He's a clever talker and has a taking way with him, but if the half I hear is true, he's going the devil's own gait.

He's a pretty good friend to Andy Gilmore, ain't he--that horse-racing, card-playing neighbor of yours ?" He pushed the bills toward North.

"Run them over, John, and see if I have made any mistake." He slipped off his glasses again and fell to polishing them with his handkerchief.

"It's all right, John ?" he asked at length.
"Yes, quite right, thank you." And North produced the bonds from an inner pocket of his coat and handed them to McBride.
"So you are going to get out of this place, John?
You're going West, you say.

What will you do there ?" asked the old merchant as he carefully examined the bonds.
"I don't know yet." "I'm trusting you're through with your folly, John; that your crop of wild oats is in the ground.