d, in the
second, for a clear title to it; this last seemed an eccentricity
indeed, when the Dueros themselves had lived there so long without one.
Evert Winthrop persevered; he persevered with patience, for he was
amused by the local history his researches unearthed. Dr. Kirby
persevered also, but he persevered with impatience; he was especially
incensed against the attorney who represented a portion of the later tax
titles. This attorney, a new-comer in Gracias, was a tall,
narrow-chested young man from Maine, who had hoped to obtain health and
a modest livelihood in the little southern town; it was plain that he
would obtain neither, if long opposed to Reginald Kirby.

"Sir," said the Doctor, who had been especially exasperated by a tax
title which stood in the name of a certain Increase Kittredge, described
as a resident, "there is collusion in this evidently. There is no such
person in Gracias-a-Dios, and I venture to say there is no such person
in the State; it is some northern _freebooter_ who is acting through
you. Kittredge," he repeated, putting on his spectacles to read the name
again. "And Increase!" he added, throwing back his head and looking
about the room, as if calling the very furniture to witness. "No
southerner, high or low, sir, had ever such a name as that since the
universe was created; it's Yankee, Yankee to the core, as--if you will
kindly allow me to mention it--is your own also."

The youthful attorney, whose name was Jeremiah Boise, sat looking at his
pen-holder with a discouraged air; he was very young, and he admired the
Doctor profoundly, which made it worse.

"And I am surprised," continued the Doctor, changing his tone to one of
simple gravity, "that you should be willing to lend yourself to these
plots and jobs" (the Doctor brought out these two words with rich round
utterance), "which must, of course, act more or less upon the nerves,
you who are so far from robust, who have so evidently a tendency"--here
the Doctor paused, surveying Jeremiah from head to foot--"a tendency to
weakness of the breathing powers."

The poor young man, who knew that he had, looked so pallid,
nevertheless, under this professional statement of his case that the
kind-hearted Doctor instantly repented. He put out his hand, "There,
there," he said; "don't look so disheartened. Come to my office and let
me see you, I venture to say I can set you up in no time--in no time at
all. I presume you haven't the leas