Cedric himself knew
nothing whatever about it. It had never been even mentioned to him. He knew
that his papa had been an Englishman, because his mamma had told him so; but
then his papa had died when he was so little a boy that he could not remember
very much about him, except that he was big, and had blue eyes and a long
mustache, and that it was a splendid thing to be carried around the room on
his shoulder.
Since his papas
death, Cedric had found out that it was best not to talk to his mamma about
him. When his father was ill, Cedric had been sent away, and when he had
returned, everything was over; and his mother, who had been very ill, too,
was only just beginning to sit in her chair by the window. She was pale and
thin, and all the dimples had gone from her pretty face, and her eyes looked
large and mournful, and she was dressed in black.
Dearest, said
Cedric his papa had called her that always, and so the little boy had
learned to say it, dearest, is my papa better?
He felt her arms
tremble, and so he turned his curly head and looked in her face. There was
something in it that made him feel that he was going to cry.
Dearest, he said,
is he well?
Then suddenly his
loving little heart told him that hed better put both his arms around her
neck and kiss her again and again, and keep his soft cheek close to hers; and
he did so, and she laid her face on his shoulder and cried bitterly, holding
him as if she could never let him go again.
Yes, he is well,
she sobbed; he is quite, quite well, but wewe have no one left but each
other. No one at all.
Then, little as he
was, he understood that his big, handsome young papa would not come back any
more; that he was dead, as he had heard of other people being, although he
could not comprehend exactly what strange thing had brought all this sadness
about.
It was because his
mamma always cried when he spoke of his papa that he secretly made up his
mind it was better not to speak of him very often to her, and he found out,
too, that it was better not to let her sit still and look into the fire or
out of the window without moving or talking. He and his mamma knew very few
people, and lived what might have been thought very lonely lives, although
Cedric did not know it was lonely until he grew older and heard why it was
they had no visitors.
Then he was told that his mamma was an orphan, and quite alone in the
world when his papa had married her. She was very pretty, and had been living
as companion to a rich old lady who was not kind to her, and one day Captain
Cedric Errol, who was calling at the house, saw her run up the stairs with
tears on her eyelashes; and she looked so sweet and innocent and sorrowful that
the Captain could not forget her. And after many strange things had happened,
they knew each other well and loved each other dearly, and were married,
although their marriage brought them the ill-will of several persons. The one
who was most angry of all, however, was the Captains father, who lived in England, and was a very rich and important old
nobleman, with a very bad temper and a very violent dislike to America
and Americans. He had two sons older than Captain Cedric; and it was the law
that the elder of these sons should inherit the family title and estates,
which were very rich and splendid; if the eldest son died, the next one would
be heir; so, though he was a member of such a great family, there was little
chance that Captain Cedric would be very rich himself.
But it so happened
that Nature had given to the youngest son gifts which she had not bestowed
upon his elder brothers. He had a beautiful face and a fine, strong, graceful
figure; he had a bright smile and a sweet, gay voice; he was brave and
generous, and had the kindest heart in the world, and seemed to have the
power to make every one love him.
And it was not so
with his elder brothers; neither of them was handsome, or very kind, or
clever. When they were boys at Eton, they
were not popular; when they were at college, they cared nothing for study,
and wasted both time and money, and made few real friends.
The old Earl, their
father, was constantly disappointed and humiliated by them; his heir was no
honor to his noble name, and did not promise to end in being anything but a
selfish, wasteful, insignificant man, with no manly or noble qualities. It
was very bitter, the old Earl thought, that the son who was only third, and
would have only a very small fortune, should be the one who had all the
gifts, and all the charms, and all the strength and beauty. Sometimes he
almost hated the handsome young man because he seemed to have the good things
which should have gone with the stately title and the magnificent estates;
and yet, in the depths of his proud, stubborn old heart, he could not help
caring very much for his youngest son. It was in one of his fits of petulance
that he sent him off to travel in America; he thought he would send him away
for a while, so that he should not be made angry by constantly contrasting
him with his brothers, who were at that time giving him a great deal of
trouble by their wild ways.
But, after about
six months, he began to feel lonely, and longed in secret to see his son
again, so he wrote to Captain Cedric and ordered him home. The letter he
wrote crossed on its way a letter the Captain had just written to his father,
telling of his love for the pretty American girl, and of his intended
marriage; and when the Earl received that letter he was furiously angry.
Bad as his temper
was, he had never given way to it in his life as he gave way to it when he
read the Captains letter. His valet, who was in the room when it came,
thought his lordship would have a fit of apoplexy, he was so wild with anger.
For an hour he raged like a tiger, and then he sat down and wrote to his son,
and ordered him never to come near his old home, nor to write to his father
or brothers again. He told him he might live as he pleased, and die where he
pleased, that he should be cut off from his family forever, and that he need
never expect help from his father as long as he lived.
The Captain was
very sad when he read the letter; he was very fond of England, and he dearly
loved the beautiful home where he had been born; he had even loved his
ill-tempered old father, and had sympathized with him in his disappointments;
but he knew he need expect no kindness from him in the future.
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