already!"

"No," said Mr. Havisham. "I have another message, which will prove to
you that she has not done that."

"I don't want to hear it!" panted the Earl, out of breath with anger and
excitement and gout.

But Mr. Havisham delivered it.

"She asks you not to let Lord Fauntleroy hear anything which would
lead him to understand that you separate him from her because of your
prejudice against her. He is very fond of her, and she is convinced that
it would cause a barrier to exist between you. She says he would not
comprehend it, and it might make him fear you in some measure, or at
least cause him to feel less affection for you. She has told him that
he is too young to understand the reason, but shall hear it when he is
older. She wishes that there should be no shadow on your first meeting."

The Earl sank back into his chair. His deep-set fierce old eyes gleamed
under his beetling brows.

"Come, now!" he said, still breathlessly. "Come, now! You don't mean the
mother hasn't told him?"

"Not one word, my lord," replied the lawyer coolly. "That I can
assure you. The child is prepared to believe you the most amiable and
affectionate of grandparents. Nothing--absolutely nothing has been said
to him to give him the slightest doubt of your perfection. And as
I carried out your commands in every detail, while in New York, he