"Well, I don't know as he called it that, but whatever it is, he was a good deal struck by it, and he wondered that you didn't go to some big city and set up there. And I wondered so too, from all that I heard. Somebody, I have forgotten who, hinted that maybe you didn't have money enough and—"
"Money," said Lyman; "why, I've got money enough to burn a wet elephant."
Sawyer blinked in the glare of this dazzling statement, but he managed to smile and then to proceed: "I spoke to Mr. McElwin about what had been hinted, and inasmuch as you had applied to him for a loan, he didn't know but it was the truth."
"A very natural conclusion on his part," said Lyman, leaning back and crossing his feet on a corner of the table.
"Yes, he thought so, and I did, too. He ain't so hard a man to get along with as you might think."
"He is not a hard man to get away from. It doesn't seem to put him to any trouble to let a man know when he's got enough of him."
"I'm afraid you didn't see him under the best conditions."
"No, I don't believe I did. He made me feel as if I looked like the man standing at the threshold of the almanac, badly cut up, with crabs and horns and other things put about him."
"I think you would find him much more agreeable now."
"Oh, he was agreeable enough then, only he didn't agree. And I am thankful that he didn't."