How Fauntleroy Occurred & Little Lord Fauntleroy (Illustrated Edition)

Book excerpt: "Little Lord Fauntleroy" – In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, young Cedric Errol lives with his mother in genteel poverty after the death of his father, Captain Cedric Errol. One day, they are visited by an English lawyer with a message from Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, an unruly millionaire who despises the United States. With the deaths of his father's elder brothers, Cedric has now inherited the title Lord Fauntleroy and is the heir to the earldom and a vast estate. Cedric's grandfather takes him to live in England and be educated as an English aristocrat. "How Fauntleroy Occurred, and a Very Real Little Boy Became an Ideal One" is a story written by Frances Burnett in which she compared her famous creation Little Lord Fauntleroy and her youngest son Vivian. In many ways Vivian served as an inspiration for creating the fictional character Cedric Errol. Later in life he wanted to escape from those comparisons and separates himself from the fictional characters, but it was hard to shake them off.