Stranica 102 [102]
92 LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY.
his unaccustomed eyes seemed quite dazzling. A stranger looking
on might well have smiled at the picture,—the greag stately room,
the big liveried servants, the bright lights, the glittering silver and
glass, the fierce-looking old nobleman at the head of the table and
the very small boy at the foot. Dinner was usually a very serious
matter with the Earl—and it was a very serious matter with the
cook, if his lordship was not pleased or had an indifferent appetite.
To-day, however, his appetite seemed a trifle better than usual,
perhaps because he had something to think of beside the flavor
of the extrées and the management of the gravies. His grandson
gave him something to think of. He kept looking at him across
the table. He did not say very much himself, but he managed to
make the boy talk. He had never imagined that he could be enter¬
tained by hearing a child talk, but Lord Fauntleroy at once puzzled ¬
and amused him, and he kept remembering how he had let the
childish shoulder feel his weight just for the sake of trying how far
the boys courage and endurance would go, and it pleased him to
know that his grandson had not quailed and had not seemed to
think even for a moment of giving up what he had undertaken to do.
“You dont wear your coronet all the time?” remarked Lord
Fauntleroy respectfully.
"No," replied the Earl, with his grim smile; ‘it is not becoming
to me.”
‘Mr. Hobbs said you always wore it,” said Cedric; ‘‘but after
he thought it over, he said he supposed you must sometimes take
it off to put your hat on.”
: Yes, said the Earl, "1 take it off occasionally.”
And one of the footmen suddenly turned aside and gave a sin¬
gular little cough behind his hand.
Cedric finished his dinner first, and then he leaned back in his
chair and took a survey of the room.