He was unquestionably a man of great mental power.
His calm, steady gaze and his words to the point showed it.

No one patronized Shepard.
"I should like to go into Richmond with you some dark night," said Dick, who hid a strong spirit of adventure under his quiet exterior.
"You're not serious, Lieutenant Mason ?" "I wasn't, maybe, when I began to say it, but I believe I am now.
Why shouldn't I be curious about Richmond, a place that great armies have been trying to take for three years?
Just at present it's the center of the world to me in interest." "You must not think of such a thing, Mr.Mason.

Detection means certain death." "No more for me than for you." "But I have had a long experience and I have resources of which you can't know.

Don't think of it again, Mr.Mason." "I was merely jesting.

I won't," said Dick.
He involuntarily looked toward the point beyond the horizon where Richmond lay, and Shepard meanwhile studied him closely.