from the back cover:
Cedric Errol is seven years old. He lives with his mother in a little house in New York. They don't have much money, but mother and son are very good friends. Cedric is a kind, friendly little boy, and everybody likes him. His father was English, but he is now dead, and Cedric and his mother are alone in the world.

But one day a lawyer arrives from England with some surprising news about Cedric's grandfather . . .