Маленький Лорд Фаунтлерой. Уровень 1 / Little Lord Fauntleroy. Фрэнсис Элиза Бёрнетт

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СКАЧАТЬ 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] 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], or some great deed[33].”

      “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]-”

      “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],” 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.”

      “Do you?” said Mr. Havisham. “And why?”

      “Well,” explained Cedric, “there are so many things a person can do with money. You see, there’s the apple-woman. If I were very rich I should buy her a little tent to put her counter in, and then I should give her a dollar every morning it rained, so that she could afford to stay at home. And then-oh! I’d give her a shawl. And, you see, her bones wouldn’t feel so bad. Her bones are not like our bones; they hurt her when she moves. It’s very painful when your bones hurt you. If I were rich enough to do all those things for her, I guess her bones would be all right.”

      “Ahem!” said Mr. Havisham. “And what else would you do if you were rich?”

      “Oh! I’d do a great many things. Of course I should buy Dearest all sorts of beautiful things, needle-books and gold thimbles and rings, and an encyclopedia, and a carriage, so that she needn’t have to wait for the street-cars. If she liked pink silk dresses, I should buy her some, but she likes black best. But I’d take her to the big stores, and tell her to look around and choose for herself. And then Dick-”

      “Who is Dick?” asked Mr. Havisham.

      “Dick is a boot-black[36],” said his young lordship, quite warming up in his interest in plans. “He is one of the nicest boot-blacks you ever knew. He stands at the corner of a street down-town. I’ve known him for years.”

      “And what would you like to do for him?” inquired the lawyer, rubbing his chin and smiling a strange smile.

      “Well,” said Lord Fauntleroy, “I’d buy Jake out.”

      “And who is Jake?” Mr. Havisham asked.

      “He’s Dick’s partner, and he is the worst partner a fellow could have! Dick says so. He cheats, and that makes Dick mad. СКАЧАТЬ