ordship; "the less I
hear of her the better."

"This is a rather important one," explained the lawyer. "She prefers not
to accept the income you proposed to settle on her."

The Earl started visibly.

"What's that?" he cried out. "What's that?"

Mr. Havisham repeated his words.

"She says it is not necessary, and that as the relations between you are
not friendly----"

"Not friendly!" ejaculated my lord savagely; "I should say they were not
friendly! I hate to think of her! A mercenary, sharp-voiced American! I
don't wish to see her."

"My lord," said Mr. Havisham, "you can scarcely call her mercenary. She
has asked for nothing. She does not accept the money you offer her."

"All done for effect!" snapped his noble lordship. "She wants to wheedle
me into seeing her. She thinks I shall admire her spirit. I don't admire
it! It's only American independence! I won't have her living like a
beggar at my park gates. As she's the boy's mother, she has a position
to keep up, and she shall keep it up. She shall have the money, whether
she likes it or not!"

"She won't spend it," said Mr. Havisham.

"I don't care whether she spends it or not!" blustered my lord. "She
shall have it sent to her. She sha'n't tell people that she has to live
like a pauper because I have done nothing for her! She wants to give the
boy a bad opinion of me! I suppose she has poisoned his mind against me
already!"

"No," said Mr. Havisham. "I have another message, which will prove to
you that she has not done that."

"I don't want to hear it!" panted the Earl, out of breath with anger and
excitement and gout.

But Mr. Havisham delivered it.

"She asks you not to let Lord Fauntleroy hear anything which would
lead him to understand that you separate him from her because of your
prejudice against her. He is very fond of her, and she is convinced that
it would cause a barrier to exist between you. She says he would not
comprehend it, and it might make him fear you in some measure, or at
least cause him to feel less affection for you. She has told him that
he is too young to understand the reason, but shall hear it when he is
older. She wishes that there should be no shadow on your first meeting."

The Earl sank back into his chair. His deep-set fierce old eyes gleamed
under his beetling brows.

"Come, now!" he said, still breathlessly. "Come, now! You don't mean the
mother hasn't told him?"

"Not one word, my lord," replied the lawyer c