3. A new life in England

The ship from New York to England took eleven days, and the young Lord Fauntleroy made a lot of friends in that time. Everybody liked him, and everybody was interested in the story of his family.

Cedric learnt a new piece of the story on the ship.

We're going to have different homes, Ceddie,' his mother told him. 'You must live in the castle with your grandfather, and I have a little house called Court Lodge not far away. You can run in and see me every day.'

Cedric could not understand this, and was very unhappy about it. 'But why?' he asked again and again.

When you are older,' his mother said sadly, 'I can tell you. But not now.'

To Mr Havisham she said this. 'The Earl hates me, and does not want to see me. I don't want Cedric to know that, because how could he understand it? He is a loving child, and I want him and his grandfather to be friends. It is better for the Earl that way.'

I don't like it,' Cedric said later to Mr Havisham. 'But Dearest tells me I must live with my grandfather, because, you see, all his children are dead. You must be sorry for a man when all his children are dead.'

We're going to have different homes, Ceddie,' his mother said.

Mr Havisham smiled. He enjoyed his little talks with Cedric very much.

Are you going to like the Earl?' he asked.

Yes,' said Lord Fauntleroy. 'Of course a boy must like his grandfather. And he's very kind to me.'

On his first night in England Cedric stayed with his mother in her little house near the castle. But Mr Havisham went up to the castle to see the Earl.

The Earl was in a big chair by the fire. He had a bad right foot, and it gave him a lot of pain. And when his foot was painful, the Earl was even more bad-tempered than usual.

Well, Havisham,' he said. 'What's the news?'

Mr Havisham began to tell him about the ship, but the Earl did not want to hear about that.

Yes, yes, yes,' he said angrily. 'But what about the boy? What kind of a boy is he? Is he stupid? What does he look like? Does he talk all the time, in that stupid noisy American way?'

Mr Havisham smiled his little lawyer's smile. 'He is different from most English children, I think. But one thing, my lord. The boy knows nothing about your feelings about his mother. She said nothing to him, because she wants you and him to be friends. So, he thinks you are the kindest grandfather in the world.'

He does, eh?' said the Earl.

So when you speak of his mother, please be careful.'

What kind of a boy is he? Is he stupid?' said the Earl.

Huh!' said the Earl. 'The boy's only seven years old.'

Those seven years were all at his mother's side,' said Mr Havisham. 'And she has all his love.'

The next afternoon the Earl's carriage carried Lord Fauntleroy and Mr Havisham up to Dorincourt Castle. At the great front door all the servants of the house waited to see the new Lord Fauntleroy, the little boy from America. When Cedric got out of the carriage, everybody had something to say about him.

Oh, look! He's just like his father, with the same hair, the same eyes. The dear little boy!'

And he's got his father's happy smile too – look!'

I'm sorry for him, living with that bad-tempered old man. Nobody ever gets a kind word out of the Earl!'

And his poor young mother, living all alone at Court Lodge, without her little boy! I'm sorry for her, too.'

Cedric smiled and said hello to everybody, in his usual friendly way, and went into the house with Mr Havisham. One of the servants, a tall young man, took Cedric to the back of the house and opened a door.

Lord Fauntleroy, my lord,' he said.

Cedric walked down a long room to a fire at the end. There was a big chair there, and an old man in it, with white hair and black eyes.

Cedric came close to the chair. 'Are you the Earl?' he said. 'I'm your grandson. Mr Havisham brought me.' He held out his hand. 'I'm very happy to see you.'

Cedric smiled and said hello to everybody, in his usual friendly way.

The Earl shook hands with him, very surprised. He stared at the strong, beautiful little boy in front of him, with his golden curly hair and his friendly open face.

Happy to see me, are you?' he said.

Yes,' said Lord Fauntleroy. 'Of course. Everybody loves their family, don't they? It's exciting to meet a new grandfather. And you are very kind!'

He sat down on a chair and looked at his grandfather with great interest. The old Earl looked back at him. He did not like anybody in his family. He was bad-tempered with them all, and they all hated him.

Kind?' he said. 'How am I kind?'

Because of the money,' Cedric said happily. 'For Bridget, and Dick. I wanted to thank you.'

Bridget? Dick? Who are they?' said the Earl.

And so Lord Fauntleroy told his grandfather all about his friends in New York, about Bridget and her husband and her twelve children, about Dick and Jake and the boot-black business.

The Earl of Dorincourt did not like children, and children were usually afraid of him. But Cedric was not afraid, and he talked in his usual friendly way.

He thinks I'm his friend,' thought the Earl. 'And he wants to please me.' This was a new feeling for the Earl. Cedric was only a little boy from America, but perhaps it was nice for the Earl to see a smiling face for once.

They talked all evening, through dinner, and after dinner. In the end Cedric went to sleep in front of the fire. The Earl called a servant.

