Маленький Лорд Фаунтлерой. Уровень 1 / Little Lord Fauntleroy

“Well,” said Mr. Hobbs, “I’ll be-jiggered![24 - I’ll be jiggered! – Будь я проклят!]”

This was an exclamation he always used when he was very much astonished or excited. He could think of nothing else to say just at that puzzling moment.

“You think,” said Mr. Hobbs, “there’s no getting out of it?”

“I’m afraid not,” answered Cedric. “My mamma says that my papa would wish me to do it. But if I have to be an earl, there’s one thing I can do: I can try to be a good one. I’m not going to be a tyrant. And if there is ever to be another war with America, I will try to stop it.”

His conversation with Mr. Hobbs was a long and serious one. Once having got over the first shock, Mr. Hobbs was not as angry as might have been expected; he had asked a great many questions. As Cedric could answer but few of them, he tried to answer them himself, and explained many things in a way which would probably have astonished Mr. Havisham, if he could have heard it.

When Mr. Havisham first told Mrs. Errol what he had come for, she turned very pale.

“Oh!” she said; “will he have to be taken away from me? We love each other so much! He is such a happiness to me! He is all I have. I have tried to be a good mother to him.” And her sweet young voice trembled, and the tears rushed into her eyes.

The lawyer cleared his throat.

“I am obliged to tell you,” he said, “that the Earl of Dorincourt is not-is not very friendly toward you. He is an old man, and his prejudices[25 - prejudices – предрассудки] are very strong. His plan is that Lord Fauntleroy will be educated under his own supervision; that he will live with him. The Earl is attached to Dorincourt Castle, and spends a great deal of time there. He is a victim to inflammatory gout[26 - inflammatory gout – воспалительная подагра], and is not fond of London. Lord Fauntleroy will, therefore, be likely to live at Dorincourt. The Earl offers you a home Court Lodge, which is not very far from the castle. He also offers you a suitable income. Lord Fauntleroy will be allowed to visit you; the only stipulation[27 - stipulation – условие] is that you will not visit him or enter the park gates. You see you will not be really separated from your son, and I assure you, madam, the terms are not so harsh. The advantage of such surroundings and education as Lord Fauntleroy will have, I am sure you must see, will be very great.”

She went to the window and stood with her face turned away for a few moments, and he saw she was trying to calm herself down.

“Captain Errol was very fond of Dorincourt,” she said at last. “He loved England, and everything English. It was always a grief to him that he was parted from his home. He would wish-I know he would wish that his son should know the beautiful old places, and be brought up in such a way as would be suitable to his future position.”

Then she came back to the table and stood looking up at Mr. Havisham very gently.

“My husband would wish it,” she said. “It will be best for my little boy. I know-I am sure the Earl would not be so unkind as to try to teach him not to love me; and I know-even if he tried-that my little boy is too much like his father to be harmed. He has a warm, faithful nature, and a true heart. So long as we may see each other, I will not suffer very much.”

“Madam,” he said aloud, “I respect your consideration for your son. He will thank you for it when he is a man. I assure you Lord Fauntleroy will be most carefully guarded, and every effort will be used to guarantee his happiness.”

“I hope,” said the tender little mother, in a rather broken voice, “that his grandfather will love Ceddie. The little boy has a very tender nature; and he has always been loved.”

Mr. Havisham cleared his throat again. He could not quite imagine old Earl loving anyone very much. He knew, too, that if Ceddie were at all a credit to his name, his grandfather would be proud of him.

“Lord Fauntleroy will be comfortable, I am sure,” he replied. “It was with a view to his happiness that the Earl desired that you should be near enough to him to see him often.”

He did not think it would be discreet[28 - discreet – разумно] to repeat the exact words the Earl had used, which were in fact neither polite nor friendly.

When the door opened, Mr. Havisham actually hesitated for a moment before looking at Cedric. It would, perhaps, have seemed very strange to a great many people who knew him, if they could have known the interesting sensations that passed through Mr. Havisham when he looked down at the boy, who ran into his mother’s arms. He recognized in an instant that he was one of the finest and handsomest little fellows he had ever seen.

Cedric did not knowhe was beingobserved[29 - did not know he was being observed – не знал, что его изучали], and he only behaved himself in his ordinary manner. He shook hands with Mr. Havisham in his friendly way when they were introduced to each other, and he answered all his questions with the unhesitating readiness[30 - unhesitating readiness – решительная готовность] with which he answered Mr. Hobbs.

