Stranica 211 [211]
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. I9I
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= $——_
saw had a letter in it that said somethin’ "bout her boy, an’ it said he
had a scar on his chin. Put them two together—her ’n’ that there
scar! Why, that there boy o’ hers aint no more a lord than I am!
It s Ben's boy,—the little chap she hit when she let fly that plate
at me.”
‘Professor Dick Tipton had always been a sharp boy, and earn¬
ing his living in the streets of a big city had made him still sharper.
He had learned to keep his eyes open and his wits about him, and
it must be confessed he enjoyed immensely the excitement and
impatience of that moment. lf little Lord Fauntleroy could only
have looked into the store that morning, he would certainly have
been interested, even if all the discussion and plans had been
intended to decide the fate of some other boy than himself.
Mr. Hobbs was almost overwhelmed by his sense of responsi¬
bility, and Dick was all alive and full of energy. He began to write
a letter to Ben, and he cut out the picture and inclosed it to him,
and Mr. Hobbs wrote a letter to Cedric and one to the Earl. They
were in the midst of this letter-writing when a new idea came to
Dick.
“Say,” he said, "the feller that give me the paper, he s a lawyer.
Let s ax him what we "d better do. Lawyers knows it all.”
Mr. Hobbs was immensely impressed by this suggestion and
Dick’s business capacity.
“That s so!” he replied. ‘This here calls for lawyers.”
And leaving the store in the care of a substitute, he struggled
into his coat and marched down-town with Dick, and the two pre¬
sented themselves with their romantic story in Mr. Harrison s office,
much to that young man’s astonishment. |
If he had not been a very young lawyer, with a very enterpris¬
ing mind and a great deal of spare time on his hands, he might
not have been so readily interested in what they had to say, for it