Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
page 82 of 212 (38%)
page 82 of 212 (38%)
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"It's a warm night, isn't it?" he said. "Perhaps you need a fire
because--because of your foot, but it seems just a little warm to me." His delicate consideration for his noble relative's feelings was such that he did not wish to seem to intimate that any of his surroundings were unnecessary. "You have been doing some rather hard work," said the Earl. "Oh, no!" said Lord Fauntleroy, "it wasn't exactly hard, but I got a little warm. A person will get warm in summer time." And he rubbed his damp curls rather vigorously with the gorgeous handkerchief. His own chair was placed at the other end of the table, opposite his grandfather's. It was a chair with arms, and intended for a much larger individual than himself; indeed, everything he had seen so far,--the great rooms, with their high ceilings, the massive furniture, the big footman, the big dog, the Earl himself,--were all of proportions calculated to make this little lad feel that he was very small, indeed. But that did not trouble him; he had never thought himself very large or important, and he was quite willing to accommodate himself even to circumstances which rather overpowered him. Perhaps he had never looked so little a fellow as when seated now in his great chair, at the end of the table. Notwithstanding his solitary existence, the Earl chose to live in some state. He was fond of his dinner, and he dined in a formal style. Cedric looked at him across a glitter of splendid glass and plate, which to his unaccustomed eyes seemed quite dazzling. A stranger looking on might well have smiled at the picture,--the great stately room, the big liveried servants, the |
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