Carry Lord Fauntleroy up to his bedroom,' he said. 'Be careful with him. The boy's tired.'

unhappy adj. not happy 不快乐的

pain n. a feeling in your body when you are hurt or ill 疼痛

painful adj. giving pain 疼痛的；引起痛苦的

stupid adj. not intelligent, not clever 愚蠢的，傻的

my lord words you use when you speak to lords, Earls, etc. （用于称呼）老爷，主人

servant n. a person who works in another person's house 仆人，佣人

shake hands with sb. to hold someone's hand in your hand and move it up and down 握手

curly adj. (of hair) with lots of little round shapes （头发）卷曲的

please v. to make someone happy 使高兴

feeling n. something that you feel inside yourself, like happiness or sadness （快乐或伤心等的）感觉

3. 英格兰的新生活

坐船从纽约到英格兰花了十一天，这段时间方特勒罗伊小爵爷交了很多朋友。大家都喜欢他，而且人人都对他家族的故事感兴趣。

锡德里克在船上得知了一个新消息。

“我们会住在不同的地方，锡迪。”他的母亲告诉他，“你得和你爷爷一起住在城堡里，我会住在离你们不远的一栋叫洛奇公寓的小房子里。你每天都能跑来看我。”

锡德里克对此无法理解，而且很不开心。“可这是为什么啊？”他一遍又一遍地问道。

“等你长大些，”他的母亲忧伤地说，“我会告诉你，但不是现在。”

对哈维沙姆先生她说了这样一番话：“伯爵讨厌我，不想见我。我不想让锡德里克知道这些，他怎么会懂呢？他是个善良的孩子，我希望他和他的祖父成为朋友。这样对伯爵也更好些。”

“我不喜欢这样，”之后锡德里克对哈维沙姆先生说，“但是最最亲爱的告诉我，我必须和祖父一起住，因为，您知道的，他所有的孩子都死了。当一个人所有的孩子都没了，你肯定会为他感到难过的。”

哈维沙姆先生笑了。他非常喜欢和锡德里克聊天。

“你会喜欢伯爵吗？”他问道。

“会的，”方特勒罗伊爵爷说，“孙子当然要喜欢爷爷啊，而且他对我这么好。”

在英格兰的第一个晚上，锡德里克和他母亲一起住在城堡附近那所小房子里。哈维沙姆先生则去城堡见伯爵。

伯爵坐在壁炉旁的大椅子上。他的右脚不好，让他受了不少罪。每当脚痛的时候，伯爵就比平常脾气还差。

“我说，哈维沙姆，”他说，“有什么消息吗？”

哈维沙姆先生开始跟他说船上的事，但伯爵不想听那些。

“是啊，是啊，是啊，”他气呼呼地说，“但是那男孩怎么样？他是个什么样的孩子？他蠢吗？他长什么样？他是不是一直说个不停，就像又蠢又吵的美国人那样？”

哈维沙姆先生露出一丝律师的职业性微笑。“我认为他和大多数英国孩子不一样。不过有一点，老爷，这孩子对您对他母亲的看法毫不知情。他母亲什么都没跟他说，因为她希望您和他能成为朋友。所以，他觉得您是这世上最好的祖父。”

“他这么觉得，嗯？”伯爵说。

“所以您提到她母亲的时候，请注意一点。”

“哼！”伯爵说，“那孩子才七岁。”

“那七年可都是在他母亲身边，”哈维沙姆先生说，“她拥有他全部的爱。”

第二天下午，伯爵的马车载着方特勒罗伊爵爷和哈维沙姆先生来到多林考特城堡。在气派的大门前，城堡里所有的仆人都等着见见新的方特勒罗伊爵爷，这位从美国来的小男孩。当锡德里克从车里出来时，每个人都谈论起他来。

“哦，看啊！他真像他父亲，一样的头发，一样的眼睛。可爱的小男孩！”

“而且他那开心的笑容也像他父亲——瞧啊！”

“我真为他难过，他要跟那坏脾气的老头儿住在一起。没人能从伯爵那儿得到一句好话！”

“还有他可怜的母亲，年纪轻轻，一个人孤零零地住在洛奇公寓，不能和她的孩子一起！我也为她感到难过。”

锡德里克像往常一样，友好地微笑着和大家打招呼，然后和哈维沙姆先生走进房子。仆人中一个高个子的年轻人把锡德里克引到内堂，推开了一扇门。

“方特勒罗伊爵爷来了，老爷。”他说。

锡德里克走过长长的房间，来到尽头的壁炉前。那儿有张大大的椅子，上面坐着一位白头发、黑眼睛的老人。

锡德里克走近椅子。“您是伯爵吗？”他说，“我是您的孙子。哈维沙姆先生带我来的。”他伸出手，“很高兴见到您。”

伯爵和他握了握手，感到非常惊讶。他盯着面前这个结实、漂亮的小男孩，他有着金色卷发和友好坦诚的脸庞。

“见到我很高兴，是吗？”他说。

“是的，”方特勒罗伊爵爷说，“当然高兴。每个人都爱自己的家人，不是吗？要见一位从未谋面的爷爷，真让人兴奋，而且您又那么好！”

他在一张椅子上坐下，充满好奇地望着祖父。老伯爵也望着他。家里的每个人他都不喜欢。他对他们都很凶，他们也都讨厌他。

“好？”他说，“我怎么个好法？”

“因为那些钱，”锡德里克开心地说，“给了布里奇特，还有迪克的那些钱。我想谢谢您。”

“布里奇特？迪克？他们是谁？”伯爵问道。

就这样，方特勒罗伊爵爷跟他祖父讲了纽约那些朋友所有的事，有布里奇特和她的丈夫还有十二个孩子，有迪克和杰克还有擦鞋摊。

多林考特伯爵不喜欢孩子，孩子通常也都怕他。可锡德里克不怕，他还像平常一样，说话很友好。

“他觉得我是他的朋友，”伯爵想，“而且他想讨我喜欢。”这是伯爵从未有过的感觉。锡德里克只是个从美国来的小男孩，但是也许对伯爵来说，能见到一次别人的笑脸还真不错。

他们聊了一整晚，晚饭时聊，吃了晚饭接着聊。最后，锡德里克在壁炉前睡着了。伯爵叫来仆人。

“抱方特勒罗伊爵爷去他的卧室。”他说，“轻着点儿，这孩子累坏了。”