Маленький Лорд Фаунтлерой. Уровень 1 / Little Lord Fauntleroy. Фрэнсис Элиза БёрнеттЧитать онлайн книгу.

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he was very pretty, and was living as a companion to a rich old lady who was not kind to her. One day Captain Cedric Errol saw her and she looked so sweet and innocent and so sad that the Captain could not forget her. And after many strange things had happened, they knew each other well and loved each other very much, and were married, although their marriage brought them theill-will[4] of several persons. The one who was most angry of all was the Captain’s father. He lived in England, and was a very rich and important old nobleman[5], with a very bad temper and a very strong dislike to America and Americans. He had two sons older than Captain Cedric; and it was the law that the elder of these sons should inherit[6] the family title and estates. If the eldest son died, the next one would be heir[7]; so, though he was a member of such a great family, it was a small chance that Captain Cedric would be very rich.

      But it happened so that Nature had given gifts[8] only to the youngest son. He was beautiful, brave and generous, and had the kindest heart in the world, and seemed to have the power to make everyone love him. And it was not so with his elder brothers; they were not handsome, or very kind, or clever. The old Earl, their father, was constantly disappointed and humiliated[9] by them; his heir was no honor to his noble name. It was in one of his fits of petulance[10] that he sent the third son off to travel in America; he thought he would send him away for a while[11], so that he should not be made angry by constantly contrasting him with his brothers, who were at that time giving him a lot of trouble.

      But, after about six months, he began to feel lonely, and secretly wished to see his son again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric and ordered him home. The letter he wrote crossed on its way a letter the Captain had just written to his father, telling of his love for the pretty American girl, and of his intended marriage; and when the Earl received that letter he was very angry. For an hour he raged like a tiger, and then he sat down and wrote to his son, and ordered him never to come near his old home, nor to write to his father or brothers again. The Captain was very sad when he read the letter; he loved England, the home where he had been born, and even his bad-tempered[12] father. He had a small house on a quiet street, and his little boy was born there, and everything was so good and cheerful, in a simple way, that he was never sorry for a moment that he had married the rich old lady’s pretty companion just because she was so sweet and he loved her and she loved him. She was very sweet, indeed, and her little boy was like both her and his father. In the first place, he was always well, and so he never gave anyone trouble; in the second place, he had such a sweet temper and was so charming[13] that he was a pleasure to everyone; and in the third place, he was so beautiful to look at. And his manners were so good, for a baby, that it was delightful[14] to make his acquaintance[15]. He seemed to feel that everyone was his friend. And every month of his life he grew more handsome and more interesting. As he grew older, he had a great many unusual little ways which amused and interested people greatly. When he was quite little, he learned to read; and after that he used to lie on the hearth-rug, in the evening, and read aloud.

      His greatest friend was the grocery man at the corner. His name was Mr. Hobbs, and Cedric admired and respected him very much. It was quite surprising how many things they found to talk about-the Fourth of July, for instance. It was, perhaps, Mr. Hobbs who gave him his first interest in politics. Mr. Hobbs was fond of reading the newspapers, and so Cedric heard a great deal about what was going on in Washington; and Mr. Hobbs would tell him whether the President was doing his duty or not. And once, when there was an election, he found it all quite grand, and probably but for Mr. Hobbs and Cedric the country might have been wrecked.

      Mr. Hobbs took him to see a great torchlight procession[16], and many of the men who carried torches remembered afterward a stout[17] man who held on his shoulder a handsome little shouting boy, who waved his cap in the air.

      It was not long after this election, when Cedric was between seven and eight years old, that the very strange thing happened which made such a wonderful change in his life.

      He was in the middle of their conversation with Mr. Hobbs, who was telling him how he hated lords and marquises, calling them grasping tyrants[18], when Mary, an old servant of Mrs. Erroll, appeared.

      She looked almost pale and as if she were excited about something.

      “Come home, darling,” she said; “the mistress is waiting for you.”

      “Does she want me to go out with her, Mary?” he asked. “Good morning, Mr. Hobbs. I’ll see you again.”

      When he reached his own house there was a coupe[19] standing before the door and someone was in the little parlor[20] talking to his mamma. A tall, thin old gentleman with a sharp face was sitting in an armchair. His mother was standing nearby with a pale face, and he saw that there were tears in her eyes.

      “Oh! Ceddie!” she cried out, and ran to her little boy and caught him in her arms and kissed him in a worried way. “Oh! Ceddie, darling!”

      The tall old gentleman stood up from his chair and looked at Cedric with his sharp eyes. He rubbed his thin chin with his skinny hand as he looked.

      “And so,” he said at last, slowly, – “and so this is little Lord Fauntleroy.”

      _II

      There was never a more amazed little boy than Cedric during the week that followed; there was never such a strange or unreal week. In the first place, the story his mamma told him was a very interesting one. He was obliged[21] to hear it two or three times before he could understand it. It began with earls: his grandpapa, whom he had never seen, was an earl; and his eldest uncle, if he had not been killed by a fall from his horse, would have been an earl, too, in time; and after his death, his other uncle would have been an earl, if he had not died suddenly, in Rome, of a fever. After that, his own papa, if he had lived, would have been an earl, but, since they all had died and only Cedric was left, it appeared that HE was to be an earl after his grandpapa’s death-and for the present he was Lord Fauntleroy.

      When Mr. Havisham-who was the family lawyer of the Earl of Dorincourt, and who had been sent by him to bring Lord Fauntleroy to England-came the next day, Cedric heard many things. But, somehow, it did not comfort him to hear that he was to be a very rich man when he grew up. He was worried about his friend, Mr. Hobbs, and he went to see him at the store soon after breakfast.

      He found him reading the morning paper, and he came to him with a serious look.

      “Hello!” said Mr. Hobbs. “Morning!”

      “Good morning,” said Cedric.

      He did not climb up on the high chair as usual, but sat down on a cracker-box and was so silent for a few moments that Mr. Hobbs finally looked up inquiringly[22] over the top of his newspaper.

      “Hello!” he said again.

      Cedric gathered all his strength of mind together.

      “Mr. Hobbs,” he said, “do you remember what we were talking about yesterday morning?”

      “Well,” replied Mr. Hobbs, – “it seems to me it was England.”

      “Yes,”

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