OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 772, 17 December 1886, Page 4

OUR BOYS & GIRLS.

LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. By Frances Hodgson Burnett. Chapter I.

Cedric himself knew nothing whatever about it. It had never been even mentioned to him. He knew that his papa had been an Englishman, because his mamma had told him so ; but then his papa had died when he was so little that he could not remember much about him, except that he was big,' and had blue eyes and a long mustache, and that it was a splendid thing to be carried around the room on his shoulder. 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 ho had returned, everything was over; and his mother, who had been very ill, too, was only just beginning to sit in her chair by the window. She was pale and thin, and all the dimples had gone from her pretty face, and her eyes looked large and mournful, and she was dressed in black. .

4 Dearest,’ said Cedric (his papa had called her that always, and so the little boy had learned to say it); — 4 dearest, is my papa better ?

He felt her arms tremble, and so he turned his curly head and looked in her face. There was something in it that made him feel that he was going to cry. 4 Dearest,’ he said ; 4 is he well ?’

Then suddenly his loving little heart told him that he’d better put both his arms around her neck and kiss her again and again, and keep his soft cheek close to hers ; and he did so, and she laid her face, on his shoulder and cried bitterly, holding him as if she could never let him go again. 4 Yes, he is well,’ she sobbed ; 4 he is quite, qnite well, but we—we have no one left but each other. No one at all.’

Then, little as he was, he understood that his big, handsome young papa would not come back any more ; that he was dead, as he had heard of other people being, although he could not comprehend exactly what strange thing had brought all this sadness about. It was because his mamma always cried when he spoke of his papa that he secretly made up liis mind it was better not to speak of him very often to her, and he found out, too, that it was better nob to let her sit still and look into the fire or out of the window without moving or talking. He and his mamma knew very few people, and lived what might have been thought very lonely lives, although Cedric did not know it was lonely until he grew older and heard why it was they hod no visitors. Then he was told that his mamma was an orphan, and quite alone in the world when his papa had married her. She was very pretty, and had been living as companion to a rich old lady who was not kind to her, and one day Captain Cedric Errol, who was calling at the house, saw her run upstairs with tears on her eyelashes ; and she looked so sweet and innocent and sorrowful that the Captain could not forget her. After many strange things had happened, they knew each other well and loved each other dearly, and were married, although their marriage brought them the ill-will of several persons. The one who was most angry of all, however, was the Captain’s father, who lived in England, and was a very rich and important old nobleman, with a very bad temper and a very violent dislike to America and Americans. fie had two sons older than Captain Cedric ; and it was the law that the elder of these sons should inherit the family title and estates, which were very rich and splendid ; if the eldest son died the next one would be heir ; so though he was a member of such a great family ; there was little chance that Captain Cedric would be very rich himself.

But it so happened that Nature had given to the younger son gifts which she had not bestowed upon his elder brothers. He had a beautiful face and a fine, strong, graceful figure ; he had a bright smile and a sweet, gay voice ; he was 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 ; neither of them was handsome, nor very kind, nor clever. When they were boys at Eton, they were not popular ; when they were at college, they cared nothing for study, and wasted both time and money, and made very few' real friends. The old Earl, their father, was constantly disappointed and humiliated by them ; his heir was no honoi to his noble name, and did not promise to end in being anything but a selfish, wasteful, insignificant man, with no manly or noble qualities. It was very bitter, the old Earl thought, that the son who was only third, and would have only a very small fortune, should be the one who had all the gifts, and all the charms, and all the strength and beauty. Sometimes he almost hated the young man because he seemed to have the good things which should have gone with the stately title and the magnificent estates ; and yet, in the depths of his proud, stubborn old heart, he could not help caring very much for his youugest son. It was in one of his fits of petulance that he sent him off to travel in America ; he thought he would send him awTy for a while, so that he could not be made angry by constantly contrasting him with his brothers, who were at that time giving him a great deal of trouble their wild ways. But after about six months, he began to feel lonely, aud longed in secret to see his

•aon again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric -and ordered him home. The letter he wrote crossed on its way a letter the Captain had just written to his father, telling of his love for the pretty American girl, and of ■his intended marriage ; and when the Earl received that letter, he was furiously angry. dßad as his temper was, he had never given way to it in his life as he gave way to it when he read the Captain’s letter. His valet, who wa3 in the room when it came, thought his lordship would have a fit of apoplexy, he was so wild with anger, bor an hour he raged like a tiger, and then he sat down and wrote to his son, and ordered him never to come near his old home, nor to write to his father or brothers again. He told him he might live as he pleased, and die where he pleased, that he should be cut off from his family forever, and that he need never expect help from his father as long as he lived. The Captain was very sad when he read the letter; he was. very fond of. England, ■and he dearly loved the beautiful home where he had been born ; he had even loved •his ill-tempered old father, and had sympathized with him in his disappointments ; •but he knew he need expect no kindness from him in future. At first he scarcely knew what to do ; he had not been brought up to work, and had no business experience, but he had courage and plenty of determination So he sold his commission in the English army, and after some trouble found a situation in New York, and married The change from his old life in England was very great, but he was young and happy and he hoped that hard work would do great things for him in the future. He had a small house on a quiet street, and his little boy was born there, and everything was so gay and cheerful, in a simple 'way, that he was never sorry for a moment that he had married the rich old lady’s pretty companion just because she was so sweet and he loved her and she loved him. She was very sweet, indeed, and her little boy was both like her .and his father. Though he was born in so quiet and cheap a little home, it seemed as if there had never been a more fortunate baby. In the first place, he was always well, and so he never gave anyone trouble ; in the second place, he bad so sweet a temper and was so charming that he was a pleasure to every one; and in the third •pie ce, he was so beautiful to look at that he was quite a picture. Instead of being a bald-headed baby, he started in life with a •quantity of soft, fine, gold-colored hair, which curled up at the ends, and went into loose rings by the time be "was six months old; he had big brown eyes and long eyelashes and a darling little face ; he had so strong a back and splendid sturdy legs, that .at nine months he learned suddenly to walk ; bis manners were so good, for a baby, that it was delightful to make his acquaintance. He seemed to feel that every one was his friend, and when any one spoke to him, when he was in his carriage in the street, he would give the stranger one sweet, serious look with the brown eyes, and then follow it with a lovely, friendly smile ; and the consequence was, that there was not a person in the neighborhood of the quiet street where he lived,—even to the groceryman at the corner, who was considered the crossest creature alive, —who was not pleased to see ‘him, and speak to him. And every month of his life he grew handsomer and more inWhen he was old enough to walk out with his nurse, dragging a small waggon and wearing a short white kilt skirt, and a big white hat set back on his curly yellow hair, he was so handsome and strong and rosy that he attracted everyone's attention, and his nurse would come home and tell his mamma stories of the ladies who had stopped their -carriages to look at and speak to him, and of how pleased they were when he talked to them in his cheerful little way, as if he had known them always. His greatest charm was this cheerful,'fearless, quaint little way of making friends with people. I think it arose from his having a very confiding nature, and a kind little heart that sympathised with everyone, and wished to make everyone as comfortable as he liked to be himself. It made him very quick to understand the feelings of thqse about him. Perhaps this had grown on him, too, because he had lived so much with his father and mother, who were always loving and considerate and tender and well-bred. He had never heard an unkind or uncourteous word spoken at home ; he had always been loved and caressed and treated tenderly, and so his childish soul was full of kindness and mnooent warm feeling. He had always heard his mamma called by pretty, loving names, and so he used them himself when he spoke to her; he had always seen that his papa watched over her and took great care of her, and so he learned, too, to be careful of her, (To be continued.)