Doctor Grimshawe's Secret — a Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
page 85 of 315 (26%)
page 85 of 315 (26%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
understand, not by any means the main purpose of my voyage to America."
"What is the name of this family?" asked the Doctor, abruptly. "The man whose grave I seek," said the stranger, "lived and died, in this country, under the assumed name of Colcord." "How do you expect to succeed in this ridiculous quest?" asked the Doctor, "and what marks, signs, directions, have you to guide your search? And moreover, how have you come to any knowledge whatever about the matter, even that the emigrant ever assumed this name of Colcord, and that he was buried anywhere, and that his place of burial, after more than a century, is of the slightest importance?" "All this was ascertained by a messenger on a similar errand with my own, only undertaken nearly a century ago, and more in earnest than I can pretend to be," replied the Englishman. "At that period, however, there was probably a desire to find nothing that might take the hereditary possessions of the family out of the branch which still held them; and there is strong reason to suspect that the information acquired was purposely kept secret by the person in England into whose hands it came. The thing is differently situated now; the possessor of the estate is recently dead; and the discovery of an American heir would not be unacceptable to many. At all events, any knowledge gained here would throw light on a somewhat doubtful matter." "Where, as nearly as you can judge," said the Doctor, after a turn or two through the study, "was this man buried?" "He spent the last years of his life, certainly, in this town," said |
|