requently."

He did not think it would be discreet to repeat the exact words the Earl
had used, which were in fact neither polite nor amiable.

Mr. Havisham preferred to express his noble patron's offer in smoother
and more courteous language.

He had another slight shock when Mrs. Errol asked Mary to find her
little boy and bring him to her, and Mary told her where he was.

"Sure I'll foind him aisy enough, ma'am," she said; "for it's wid Mr.
Hobbs he is this minnit, settin' on his high shtool by the counther an'
talkin' pollytics, most loikely, or enj'yin' hisself among the soap an'
candles an' pertaties, as sinsible an' shwate as ye plase."

"Mr. Hobbs has known him all his life," Mrs. Errol said to the lawyer.
"He is very kind to Ceddie, and there is a great friendship between
them."

Remembering the glimpse he had caught of the store as he passed it,
and having a recollection of the barrels of potatoes and apples and
the various odds and ends, Mr. Havisham felt his doubts arise again.
In England, gentlemen's sons did not make friends of grocerymen, and it
seemed to him a rather singular proceeding. It would be very awkward if
the child had bad manners and a disposition to like low company. One of
the bitterest humiliations of the old Earl's life had been that his two
elder sons had been fond of low company. Could it be, he thought,
that this boy shared their bad qualities instead of his father's good
qualities?

He was thinking uneasily about this as he talked to Mrs. Errol until the
child came into the room. When the door opened, he actually hesitated
a moment before looking at Cedric. It would, perhaps, have seemed very
queer to a great many people who knew him, if they could have known the
curious sensations that passed through Mr. Havisham when he looked down
at the boy, who ran into his mother's arms. He experienced a revulsion
of feeling which was quite exciting. He recognized in an instant that
here was one of the finest and handsomest little fellows he had ever
seen.

His beauty was something unusual. He had a strong, lithe, graceful
little body and a manly little face; he held his childish head up, and
carried himself with a brave air; he was so like his father that it was
really startling; he had his father's golden hair and his mother's
brown eyes, but there was nothing sorrowful or timid in them. They were
innocently fearless eyes; he looked as if he had never feared or doubted
anything in his