Chapter 13, Dick to the Rescue.
The story of Lord Fauntleroy and his problems soon made its way into the American newspapers.
One morning Dick was shining the shoes of one of his regular customers, a young lawyer named Mr Harrison.
The man knew that Dick liked to read news about England, so he gave him the paper when he was finished with it.
That day he had an illustrated paper with pictures of people in the stories.
Here's a paper for you, he said.
You should learn about the nobility.
Begin with the right, Honorable Earl of Doran Court and Lady Fauntleroy.
The pictures are right here.
Hello, I say, Dick, what's the matter?
The pictures he spoke of were on the front page.
Dick was staring at them with his eyes and mouth wide open.
What's wrong, Dick? the lawyer asked again.
Dick pointed to the picture of the woman.
Under it was written, Mother, Lady Fauntleroy.
The woman had large eyes and black hair wound around her head.
She was quite striking.
"'I know her,' Dick exclaimed.
The young lawyer laughed.
"'Where did you meet her, Dick?' he asked.
"'When you ran over to Paris last week?'
Dick forgot to grin.
He gathered his things and closed his business early for the day.
"'Never mind,' he said.
"'I know her.'
He ran off down the street to Mr. Hobbs' grocery store.
He was out of breath by the time he reached the counter.
Hello, Mr. Hobbs exclaimed.
What have you got there?
Look, Dick panted.
Look at the woman in the picture.
She ain't no Lady Fauntleroy.
That's Minna.
I know her anywhere.
Mr. Hobbs dropped into his seat.
I knew it was a put-on job, he said.
I knew someone was cheating him.
Dick and Mr. Hobbs looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.
Then Dick had an idea.
"'Say,' he said, "'that feller who gave me the paper, he's a lawyer.
Wouldn't you say that's what we need now, a lawyer, to prove she isn't who she said she is?'
Mr. Hobbs was impressed.
That's so, he exclaimed.
This here calls for lawyers.
And so Mr Hobbs closed up his shop and marched with Dick to the office where the lawyer, Mr Harrison, worked.
Mr Harrison believed Dick to be an honest kid, but if he had not been a new lawyer hungry to start his career, he may have laughed at the boy and told him to leave.
But Mr. Harrison had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
He said, no harm can be done by looking into it.
There have to already have been some questions about this child.
The woman's story keeps changing.
The first people to write to are Dick's brother and the Earl of Dorincourt's lawyer.
Before the sun went down that day, two letters had been written and sent in two different directions.
One was speeding to England.
The other was on a train headed for California.
The first was addressed to T. Havisham, Esquire. and the second to Benjamin Tipton.
