle. I wish you could ridetoo."
And the greatest excitement had been aroused in the stables a fewminutes later by the arrival of an order that Selim was to be saddledfor the Earl. After that, Selim was saddled almost every day; and thepeople became accustomed to the sight of the tall gray horse carryingthe tall gray old man, with his handsome, fierce, eagle face, by theside of the brown pony which bore little Lord Fauntleroy. And in theirrides together through the green lanes and pretty country roads, the tworiders became more intimate than ever. And gradually the old man hearda great deal about "Dearest" and her life. As Fauntleroy trotted by thebig horse he chatted gayly. There could not well have been a brighterlittle comrade, his nature was so happy. It was he who talked the most.The Earl often was silent, listening and watching the joyous, glowingface. Sometimes he would tell his young companion to set the pony off ata gallop, and when the little fellow dashed off, sitting so straight andfearless, he would watch him with a gleam of pride and pleasure in hiseyes; and when, after such a dash, Fauntleroy came back waving his capwith a laughing shout, he always felt that he and his grandfather werevery good friends indeed.
One thing that the Earl discovered was that his son's wife did not leadan idle life. It was not long before he learned that the poor peopleknew her very well indeed. When there was sickness or sorrow or povertyin any house, the little brougham often stood before the door.
"Do you know," said Fauntleroy once, "they all say, 'God bless you!'when they see her, and the children are glad. There are some who go toher house to be taught to sew. She says she feels so rich now that shewants to help the poor ones."
It had not displeased the Earl to find that the mother of his heir had abeautiful young face and looked as much like a lady as if she had beena duchess; and in one way it did not displease him to know that she waspopular and beloved by the poor. And yet he was often conscious of ahard, jealous pang when he saw how she filled her child's heart and howthe boy clung to her as his best beloved. The old man would have desiredto stand first himself and have no rival.
That same morning he drew up his horse on an elevated point of the moorover which they rode, and made a gesture with his whip, over the broad,beautiful landscape spread before them.
"Do you know that all that land belongs to me?" he said to Fauntleroy.
"Does it?" answered Fauntleroy. "How much it is to belong to one person,and how beautiful!"
"Do you know that some day it will all belong to you--that and a greatdeal more?"
"To me!" exclaimed Fauntleroy in rather an awe-stricken voice. "When?"
"When I am dead," his grandfather answered.
"Then I don't want it," said Fauntleroy; "I want you to live always."
"That's kind," answered the Earl in his dry way; "nevertheless, some dayit will all be yours--some day you will be the Earl of Dorincourt."
Little Lord Fauntleroy sat very still in his saddle for a few moments.He looked over the broad moors, the green farms, the beautiful copses,the cottages in the lanes, the pretty village, and over the trees towhere the turrets of the great castle rose, gray and stately. Then hegave a queer little sigh.
"What are you thinking of?" asked the Earl.
"I am thinking," replied Fauntleroy, "what a little boy I am! and ofwhat Dearest said to me."
"What was it?" inquired the Earl.
"She said that perhaps it was not so easy to be very rich; that if anyone had so many things always, one might sometimes forget that everyone else was not so fortunate, and that one who is rich should alwaysbe careful and try to remember. I was talking to her about how good youwere, and she said that was such a good thing, because an earl hadso much power, and if he cared only about his own pleasure and neverthought about the people who lived on his lands, they might have troublethat he could help--and there were so many people, and it would be sucha hard thing. And I was just looking at all those houses, and thinkinghow I should have to find out about the people, when I was an earl. Howdid you find out about them?"
As his lordship's knowledge of his tenantry consisted in finding outwhich of them paid their rent promptly, and in turning out those whodid not, this was rather a hard question. "Newick finds out for me,"he said, and he pulled his great gray mustache, and looked at his smallquestioner rather uneasily. "We will go home now," he added; "and whenyou are an earl, see to it that you are a better earl than I have been!"
