Chapter 11 Anxiety in America.
When Mr Hobbs's young friend left him to become Lord Fauntleroy, Mr Hobbs became quite lonely.
No one else came to his grocery store to chat the way Cedric had.
No one else would read the or discuss politics or work on arithmetic, while Mr Hobbs added up his account.
At first, Mr. Hobbs just kept hoping that Cedric would come back.
He kept expecting to see the boy standing in the doorway in his white suit saying in his cheerful little voice Hello, Mr Hobbs.
But as the days passed and this didn't happen, Mr. Hobbs began to feel very dull.
He didn't even enjoy his newspaper.
He would read a little and then put it down, staring at the wall for a long time.
At night, when the store was closed, he would walk slowly until he reached the house where Cedric and his mother used to live.
There was a sign on it that read House for Rent.
Mr. Hobbs would stop near the sign and shake his head.
After a while, he would walk back home feeling gloomier than he had before.
This went on for weeks until Mr. Hobbs remembered Cedric's other friend, the shoeshine boy, Dick.
Mr. Hobbs had never met Dick, but he felt that it was time.
They were both friends of Cedric's.
They had something in common.
So one day, when Dick was hard at work shining a customer's boots, a short, stout man with a heavy face stopped on the sidewalk and stared at Dick's sign.
It said, Professor Dick Tipton can't be beat.
The man stared at the sign for so long that when Dick was done with his customer, he asked the man if he needed his shoes shined.
The stout man came forward and put his foot on the rest.
Yes, he said.
Once Dick started working, the man pointed to the sign and asked, Where did you get that?
From a friend of mine, said Dick.
Little feller.
He's in England now, gone back to be one of those lords.
Lord Fauntleroy, going to be the Earl of Dorincourt?
Mr. Hobbs asked.
Dick almost dropped his brush.
Do you know him? he asked.
I've known him, said Mr. Hobbs, ever since he was born.
We're lifetime friends, that's what we are.
He pulled the splendid gold watch out of his pocket and opened it so Dick could see what was carved inside.
When you see this, remember me, he read aloud.
They started talking about Cedric, now Lord Fauntleroy, living in England, and they couldn't stop.
Dick said he was the nicest boy he had ever met.
Mr Hobbs said it was a pity they had to make an earl out of him, as he would soon have been perfect for the grocery business.
Soon enough, Mr. Hobbs decided that Dick should pay a visit to his store.
Dick was pleased about the visit.
He had been a street kid nearly his whole life, but he did have big plans.
Someday he wanted to own a real business, like Mr Hobbs did.
So to be invited to visit a respectable man who owned a corner store and even had a horse and wagon seemed to him quite an event.
This was the beginning of a true friendship.
Dick visited Mr. Hobbs more and more often, and they read newspaper articles about England.
Mr. Hobbs was especially interested in anything having to do with Earls.
They continued to write Cedric, and Cedric wrote back to them.
Mr. Hobbs and Dick found great pleasure in their letters.
They talked them over and enjoyed every word.
They spent days going over the letters they sent in, read them almost as often as the letters they received.
It was hard for Dick to write his letters.
All his knowledge of reading and writing had come from the short time he had lived with his older brother, Ben.
He had never been to school with the other children.
Dick told Mr Hobbs all about his life with his older brother who had been good to him after their mother and father had died.
Everything had been all right until Ben had married an awful girl named Minna.
Minna was mad all the time.
She yelled and screamed, and when she and Ben had a son, the baby did the same.
Ben finally left, going out west to set up a cattle ranch.
Dick stayed with Minna, but she soon left, too, without even saying goodbye.
People said that she and her baby had gone across the ocean to England.
Dick didn't know whether this was true or not, but either way he ended up back on the streets with no one to help him.
But now he had a friend in Mr. Hobbs.
He often told Mr. Hobbs stories of Minna and his brother.
Ben had run into some bad luck out west and was now working at a ranch in California.
It was very far away.
They were talking about this one day in Mr. Hobbs' store when a letter was delivered by the postman.
It was from Cedric.
Excited, Mr. Hobbs read it aloud.
From Dorm Court Castle.
My dear Mr. Hobbs, I write this in a great hurry because I have something curious to tell you.
I know you will be very much surprised.
It is all a mistake, and I am not a lord, and I shall not have to be an earl.
There is a lady who was married to my uncle Beavis, who is dead, and she has a little boy and he is Lord Fauntleroy, because that is the way it is in England.
Now my name is Cedric Errol, like it was when I was in New York, and all the things will belong to the other boy.
I thought at first I should have to give him my pony, but my grandfather says I need not.
The lady brought her little boy to the castle, and my grandfather was angry.
I think she was angry, too, because she talked loudly.
I never saw my grandfather angry before.
I wish it did not make them all mad.
I thought I would tell you and Dick right away because you would be interested.
So no more at present.
With love from your old friend, Cedric Errol, not Lord Fauntleroy.
Mr. Hobbs dropped the letter on the floor.
He was very upset.
He had not liked the change to his young friend's life at first, but lately he'd become all right with it.
He might not have a good opinion of Earl's, but he thought Cedric would be a good one.
They're trying to rob him, he exclaimed.
When Dick left, Mr. Hobbs took a walk.
He went to the empty house where Cedric and his mother used to live.
He stood staring at the house for rent sign for a long time, very, very disturbed.