That morning Mr. Havisham had quite a long conversation with Cedric. He asked Mrs. Errol to leave him and Cedric together. Mr. Havisham sat in an armchair on one side of the open window; on the other side was another still larger chair, and Cedric sat in that and looked at Mr. Havisham. There was a short silence after Mrs. Errol went out, and Cedric seemed to be studying Mr. Havisham, and Mr. Havisham was certainly studying Cedric. He could not make up his mind as to what an elderly gentleman should say to a little boy, who wore short knickerbockers[31 - knickerbockers – бриджи] and red stockings on legs which were not long enough to hang over a big chair when he sat well back in it.

But Cedric relieved him by suddenly beginning the conversation himself.

“Do you know,” he said, “I don’t know what an earl is?”

“Don’t you?” said Mr. Havisham.

“No,” replied Ceddie. “And I think when a boy is going to be one, he need to know it. Don’t you?”

“Well-yes,” answered Mr. Havisham.

“Would you mind,” said Ceddie respectfully-“would you mind explaining it to me? What made him an earl?”

“A king or queen, in the first place,” said Mr. Havisham. “Generally, he is made an earl because he has done some service to his sovereign[32 - sovereign – правитель], or some great deed[33 - deed – поступок, дело].”

“Oh!” said Cedric; “that’s like the President.”

“Is it?” said Mr. Havisham. “Is that why your presidents are elected?”

“Yes,” answered Ceddie cheerfully. “When a man is very good and knows a great deal, he is elected president. They have torch-light processions and bands, and everybody makes speeches. I used to think I might perhaps be a president, but I never thought of being an earl. I didn’t know about earls,”

“It is rather different from being a president,” said Mr. Havisham.

“Is it?” asked Cedric. “How? Are there no torch-light processions?”

Mr. Havisham crossed his own legs and put the tips of his fingers carefully together. He thought perhaps the time had come to explain matters rather more clearly.

“An earl is-is a very important person,” he began.

“So is a president!” put in Ceddie. “The torch-light processions are five miles long, and they shoot up rockets, and the band plays! Mr. Hobbs took me to see them.”

“An earl,” Mr. Havisham went on, feeling rather uncertain, “is often of very ancient lineage[34 - lineage – родословная, род]-”

“What’s that?” asked Ceddie.

“Of very old family-extremely old.”

“Ah!” said Cedric, thrusting his hands deeper into his pockets. “I suppose that is the way with the apple-woman near the park. I dare say she is of ancient lin-lineage. She’s a hundred, I should think, and yet she is out there when it rains, even. I’m sorry for her. Billy Williams once had nearly a dollar, and I asked him to buy five cents’ worth of apples from her every day until he had spent it all. That made twenty days, and he grew tired of apples after a week; but then-it was quite fortunate-a gentleman gave me fifty cents and I bought apples from her instead. You feel sorry for anyone that’s so poor and has such ancient lin-lineage.”

Mr. Havisham felt rather at a loss as he looked at his companion’s innocent, serious little face.

“I am afraid you did not quite understand me,” he explained. “When I said ‘ancient lineage’ I did not mean old age; I meant that the name of such a family has been known in the world for a long time; perhaps for hundreds of years persons bearing that name have been known and spoken of in the history of their country.”

“Like George Washington,” said Ceddie. “I’ve heard of him ever since I was born, and he was known about, long before that. Mr. Hobbs says he will never be forgotten. That’s because of the Declaration of Independence, you know, and the Fourth of July. You see, he was a very brave man.”

“The first Earl of Dorincourt,” said Mr. Havisham solemnly, “was created an earl four hundred years ago.”

“Well, well!” said Ceddie. “That was a long time ago! Did you tell Dearest that? We’ll tell her when she comes in. She always likes to hear interesting things. What else does an earl do besides being created?”

“A great many of them have helped to govern England. Some of them have been brave men and have fought in great battles in the old days.”

“I should like to do that myself[35 - I should like to do that myself – я и сам бы от этого не отказался],” said Cedric. “My papa was a soldier, and he was a very brave man-as brave as George Washington. Perhaps that was because he would have been an earl if he hadn’t died. I am glad earls are brave. That’s a great advantage-to be a brave man. Once I used to be rather afraid of things-in the dark, you know; but when I thought about the soldiers in the Revolution and George Washington-it cured me.”

“There is another advantage in being an earl, sometimes,” said Mr. Havisham slowly, and he fixed his shrewd eyes on the little boy with a rather interesting expression. “Some earls have a great deal of money.”

He was interested because he wondered if his young friend knew what the power of money was.

“That’s a good thing to have,” said Ceddie innocently. “I wish I had a great deal of money.”