ip of
paper. "And my name isn't Cedric Errol any more; it's Lord Fauntleroy
and--and good-bye, Dick."

Dick winked his eyes also, and yet they looked rather moist about the
lashes. He was not an educated boot-black, and he would have found it
difficult to tell what he felt just then if he had tried; perhaps that
was why he didn't try, and only winked his eyes and swallowed a lump in
his throat.

"I wish ye wasn't goin' away," he said in a husky voice. Then he winked
his eyes again. Then he looked at Mr. Havisham, and touched his cap.
"Thanky, sir, fur bringin' him down here an' fur wot ye've done,
He's--he's a queer little feller," he added. "I've allers thort a heap
of him. He's such a game little feller, an'--an' such a queer little
un."

And when they turned away he stood and looked after them in a dazed
kind of way, and there was still a mist in his eyes, and a lump in his
throat, as he watched the gallant little figure marching gayly along by
the side of its tall, rigid escort.

Until the day of his departure, his lordship spent as much time as
possible with Mr. Hobbs in the store. Gloom had settled upon Mr. Hobbs;
he was much depressed in spirits. When his young friend brought to him
in triumph the parting gift of a gold watch and chain, Mr. Hobbs found
it difficult to acknowledge it properly. He laid the case on his stout
knee, and blew his nose violently several times.

"There's something written on it," said Cedric,--"inside the case.
I told the man myself what to say. 'From his oldest friend, Lord
Fauntleroy, to Mr. Hobbs. When this you see, remember me.' I don't want
you to forget me."

Mr. Hobbs blew his nose very loudly again.

"I sha'n't forget you," he said, speaking a trifle huskily, as Dick had
spoken; "nor don't you go and forget me when you get among the British
arrystocracy."

"I shouldn't forget you, whoever I was among," answered his lordship.
"I've spent my happiest hours with you; at least, some of my happiest
hours. I hope you'll come to see me sometime. I'm sure my grandpapa
would be very much pleased. Perhaps he'll write and ask you, when I tell
him about you. You--you wouldn't mind his being an earl, would you, I
mean you wouldn't stay away just because he was one, if he invited you
to come?"

"I'd come to see you," replied Mr. Hobbs, graciously.

So it seemed to be agreed that if he received a pressing invitation from
the earl to come and spend a few months at Dorincourt Castle