which he expressed a desire.

"The Earl would give him anything," she said to Mr. Mordaunt. "He would
indulge his every whim. Why should not that indulgence be used for the
good of others? It is for me to see that this shall come to pass."

She knew she could trust the kind, childish heart; so she told the
little fellow the story of Earl's Court, feeling sure that he would
speak of it to his grandfather, and hoping that some good results would
follow.

And strange as it appeared to every one, good results did follow.

The fact was that the strongest power to influence the Earl was his
grandson's perfect confidence in him--the fact that Cedric always
believed that his grandfather was going to do what was right and
generous. He could not quite make up his mind to let him discover that
he had no inclination to be generous at all, and that he wanted his
own way on all occasions, whether it was right or wrong. It was such
a novelty to be regarded with admiration as a benefactor of the entire
human race, and the soul of nobility, that he did not enjoy the idea of
looking into the affectionate brown eyes, and saying: "I am a violent,
selfish old rascal; I never did a generous thing in my life, and I don't
care about Earl's Court or the poor people"--or something which would
amount to the same thing. He actually had learned to be fond enough
of that small boy with the mop of yellow love-locks, to feel that he
himself would prefer to be guilty of an amiable action now and then.
And so--though he laughed at himself--after some reflection, he sent for
Newick, and had quite a long interview with him on the subject of the
Court, and it was decided that the wretched hovels should be pulled down
and new houses should be built.

"It is Lord Fauntleroy who insists on it," he said dryly; "he thinks it
will improve the property. You can tell the tenants that it's his
idea." And he looked down at his small lordship, who was lying on the
hearth-rug playing with Dougal. The great dog was the lad's constant
companion, and followed him about everywhere, stalking solemnly after
him when he walked, and trotting majestically behind when he rode or
drove.

Of course, both the country people and the town people heard of the
proposed improvement. At first, many of them would not believe it; but
when a small army of workmen arrived and commenced pulling down the
crazy, squalid cottages, people began to understand that little Lord
Fauntleroy h