Self-confident as he was, glutted with success as he was, he had in his heart a premonition that some time he might want that money just where it was placed.

So there it lay, accumulating interest.
It was an anchor to windward, that would hold him if ever his bark should drift into shallow or dangerous waters.
The grand trouble was, that he did not own a single patent by which he was thriving in both branches of his manufactures.

He had calculated upon worrying the inventor into a sale, and had brought his designs very nearly to realization, when he found, to his surprise and discomfiture, that he had driven him into a mad-house.

Rich as he was, therefore, there was something very unsubstantial in his wealth, even to his own apprehension.

Sometimes it all seemed like a bubble, which a sudden breath would wreck.