"You say that as if you were thankful that you did not bear the name of Gnadewitz."
"I am thankful for it."
"Hm!—in its time it has made a fine noise in the world."
"None pleasant to hear."
"Why, what would you have? At every court it was pure gold, for it was very old, and the last of those who bore it were heaped with dignities and honours, on account of the antiquity of their name."
"Pardon me, but I cannot possibly understand how—" she blushed, and was silent.
"Go on; you have begun the sentence, and I depend upon hearing the end."
"Well, then, how sin can be honoured, because it is old," she rejoined, with hesitation.
"Softly! they say that several of the Gnadewitz lineage were brave and true."
"That may be; but is there not great injustice in the idea of rewarding their merit, centuries after, by honouring those who are neither good nor true?"