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LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY [83
A-ra — — - — — —— ee Eztet;
When Mrs. Errol entered the drawing-room, a very tall, majes¬
tic-looking old man was standing on the tiger-skin rug. He had a
handsome, grim old face, with an aquiline profile, a long white
mustache, and an obstinate look.
“Mrs. Errol, I believe?” he said.
“Mrs. Errol,” she answered.
c ] am the Earl of Dorincourt,” he said.
He paused a moment, almost unconsciously, to look into her
uplifted eyes. [hey were so like the big, affectionate, childish eyes
he had seen uplifted to his own so often every day during the last
few months, that they gave him a quite curious sensation.
‘The boy is very like you,” he said abruptly.
“It has been often said so, my lord,” she replied, "but I have
been glad to think him like his father also.”
As Lady Lorridaile had told him, her voice was very sweet, and
her manner was very simple and dignified. She did not seem in the
least troubled by his sudden coming.
c Ves," said the Earl, " he is like— my son—too. He put his
hand up to his big white mustache and pulled it fiercely. ‘Do you
know,” he said, "why I have come here?”
“TI have seen Mr. Havisham,” Mrs. Errol began, "and he has
told me of the claims which have been made
. «“T have come to tell you,” said the Earl, "that they will be inves¬
tigated and contested, if a contest can be made. I have come to tell
you that the boy shall be defended with all the power of the law.
His rights
The soft voice interrupted him.
“« He must have nothing that is zol his by right, even if the law
can give it to him,” she said. 3
“ Unfortunately the law can not,” said the Earl. “If it could, it
should. This outrageous woman and her child
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