reconciliation or without even telling his father where he was going. He
never came back again. A few years after, he died, without having in the
meantime exchanged a word or a letter with his father. He married abroad
and left one son, who seems to have been brought up in ignorance of all
belonging to him. The gulf between them appears to have been
unbridgable; for in time this son married and in turn had a son, but
neither joy nor sorrow brought the sundered together. Under such
conditions no _rapprochement_ was to be looked for, and an utter
indifference, founded at best on ignorance, took the place of family
affection--even on community of interests. It was only due to the
watchfulness of the lawyers that the birth of this new heir was ever made
known. He actually spent a few months in the ancestral home.

"After this the family interest merely rested on heirship of the estate.
As no other children have been born to any of the newer generations in
the intervening years, all hopes of heritage are now centred in the
grandson of this man.

"Now, it will be well for you to bear in mind the prevailing
characteristics of this race. These were well preserved and unchanging;
one and all they are the same: cold, selfish, dominant, reckless of
consequences in pursuit of their own will. It was not that they did not
keep faith, though that was a matter which gave them little concern, but
that they took care to think beforehand of what they should do in order
to gain their own ends. If they should make a mistake, someone else
should bear the burthen of it. This was so perpetually recurrent that it
seemed to be a part of a fixed policy. It was no wonder that, whatever
changes took place, they were always ensured in their own possessions.
They were absolutely cold and hard by nature. Not one of them--so far as
we have any knowledge--was ever known to be touched by the softer