“Oh, no!” he said. “No, you’re not, dearest. It’s me, you know. I’m afraid that I’m not a very good ’splainer. And besides, you are a lady, you know, and ladies don’t play base-ball.” Almost every day I recorded something he had said or suggested. And how delightful it was to read the manuscript to him and his brother! He used to sit in a large arm-chair holding his knee, or with his hands in his pockets. “Do you know,” he said to me once, “I like that boy! There’s one thing about him, he never forgets about dearest.” When the first appearance of the false claimant occurred, he turned quite pale; so did his brother. “Oh, dearest!” they gasped, “why did you do that? Oh, don’t do it!” “What will he do?” the occupant of the arm-chair asked. “Won’t he, dearest, be the Earl’s boy any more?” “‘That other boy,’ said Fauntleroy tremulously to Lord Dorincourt, the next day, ‘he will have to—to be your boy now—as I was—won’t he?’” ‘No,’ answered the Earl, and he said it so fiercely that Cedric quite jumped. “‘Shall I be your boy even if I’m not going to be an earl?’ he said. ‘Shall I be your boy just as I was before?’” But it was a real little heart that had beaten at the thought. * * * * * He has been considered such an ideal little person—Cedric Errol, Lord Fauntleroy—and he was so real after all. Perhaps it is worth while explaining that he was only a simple, natural thing—a child, whose great charm was that he was the innocent friend of the whole world. I have reason to believe that an impression exists that the passage of years has produced no effect whatever on the great original, that he has still waving golden hair, and wears black velvet doublets and broad collars of lace. This is an error. He is sixteen. He plays foot-ball and tennis, and battles sternly with Greek. He is anxious not to “flunk” in geometry, and his hair is exceedingly short and brown. He has a fine sense of humor, and his relatives consider it rather a good joke to present him to intimates, as he appears before them, looking particularly cheerful and robust, in the words first heard by Havisham: “This is—‘Little Lord Fauntleroy.’” But there are things which do not change with the darkening of golden hair and the passage of boyish years. Charles Scribner’s Sons’ New and Standard Books for Young Readers for 1897-98 ... MRS. BURNETT’S FAMOUS JUVENILES An entirely new edition of Mrs. Burnett’s famous juveniles from new plates, with all the original illustrations. Bound in a beautiful new cloth binding designed by R. B. Birch, and sold at very much reduced prices. LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY TWO LITTLE PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS SARA CREWE and LITTLE SAINT ELIZABETH AND OTHER STORIES (in one vol.) PICCINO AND OTHER CHILD STORIES GIOVANNI AND THE OTHER _Five Volumes, 12mo, each, $1.25_ The original editions can still be supplied at the former prices: