"You are to understand that it was the unwritten law of the Hyndses'
that this house should come to the eldest son. Primogeniture is of
course foreign to American ideas, but this is an old house, Miss
Smith. When it was built, American ideas hadn't been born. And the
Hyndses were a law to themselves.
"The then head of the house was James Hampden Hynds, a man of an
immense pride, a rigid sense of duty, and the nicest notions of
honor. He had two sons, Richard, and the younger brother, Freeman.
The daughters do not count: it is with these two sons we are
concerned.
"From every account Freeman Hynds was a good man, a quiet,
God-fearing, methodical man, attentive to his affairs, and
meticulously exact in all his dealings; not warm-hearted, perhaps,
but just. But as if the bad blood of the entire family had come to a
head in one man, Richard was born a roisterer and a spendthrift.
"He grew up a magnificent young scapegrace, reckless to the point of
madness, and with that inherent love of risk that is the very breath
of life to such men. Despite these defects there is no doubt that
his was one of those personalities that win love without effort.
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