He made a step or two aside; then returned
abruptly, and spoke.
"Can you tell me the name of the family in which this secret was kept?"
said he; "and the nature of the secret?"
"The nature of the secret," said Middleton, smiling, "was not likely to
be extended to any one out of the family. The name borne by the family
was Middleton. There is no member of it, so far as I am aware, at this
moment remaining in America."
"And has the secret died with them?" asked Mr. Eldredge.
"They communicated it to none," said Middleton.
"It is a pity! It was a villainous wrong," said Mr. Eldredge. "And so,
it may be, some ancient line, in the old country, is defrauded of its
rights for want of what might have been obtained from this Yankee, whose
democracy has demoralized them to the perception of what is due to the
antiquity of descent, and of the bounden duty that there is, in all
ranks, to keep up the honor of a family that has had potence enough to
preserve itself in distinction for a thousand years."
"Yes," said Middleton, quietly, "we have sympathy with what is strong and
vivacious to-day; none with what was so yesterday."
The remark seemed not to please Mr.
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