"Descended from a bastard of the second baronet, and out of the line of descent, altogether."
"But the Wychecombes of Hertfordshire, I have always heard were of our family, and legitimate."
"True, as regards matrimony—rather too much of it, by the way. They branched off in 1487, long before the creation, and have nothing to do with the entail; the first of their line coming from old Sir Michael Wychecombe, Kt. and Sheriff of Devonshire, by his second wife Margery; while we are derived from the same male ancestor, through Wycherly, the only son by Joan, the first wife. Wycherly, and Michael, the son of Michael and Margery, were of the half-blood, as respects each other, and could not be heirs of blood. What was true of the ancestors is true of the descendants."
"But we came of the same ancestor, and the estate is far older than 1487."
"Quite true, brother; nevertheless, the half-blood can't take; so says the perfection of human reason."
"I never could understand these niceties of the law," said Sir Wycherly, sighing; "but I suppose they are all right. There are so many Wychecombes scattered about England, that I should think some one among them all might be my heir!"
"Every man of them bears a bar in his arms, or is of the half-blood."
"You are quite sure, brother, that Tom is a filius nullus?" for the baronet had forgotten most of the little Latin he ever knew, and translated this legal phrase into "no son."
"Filius nullius, Sir Wycherly, the son of nobody; your reading would literally make Tom nobody; whereas, he is only the son of nobody."
"But, brother, he is your son, and as like you, as two hounds of the same litter."