Stranica 47 [47]
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 27
red legs, made him feel some excitement. "I really—I really can’t
help hoping he will win!” he said, with an apologetic sort of cough.
At that moment, the wildest yell of all went up from the dancing,
hopping boys. With one last frantic leap the future Earl of Dorin¬
court had reached the lamp-post at the end of
the block and touched it, just two seconds be¬
fore Billy Williams flung himself at it, panting.
‘Three cheers for Ceddie Errol!” yelled
the little boys. " Hooray for Ceddie Errol!”
Mr. Havisham drew his head in at the
window of his coupé and leaned back with
a dry smile.
‘Bravo, Lord Fauntleroy!” he said.
As his carriage stopped before the door
of Mrs. Errol’s house, the victor and the
vanquished were coming toward it, attended
by the clamoring crew. Cedric walked by
Billy Williams and was speaking to him. His
elated little face was very red, his curls clung
to his hot, moist forehead, his hands were in
his pockets.
‘You see,” he was saying, evidently with the intention of making
defeat easy for his unsuccessful rival, "1 guess I won because my
legs are a little longer than yours. I guess that was it. You see,
[’m three days older than you, and that gives me a ‘vantage. I m.
three days older.”
And this view of the case seemed to cheer Billy Williams so
much that he began to smile on the world again, and felt able to
swagger a little, almost as if he had won the race instead of losing
it. Somehow, Ceddie Errol had a way of making people feel com¬
fortable. Even in the first flush of his triumphs, he remembered
THE RACE,