The Piccinino, Volume 2 (of 2); The last of Aldinis

SIGNORA ALDINI AND HER GONDOLIER.
I saw the blood come and go in the signora's cheeks as I took the oar and eagerly pushed against the marble steps which seemed to flee behind us.
Well, replied Michel, emboldened by his host's dignified arguments and sincere kindliness, I will tell you my whole thought; and I trust that Master Barbagallo will permit me to speak before him, even though what I have to say may be offensive to his beliefs. If the study of heraldic science were a useful and moral study, Master Barbagallo, the favored nursling of that science, would regard all men as equal before God, and would recognize no distinction except between narrow-minded or wicked and intelligent or virtuous men. He would appreciate fully the vanity of titles and the very doubtful value of genealogical trees. He would have broader views concerning the history of the human race, as we were saying just now; and he would view that wonderful history with a glance no less firm than impartial. Whereas, if I am not mistaken, he views it with a certain narrowness of vision which I cannot accept. He esteems nobility an excellent thing because it is privileged; he despises the common people because they have no history and no memories. I will wager that he despises himself by dint of admiring the grandeur of others, unless he has discovered amid the dust of some library some document which affords him the honor of deeming himself related in the fourteenth degree to some illustrious family.
I have not that honor, said the majordomo, somewhat disconcerted. However, I have had the satisfaction of assuring myself that I am not descended from ignoble stock; some of my male ancestors were men of distinction in the clergy and in business.
I congratulate you most sincerely, said Michel, ironically; for my own part, it has never occurred to me to ask my father whether our ancestors were sign-painters, beadles or majordomos. Indeed, I admit that it is a matter of perfect indifference to me, and that I have never had but one thought in that direction—namely, to owe any celebrity I may attain to myself, and to create my own coat-of-arms with my palette and brushes.