The Colonel’s earnestness could not be doubted. When [115] he sat down he fondled his gold-headed cane with apparent tenderness, as if he were ashamed of the way he had abused it in emphasizing his remarks by punching it into the floor in a most merciless fashion. B. Webster Legal, addressing the chairman, said: “I am proud again to meet my distinguished associates as a deliberative body. For the benefit of our beloved citizens of Waterville, who are crowding into this room of deliberation, and standing in front of the windows eagerly listening to the important proceedings of this meeting, I will say that only men in the broadest term—men with an abundance of gray matter clinging to their brains—could possibly have accomplished the feats which have characterized the acts of the Waterville Town Company from its organization up to the present time. I feel, Mr. President and gentlemen, that our untiring efforts are about to be crowned with a success little dreamed of by the most hopeful. “From a legal point of view, I am proud to assure you that the Waterville Town Company is in a most safe and healthy condition. I have frequently observed, and will again say, I am not a seller of lots, but I assure each and every one of you that I am here to stay by this company as long as a lot can be sold. So far as legal knots are concerned, I will untie them; or, failing to do so, will, with the sharp edge of the law, cleave them asunder.” The attorney’s remarks were greeted with applause as he sat down. The chairman jarred the frail building by again clearing his throat, and requested C. Webster Legal to make a report of the assets of the Waterville Town Company. [116] “Mr. Chairman,” said B. Webster Legal, “I have recently looked over the list of property owned by the Waterville Town Company, and find that we have assets amounting to some two millions of dollars.” As the attorney sat down there was a satisfied look upon his face suggestive of the millionaire. The chairman looked over his spectacles and said, “Gentlemen, you have heard, and no doubt with pardonable elation, the statement of our honored associate, Judge Legal. There are eight of us,” he continued, “and two millions means a quarter of a million each. Within two years, sirs, these assets will have doubled in value. There are men whose statements I would not rely implicitly upon without discounting them—say, fifty or seventy-five per cent—but, gentlemen, when it comes to downright conservatism, why, my level-headed friend the Judge takes the jackpot. Yes, sir, I undertake to say, gentlemen, he is the king bee of us all in cutting square into the heart of a proposition, and analyzing it with a precision that is truly remarkable; and when he says two millions, I have no hesitancy, gentlemen, in staking my reputation that it is three millions if it is a cent.” As the chairman sat down he looked carefully at his gold-headed cane again to make sure it had sustained no injury.