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LITILE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 53
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" You must be very proud of your house,” he said, "it s sucha
beautiful house: | never saw anything so beautiful; but, of course,
as I’m only seven, I have nt seen much.”
‘And you think I must be proud of it, do you?” said the Earl.
‘“T should think any one would be proud of it,” replied Lord
Fauntleroy. "I should be proud of it if it were my house. Every¬
thing about it is beautiful. And the park, and those trees,—how
beautiful they are, and how the leaves rustle!”
Then he paused an instant and looked across the table rather
wistfully.
“It’s avery big house for just two people to live in, is nt it?”
he said.
‘Tt is quite large enough for two,’ answered the Earl. ‘Do
‘you find it too large?”
His little lordship hesitated a moment.
“T was only thinking,” he said, “that if two people lived in it who
were not very good companions, they might feel lonely sometimes.”
“Do you think I shall make a good companion?” inquired the
Earl.
“Yes,” replied Cedric, "1 think you'will. Mr. Hobbs and I
were great friends. He was the best friend I had except Dearest.”
The Earl made a quick movement of his bushy eyebrows.
‘Who is Dearest?”
‘She is my mother,” said Lord Fauntleroy, in a rather low, quiet
little voice.
Perhaps he was a trifle tired, as his bed-time was nearing, and
perhaps after the excitement of the last few days it was natural he
should be tired, so perhaps, too, the feeling of weariness brought to
him a vague sense of loneliness in the remembrance that to-night
he was not to sleep at home, watched over by the loving eyes of
that “best friend” of his. They had always been "best friends,”