He was very silent as they rode home. He felt it to be almost incrediblethat he who had never really loved any one in his life, should findhimself growing so fond of this little fellow,--as without doubt hewas. At first he had only been pleased and proud of Cedric's beauty andbravery, but there was something more than pride in his feeling now. Helaughed a grim, dry laugh all to himself sometimes, when he thought howhe liked to have the boy near him, how he liked to hear his voice, andhow in secret he really wished to be liked and thought well of by hissmall grandson.
"I'm an old fellow in my dotage, and I have nothing else to think of,"he would say to himself; and yet he knew it was not that altogether.And if he had allowed himself to admit the truth, he would perhaps havefound himself obliged to own that the very things which attracted him,in spite of himself, were the qualities he had never possessed--thefrank, true, kindly nature, the affectionate trustfulness which couldnever think evil.
It was only about a week after that ride when, after a visit to hismother, Fauntleroy came into the library with a troubled, thoughtfulface. He sat down in that high-backed chair in which he had sat on theevening of his arrival, and for a while he looked at the embers on thehearth. The Earl watched him in silence, wondering what was coming. Itwas evident that Cedric had something on his mind. At last he looked up."Does Newick know all about the people?" he asked.
"It is his business to know about them," said his lordship. "Beenneglecting it--has he?"
Contradictory as it may seem, there was nothing which entertained andedified him more than the little fellow's interest in his tenantry. Hehad never taken any interest in them himself, but it pleased him wellenough that, with all his childish habits of tho
ught and in the midstof all his childish amusements and high spirits, there should be such aquaint seriousness working in the curly head.
"There is a place," said Fauntleroy, looking up at him with wide-open,horror-stricken eye--"Dearest has seen it; it is at the other end of thevillage. The houses are close together, and almost falling down; youcan scarcely breathe; and the people are so poor, and everything isdreadful! Often they have fever, and the children die; and it makes themwicked to live like that, and be so poor and miserable! It is worse thanMichael and Bridget! The rain comes in at the roof! Dearest went to seea poor woman who lived there. She would not let me come near her untilshe had changed all her things. The tears ran down her cheeks when shetold me about it!"
The tears had come into his own eyes, but he smiled through them.
"I told her you didn't know, and I would tell you," he said. He jumpeddown and came and leaned against the Earl's chair. "You can make it allright," he said, "just as you made it all right for Higgins. You alwaysmake it all right for everybody. I told her you would, and that Newickmust have forgotten to tell you."
The Earl looked down at the hand on his knee. Newick had not forgottento tell him; in fact, Newick had spoken to him more than once of thedesperate condition of the end of the village known as Earl's Court.He knew all about the tumble-down, miserable cottages, and the baddrainage, and the damp walls and broken windows and leaking roofs,and all about the poverty, the fever, and the misery. Mr. Mordaunthad painted it all to him in the strongest words he could use, and hislordship had used violent language in response; and, when his gout hadbeen at the worst, he said that the sooner the people of Earl's Courtdied and were buried by the parish the better it would be,--and therewas an end of the matter. And yet, as he looked at the small hand on hisknee, and from the small hand to the honest, earnest, frank-eyed face,he was actually a little ashamed both of Earl's Court and himself.
"What!" he said; "you want to make a builder of model cottages of me,do you?" And he positively put his own hand upon the childish one andstroked it.
"Those must be pulled down," said Fauntleroy, with great eagerness."Dearest says so. Let us--let us go and have them pulled down to-morrow.The people will be so glad when they see you! They'll know you have cometo help them!" And his eyes shone like stars in his glowing face.
The Earl rose from his chair and put his hand on the child's shoulder."Let us go out and take our walk on the terrace," he said, with a shortlaugh; "and we can talk it over."
And though he laughed two or three times again, as they walked to andfro on the broad stone terrace, where they walked together almostevery fine evening, he seemed to be thinking of something which didnot displease him, and still he kept his hand on his small companion'sshoulder.