He seems to have been a peppery old gentleman.

It's quite on the cards that he had some enemies among his neighbors ?" "No, so far as I can discover, he was very popular in the neighborhood.
The indignation over his death was something tremendous.

When it first got out that Rad was accused of the crime, there was even talk of lynching him." "So ?--Servants all appeared to be fond of him ?" "The old family servants were broken-hearted at the news of his death.
They had been, for the most part, born and bred on the place, and in spite of his occasional harshness they loved the Colonel with the old-fashioned devotion of the slave toward his master.

He was in his way exceedingly kind to them.

When old Uncle Eben died my uncle watched all night by his bed." "It's a queer situation," Terry muttered, and relapsed into silence till we reached the jail.
It was an ivy-covered brick building set back from the street and shaded by trees.
"Rather more home-like than the Tombs," Terry commented.