‘For my part,’ I returned, ‘I should think any fact concerning one of those who link me with the infinite past out of which I have come, invaluable. Even a fact which is not to the credit of an ancestor may be a precious discovery to the man who has in himself to fight the evil derived from it.’
‘That, however, is a point of view rarely taken. What the ordinary man values is also rare; hence few regard their ancestry, or transmit any knowledge they may have of those who have gone before them to those that come after them.’
‘My uncle, however, I suppose, told me nothing because, unlike the many, he prized neither wealth nor rank, nor what are commonly considered great deeds.’
‘You are not far from the truth there,’ said Mr Coningham in a significant tone.
‘Then you know why he never told me anything!’ I exclaimed.
‘I do—from the best authority.’
‘His own, you mean, I suppose.’
‘I do.’
‘But—but—I didn’t know you were ever—at all—intimate with my uncle,’ I said.
He laughed knowingly.