Little Lord Fauntleroy - illustrated online book

The story concerns an American boy from Brooklyn, New York named Cedric Errol, who at an early age finds that he is the sole heir to a British earldom. Cedric Errol is now Lord Fauntleroy and someday will be the next Earl of Dorincourt. Cedric and his widowed mother (whom he calls "Dearest" as did his late English father) leave New York for England. There, Cedric - alone - joins his grandfather (the old Earl) in Dorincourt Castle. His American mother lives nearby, but the bitter, selfish old Earl must change before Cedric's mother is allowed to live with them at Dorincourt. A crisis shames the Earl into asking Cedric's mother to forgive him. The crisis is resolved and the Earl invites Cedric's mother to live with them. The Earl of Dorincourt intends to teach his grandson to become an aristocrat, but Cedric inadvertently teaches Grandfather that an aristocrat should practice compassion and social justice towards humans in his care. Through Cedric's example, the old Earl is becoming the kind and good man Cedric always believed him to be.