His had been a very peculiar, a very toilsome, but yet probably a very satisfactory life.

He had begun his practice early, and had worked in a stuff gown till he was nearly sixty.

At that time he had amassed a large fortune, mainly from his profession, but partly also by the careful use of his own small patrimony and by his wife's money.

Men knew that he was rich, but no one knew the extent of his wealth.

When he submitted to take a silk gown, he declared among his friends that he did so as a step preparatory to his retirement.