"It'll never be much," sighed Anthony.
"Well, the world's nothing, if you come to look at it close," the farmer adopted a similar tone.
"What's money!" said Anthony.
The farmer immediately resumed his this-worldliness:
"Well, it's fine to go about asking us poor devils to answer ye that," he said, and chuckled, conceiving that he had nailed Anthony down to a partial confession of his ownership of some worldly goods.
"What do you call having money?" observed the latter, clearly in the trap. "Fifty thousand?"
"Whew!" went the farmer, as at a big draught of powerful stuff.
"Ten thousand?"
Mr. Fleming took this second gulp almost contemptuously, but still kindly.
"Come," quoth Anthony, "ten thousand's not so mean, you know. You're a gentleman on ten thousand. So, on five. I'll tell ye, many a gentleman'd be glad to own it. Lor' bless you! But, you know nothing of the world, brother William John. Some of 'em haven't one—ain't so rich as you!"