But what was his tale ?" "A very short one.

He told me his father was a Wycherly Wychecombe, and that his grandfather had been a Virginia planter.

This was all he seemed to know of his ancestry." "And probably all there was of them.

My Tom is not the _filius nullius_ that has been among us, and this grandfather, if he has not actually stolen the name, has got it by these doubtful means.

As for the Wycherly, it should pass for nothing.