47 pages 1 hour read

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1886

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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 4 Summary

On the way to England, Cedric’s mother tells him they will have to live separately. He is heartbroken, but over the course of many conversations, she soothes him and convinces him it will be for the best. Nonetheless, Cedric is puzzled by the reason for their separation because she still refuses to tell him of his grandfather’s cruel intentions. Mr. Havisham notices Cedric staring gravely out at sea, to whom Cedric says that he doesn’t like the separation but that he will bear it:

There are a great many troubles in this world, and you have to bear them. Mary says so, and I‘ve heard Mr. Hobbs say it too. And Dearest wants me to like to live with my grandpapa, because, you see, all his children are dead, and that‘s very mournful. It makes you sorry for a man, when all his children have died–and one was killed suddenly (70).

Everyone onboard is enamored by Cedric. He charms the sailors with his curiosity about pirates, the gentleman with his joking manner, and the ladies with his guileless use of sailor’s expressions. Cedric and his mother arrive in England at the beautiful Court Lodge, where she will stay and where their servant Mary has already arrived.