Oldal 207 [207]
XIII
difficulties of the Earl of Dorincourt were discussed in the
English newspapers, they were discussed in the American
newspapers. The story was too interesting to be passed over
lightly, and it was talked of a great deal. There were so many
versions of it that it would have been an edifying thing to buy all
the papers and compare them. Mr. Hobbs read so much about it
that he became quite bewildered. One paper described his young
friend Cedric as an infant in arms,—another as a young man at
Oxford, winning all the honors, and distinguishing himself by writ¬
ing Greek .poems; one said he was engaged to a young lady of
great beauty, who was the daughter of a duke; another said he had
just been married; the only thing, in fact, which was zof said was
that he was a little boy between seven and eight, with handsome
legs and curly hair. One said he was no relation to the Earl of
Dorincourt at all, but was a small impostor who had sold newspapers
and slept in the streets of New York before his mother imposed upon
the family lawyer, who came to America to look for the Earl's heir.
Then came the descriptions of the new Lord Fauntleroy and his
mother. Sometimes she was a gypsy, sometimes an actress, some¬
times a beautiful Spaniard; but it was always agreed that the Earl
of Dorincourt was her deadly enemy, and would not acknowledge
her son as his heir if he could help it, and as there seemed to be
some slight flaw in the papers she had produced, it was expected
187
() course, as soon as the story of Lord Fauntleroy and the