Oldal 229 [229]
LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. 209
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And amid the shouts and clamor of applause, he stepped back
with a little sigh of relief, and put his hand into the Earl’s and stood
close to him, smiling and leaning against his side.
And that would be the very end of my story; but I must add
one curious piece of information, which is that Mr. Hobbs became so
fascinated with high life and was so reluctant to leave his young
friend that he actually sold his corner store in New York, and settled
in the English village of Erlesboro, where he opened a shop which
was patronized by the Castle and consequently was a great success.
And though he and the Earl never became very intimate, if you will
believe me, that man Hobbs became in time more aristocratic than
his lordship himself, and he read the Court news every morning,
and followed all the doings of the House of Lords! And about ten
years after, when Dick, who had finished his education and was
going to visit his brother in California, asked the good grocer if he
did not wish to return to America, he shook his head seriously.
‘Not to live there,” he said. " Not to live there; I want to be
near /zm, an’ sort 0’ look after him. It’s a good enough country for
them that ’s young an’ stirrin—but there s faults init. There s not
an auntsister among ’em—nor an earl!”
THE END.
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