Stranica 89 [89]
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 69
‘It's the most beautiful place I ever saw!” said Cedric, his round
face flushing with pleasure. ‘It reminds any one of a king’s palace.
I saw a picture of one once in a fairy-book.”
He saw the great entrance-door thrown open and many servants
. standing in two lines looking at him. He wondered why they were
standing there, and admired their liveries very much. He did not
know that they were there to do honor to the little boy to whom all
this splendor would one day belong,—the beautiful castle like the
fairy king’s palace, the magnificent park, the grand old trees, the
dells full of ferns and bluebells where the hares and rabbits played,
the dappled, large-eyed deer couching in the deep grass. It was
only a couple of weeks since he had sat with Mr. Hobbs among the
potatoes and canned peaches, with his legs dangling from the high
stool; it would not have been possible for him to realize that he had
very much to do with all this grandeur. At the head of the line of
servants there stood an elderly woman in a rich, plain black silk
gown; she had gray hair and wore a cap. As he entered the hall
she stood nearer than the rest, and the child thought from the look
in her eyes that she was going to speak to him. Mr. Havisham, who
held his hand, paused a moment.
“This is Lord Fauntleroy, Mrs. Mellon,” he said. "Lord Faunt¬
leroy, this is Mrs. Mellon, who is the housekeeper.”
Cedric gave her his hand, his eyes lighting up.
‘Was it you who sent the cat?” he said. ‘‘ I’m much obliged to
you, ma am."
Mrs. Mellon’s handsome old face looked as pleased as the face
of the lodge-keepers wife had done.
‘T should know his lordship anywhere, she said to Mr. Havisham.
‘“He has the Captain’s face and way. It s a great day, this, sir.”
Cedric wondered why it was a great day. He looked at Mrs.
Mellon curiously. It seemed to him for a moment as if there were