earls are brave. That's a great 'vantage--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 curious expression. "Some earls have a great deal of money."

He was curious 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 stall in, and a little stove, 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 badly. 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?"