I suppose I am worth now nearly $100,000 in good
money. I have more gold coin than I know what to do with. The
_Examiner_ is very valuable property, and is destined to be much more
so. I expect to live long, and if I do, I shall be rich. When I am
rich, I shall buy the old family estate in Stafford County, and shall
add to it all the land for miles around. I shall build a house to my
fancy, and, with all my possessions walled in, I shall teach these
people what they never knew--how to live like a gentleman."[1]
[Footnote 1: This paragraph is in Mr. J.M. Daniel's words.]
The glow had deepened on the sallow face. It was easy to see that the
speaker had unfolded to me the dream of his life.
"Your scheme is one," I said, "which takes my fancy greatly. But why do
you intend to wall in your property?"
"To keep out those wolves called men."
"Ah! I forgot. You do not like those bipeds without feathers."
"I like some of them, colonel; but the majority are worse than my dogs,
Fanny and Frank, yonder. Sometimes I think they are human--they bite
each other so!"
I laughed. There was something _piquant_ in the grim humor of this
singular personage.
"What is your ideal man?" I said, "for, doubtless, you have such an
ideal?"
"Yes. I like a man of bronze, who does not snivel or weep.
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