"Oh!" said Hannah dryly.
"And now do you know who our first ancestor was?"
"Yes; some Norman filibuster who came over to England with William the
Conqueror, I suppose. I believe from all that I have heard, that to have
been the origin of most of the noble English families and old Maryland
ones."
"No, you don't, neither. Herman says our family is much older than the
Conquest. They were a noble race of Saxon chiefs that held large sway in
England from the time of the first invasion of the Saxons to that of the
Norman Conquest; at which period a certain Wolfbold waged such
successful war against the invader and held out so long and fought so
furiously as to have received the surname of 'Bred-in-hell!'"
"Humph! do you call that an honor, or him a respectable ancestor?"
"Yes, indeed! because it was for no vice or crime that they give him
that surname, but because it was said no man born of woman could have
exhibited such frantic courage or performed such prodigies of valor as
he did. Well, anyway, that was the origin of our family name. From
Bred-in-hell it became Bredi-nell, then Bredenell, and finally, as it
still sounded rough for the name of a respectable family, they have in
these latter generations softened it down into Brudenell. So you see! I
should like to detect the Mervins looking down upon us!" concluded Nora,
with a pretty assumption of dignity.
"But, my dear, you are not a Brudenell."
"I don't care! My husband is, and Herman says a wife takes rank from her
husband! As Nora Worth, or as Mrs. Herman Brudenell, of course I am the
very same person; but then, ignorant as I may be, I know enough of the
world to feel sure that those who despised Nora Worth will not dare to
slight Mrs. Herman Brudenell!"
"Take care! Take care, Nora, dear! 'Pride goeth before a fall, and a
haughty temper before destruction!'" said Hannah, in solemn warning.
"Well, I will not be proud if I can help it; yet--how hard to help it!
But I will not let it grow on me. I will remember my humble origin and
that I am undeserving of anything better."
At this moment the latch of the door was raised and Jem Morris presented
himself, taking off his hat and bowing low, as he said: "Evening, Miss Hannah; evening, Miss Nora. Hopes you finds yourselves
well?"
"Why, law, professor, is that you? You have just come in time. Hannah
wants you to put a new bottom in her tin saucepan and a new cover on her
umbrella, and to mend her coffee-mill; it won't grind at all!" said
Nora.