Маленький Лорд Фаунтлерой. Уровень 1 / Little Lord Fauntleroy

Cedric himself knew nothing about it all[1]. He knew that his papa was an Englishman; but then his papa had died when he was so little that he could not remember very much about him, except that he was big, and had blue eyes and a long mustache. Since his papa’s death, Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to his mamma about him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent away, and when he had returned, everything was over. His mother was pale and thin, and all the dimples[2] disappeared from her pretty face, and her eyes looked large and sad, and she was dressed in black.

“Dearest,” said Cedric (like his papa always called her)-“dearest, is my papa better?”

“Yes, he is well,” she sobbed; “he is quite, quite well, but we-we have no one left but each other[3]. No one at all.”

Then, little as he was, he understood that his big, handsome young papa would not come back any more. His mamma was an orphan, and quite alone in the world when his papa had married her. She was very pretty, and was living as a companion to a rich old lady who was not kind to her. One day Captain Cedric Errol saw her and she looked so sweet and innocent and so sad that the Captain could not forget her. And after many strange things had happened, they knew each other well and loved each other very much, and were married, although their marriage brought them theill-will[4] of several persons. The one who was most angry of all was the Captain’s father. He lived in England, and was a very rich and important old nobleman[5], with a very bad temper and a very strong dislike to America and Americans. He had two sons older than Captain Cedric; and it was the law that the elder of these sons should inherit[6] the family title and estates. If the eldest son died, the next one would be heir[7]; so, though he was a member of such a great family, it was a small chance that Captain Cedric would be very rich.

But it happened so that Nature had given gifts[8] only to the youngest son. He was beautiful, brave and generous, and had the kindest heart in the world, and seemed to have the power to make everyone love him. And it was not so with his elder brothers; they were not handsome, or very kind, or clever. The old Earl, their father, was constantly disappointed and