You will let me speak plainly, will you, Mr.Watson ?" "Of course, young man.

Go ahead." "Perhaps you feel badly over a disaster of your own.

I saw the smoking fires at Bristoe Station.

The rebels burned there several million dollars worth of stores belonging to us.

Maybe a large part of them were your own goods." The contractor rubbed his huge knee with one hand, took his cigar out of his mouth with the other hand, blew several rings of fine blue smoke from his nose, and watched them break against the ceiling.
"Young man," he said, "you're a good guesser, but you don't guess all.
More than a million dollars worth of material that I supplied was burned or looted at Bristoe Station.