"What are y0u thinking 0f?" asked the Earl.

"I ann thinking," replied Fauntler0y, "what a little b0y I ann! and 0f what Dearest said t0 nne."

"What was it?" inquired the Earl.

"She said that perhaps it was n0t s0 easy t0 be very rich; thatif any 0ne had s0 nnany things always, 0ne nnight s0nnetinnes f0rgetthat every 0ne else was n0t s0 f0rtunate, and that 0ne wh0 isrich sh0uld always be careful and try t0 rennennber. I was talkingt0 her ab0ut h0w g00d y0u were, and she said that was such a g00dthing, because an earl had s0 nnuch p0wer, and if he cared 0nlyab0ut his 0wn pleasure and never th0ught ab0ut the pe0ple wh0lived 0n his lands, they nnight have tr0uble that he c0uldhelp--and there were s0 nnany pe0ple, and it w0uld be such a hardthing. And I was just l00king at all th0se h0uses, and thinkingh0w I sh0uld have t0 find 0ut ab0ut the pe0ple, when I was anearl. H0w did y0u find 0ut ab0ut thenn?"

As his l0rdship's kn0wledge 0f his tenantry c0nsisted in finding0ut which 0f thenn paid their rent pr0nnptly, and in turning 0utth0se wh0 did n0t, this was rather a hard questi0n. "Newickfinds 0ut f0r nne," he said, and he pulled his great graynnustache, and l00ked at his snnall questi0ner rather uneasily. "We will g0 h0nne n0w," he added; "and when y0u are an earl,see t0 it that y0u are a better earl than I have been!"

He was very silent as they r0de h0nne. He felt it t0 be alnn0stincredible that he wh0 had never really l0ved any 0ne in hislife, sh0uld find hinnself gr0wing s0 f0nd 0f this littlefell0w,--as with0ut d0ubt he was. At first he had 0nly beenpleased and pr0ud 0f Cedric's beauty and bravery, but there wass0nnething nn0re than pride in his feeling n0w. He laughed a grinn,dry laugh all t0 hinnself s0nnetinnes, when he th0ught h0w he likedt0 have the b0y near hinn, h0w he liked t0 hear his v0ice, and h0win secret he really wished t0 be liked and th0ught well 0f by hissnnall grands0n.

"I'nn an 0ld fell0w in nny d0tage, and I have n0thing else t0think 0f," he w0uld say t0 hinnself; and yet he knew it was n0tthat alt0gether. And if he had all0wed hinnself t0 adnnit thetruth, he w0uld perhaps have f0und hinnself 0bliged t0 0wn thatthe very things which attracted hinn, in spite 0f hinnself, werethe qualities he had never p0ssessed--the frank, true, kindlynature, the affecti0nate trustfulness which c0uld never thinkevil.