Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (simple e reader .txt) ๐
Description
In Little Lord Fauntleroy, an American boy named Cedric is transported from the impoverished streets of New York City to the grandeur of his ancestral home, Dorincourt Castle. Here he learns how to become an English aristocrat from the Earl of Dorincourt, his cold and cynical grandfather.
Frances Hodgson Burnett published this, her first childrenโs story, in St. Nicholas Magazine in 1885. Because of the storyโs popularity, a year later, it was published as an illustrated novel to be sold around the world and translated to 20 different languages.
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- Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Read book online ยซLittle Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett (simple e reader .txt) ๐ยป. Author - Frances Hodgson Burnett
โyour afechshnet old frend
โCedric Errol
โp s no one is in the dungon my granfarfher never had any one langwishin in there
โp s he is such a good earl he reminds me of you he is a unerversle favrit.โ
โDo you miss your mother very much?โ asked the Earl when he had finished reading this.
โYes,โ said Fauntleroy, โI miss her all the time.โ
He went and stood before the Earl and put his hand on his knee, looking up at him.
โYou donโt miss her, do you?โ he said.
โI donโt know her,โ answered his lordship rather crustily.
โI know that,โ said Fauntleroy, โand thatโs what makes me wonder. She told me not to ask you any questions, andโ โand I wonโt, but sometimes I canโt help thinking, you know, and it makes me all puzzled. But Iโm not going to ask any questions. And when I miss her very much, I go and look out of my window to where I see her light shine for me every night through an open place in the trees. It is a long way off, but she puts it in her window as soon as it is dark, and I can see it twinkle far away, and I know what it says.โ
โWhat does it say?โ asked my lord.
โIt says, โGood night, God keep you all the night!โโ โjust what she used to say when we were together. Every night she used to say that to me, and every morning she said, โGod bless you all the day!โ So you see I am quite safe all the timeโ โโ
โQuite, I have no doubt,โ said his lordship dryly. And he drew down his beetling eyebrows and looked at the little boy so fixedly and so long that Fauntleroy wondered what he could be thinking of.
IXThe fact was, his lordship the Earl of Dorincourt thought in those days, of many things of which he had never thought before, and all his thoughts were in one way or another connected with his grandson. His pride was the strongest part of his nature, and the boy gratified it at every point. Through this pride he began to find a new interest in life. He began to take pleasure in showing his heir to the world. The world had known of his disappointment in his sons; so there was an agreeable touch of triumph in exhibiting this new Lord Fauntleroy, who could disappoint no one. He wished the child to appreciate his own power and to understand the splendor of his position; he wished that others should realize it too. He made plans for his future.
Sometimes in secret he actually found himself wishing that his own past life had been a better one, and that there had been less in it that this pure, childish heart would shrink from if it knew the truth. It was not agreeable to think how the beautiful, innocent face would look if its owner should be made by any chance to understand that his grandfather had been called for many a year โthe wicked Earl of Dorincourt.โ The thought even made him feel a trifle nervous. He did not wish the boy to find it out. Sometimes in this new interest he forgot his gout, and after a while his doctor was surprised to find his noble patientโs health growing better than he had expected it ever would be again. Perhaps the Earl grew better because the time did not pass so slowly for him, and he had something to think of beside his pains and infirmities.
One fine morning, people were amazed to see little Lord Fauntleroy riding his pony with another companion than Wilkins. This new companion rode a tall, powerful gray horse, and was no other than the Earl himself. It was, in fact, Fauntleroy who had suggested this plan. As he had been on the point of mounting his pony, he had said rather wistfully to his grandfather:
โI wish you were going with me. When I go away I feel lonely because you are left all by yourself in such a big castle. I wish you could ride too.โ
And the greatest excitement had been aroused in the stables a few minutes later by the arrival of an order that Selim was to be saddled for the Earl. After that, Selim was saddled almost every day; and the people became accustomed to the sight of the tall gray horse carrying the tall gray old man, with his handsome, fierce, eagle face, by the side of the brown pony which bore little Lord Fauntleroy. And in their rides together through the green lanes and pretty country roads, the two riders became more intimate than ever. And gradually the old man heard a great deal about โDearestโ and her life. As Fauntleroy trotted by the big horse he chatted gayly. There could not well have been a brighter little comrade, his nature was so happy. It was he who talked the most. The Earl often was silent, listening and watching the joyous, glowing face. Sometimes he would tell his young companion to set the pony off at a gallop, and when the little fellow dashed off, sitting so straight and fearless, he would watch him with a gleam of pride and pleasure in his eyes; and when, after such a dash, Fauntleroy came back waving his cap with a laughing shout, he always felt that he and his grandfather were very good friends indeed.
One thing that the Earl discovered was that his sonโs wife did not lead an idle life. It
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