“It’s the most beautiful place I ever saw!” said Cedric, his round face flushing with pleasure.  “It reminds any one of a king’s palace.  I saw a picture of one once in a fairy-book.”

He saw the great entrance-door thrown open and many servants standing in two lines looking at him.  He wondered why they were standing there, and admired their liveries very much.  He did not know that they were there to do honor to the little boy to whom all this splendor would one day belong,—­the beautiful castle like the fairy king’s palace, the magnificent park, the grand old trees, the dells full of ferns and bluebells where the hares and rabbits played, the dappled, large-eyed deer couching in the deep grass.  It was only a couple of weeks since he had sat with Mr. Hobbs among the potatoes and canned peaches, with his legs dangling from the high stool; it would not have been possible for him to realize that he had very much to do with all this grandeur.  At the head of the line of servants there stood an elderly woman in a rich, plain black silk gown; she had gray hair and wore a cap.  As he entered the hall she stood nearer than the rest, and the child thought from the look in her eyes that she was going to speak to him.  Mr. Havisham, who held his hand, paused a moment.

“This is Lord Fauntleroy, Mrs. Mellon,” he said.  “Lord Fauntleroy, this is Mrs. Mellon, who is the housekeeper.”

Cedric gave her his hand, his eyes lighting up.

“Was it you who sent the cat?” he said.  “I’m much obliged to you, ma’am.”

Mrs. Mellon’s handsome old face looked as pleased as the face of the lodge-keeper’s wife had done.

“I should know his lordship anywhere,” she said to Mr. Havisham.  “He has the Captain’s face and way.  It’s a great day, this, sir.”

Cedric wondered why it was a great day.  He looked at Mrs. Mellon curiously.  It seemed to him for a moment as if there were tears in her eyes, and yet it was evident she was not unhappy.  She smiled down on him.

“The cat left two beautiful kittens here,” she said; “they shall be sent up to your lordship’s nursery.”

Mr. Havisham said a few words to her in a low voice.

“In the library, sir,” Mrs. Mellon replied.  “His lordship is to be taken there alone.”

A few minutes later, the very tall footman in livery, who had escorted Cedric to the library door, opened it and announced:  “Lord Fauntleroy, my lord,” in quite a majestic tone.  If he was only a footman, he felt it was rather a grand occasion when the heir came home to his own land and possessions, and was ushered into the presence of the old Earl, whose place and title he was to take.

Cedric crossed the threshold into the room.  It was a very large and splendid room, with massive carven furniture in it, and shelves upon shelves of books; the furniture was so dark, and the draperies so heavy, the diamond-paned windows were so deep, and it seemed such a distance from one end of it to the other, that, since the sun had gone down, the effect of it all was rather gloomy.  For a moment Cedric thought there was nobody in the room, but soon he saw that by the fire burning on the wide hearth there was a large easy-chair and that in that chair some one was sitting—­some one who did not at first turn to look at him.