Stranica 221 [221]
LLLILE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 201
‘Just like the Fourth of July!” said Lord Fauntleroy. ‘‘ It seems
a pity my birthday was nt on the Fourth, does n't it? For then we
could keep them both together.”
It must be confessed that at first the Earl and Mr. Hobbs were
not as intimate as it might have been hoped they would become, in
the interests of the British aristocracy. The fact was that the Earl
had known very few grocery-men, and Mr. Hobbs had not had many
very close acquaintances who were earls; and so in their rare inter¬
views conversation did not flourish. It must also be owned that Mr.
Hobbs had been rather overwhelmed by the splendors Fauntleroy
felt it his duty to show him.
The entrance gate and the stone lions and the avenue impressed
Mr. Hobbs somewhat at the beginning, and when he saw the Castle,
and the flower-gardens, and the hot-houses, and the terraces, and
the peacocks, and the dungeon, and the armor, and the great stair¬
case, and the stables, and the liveried servants, he really was quite
bewildered. But it was the picture gallery which seemed to be the
finishing stroke. |
‘Somethin’ in the manner of a museum?” he said to Fauntleroy,
when he was led into the great, beautiful room.
« N—no—!” said Fauntleroy, rather doubtfully. "I dont ¢hzxe
it’s a museum. My grandfather says these are my ancestors.”
“Your aunt’s sisters!” ejaculated Mr. Hobbs. "AZ of ‘em?
Your great-uncle, he mst have had a family Did he raise ‘em
all?”
And he sank into a seat and looked around him with quite an
agitated countenance, until with the greatest difficulty Lord Fauntle¬
roy managed to explain that the walls were not lined entirely with
the portraits of the progeny of his great-uncle.
He found it necessary, in fact, to call in the assistance of Mrs.
Mellon, who knew all about the pictures, and could tell who painted