successful unless he be esteemed a gentleman, not to be ashamed,
not to conceal the old family circumstances, not at any rate to be
silent, is difficult. And the difficulty is certainly not less if
fortunate circumstances rather than hard work and intrinsic merit
have raised above his natural place an aspirant to high social
position. Can it be expected that such a one when dining with a
duchess shall speak of his father's small shop, or bring into the
light of day his grandfather's cobbler's awl? And yet it is difficult
to be altogether silent! It may not be necessary for any of us to be
always talking of our own parentage. We may be generally reticent as
to our uncles and aunts, and may drop even our brothers and sisters
in our ordinary conversation. But if a man never mentions his
belongings among those with whom he lives, he becomes mysterious,
and almost open to suspicion. It begins to be known that nobody
knows anything of such a man, and even friends become afraid. It is
certainly convenient to be able to allude, if it be but once in a
year, to some blood relation.

Ferdinand Lopez, who in other respects had much in his circumstances
on which to congratulate himself, suffered trouble in his mind
respecting his ancestors such as I have endeavoured to describe. He
did not know very much himself, but what little he did know he kept
altogether to himself. He had no father or mother, no uncle, aunt,
brother or sister, no cousin even whom he could mention in a cursory
way to his dearest friend. He suffered, no doubt;--but with Spartan
consistency he so hid his trouble from the world that no one knew
that he suffered. Those with whom he lived, and who speculated often
and wondered much as to who he was, never dreamed that the silent
man's reticence was a burden to himself. At no special conjuncture of
his life, at no period which could be marked with the finger of the
observer, did he glaringly abstain from any statement which at the
moment might be natural. He never hesitated, blushed, or palpably
laboured at concealment; but the fact remained that though a great
many men and not a few women knew Ferdinand Lopez very well, none of
them knew whence he had come, or what was his family.

He was a man, however, naturally reticent, who never alluded to his
own affairs unless in pursuit of some object the way to which was
clear before his eyes. Silence therefore on a matter which is common
in the mouths of most men was l