"'Yes, of course,' says Lizzie, in a lofty manner. 'Dan is really an excellent boy—isn't he?'
"'Yes, an' he's livin' within his means—that's the first mile-stone in the road to success,' I says. 'I'm goin' to buy him a thousand acres o' land, an' one o' these days he'll own it an' as much more. You wait. He'll have a hundred men in his employ, an' flocks an' herds an' a market of his own in New York. He'll control prices in this county, an' they're goin' down. He'll be a force in the State.'
"They were all sitting up. The faces o' the Lady Henshaw an' her daughter turned red.
"'I'm very glad to hear it, I'm sure,' said her Ladyship.
"'I wasn't so sure o' that as she was, an' there, for me, was the milk in the cocoanut. I was joyful.
"'Why, it's perfectly lovely!' says Lizzie, as she fetched her pretty hands together in her lap.
"'Yes, you want to cultivate Dan,' I says. 'He's a man to be reckoned with.'
"'Oh, indeed!' says her Ladyship.
"'Yes, indeed!' I says, 'an' the girls are all after him.'
"I just guessed that. I knew it was unscrupulous, but livin' here in this atmosphere does affect the morals even of a lawyer. Lizzie grew red in the face.