On this plateau, the owner of the mill, Mr. Robert Belcher—­himself an exceptional product of the village—­had built his residence—­a large, white, pretentious dwelling, surrounded and embellished by all the appointments of wealth.  The house was a huge cube, ornamented at its corners and cornices with all possible flowers of a rude architecture, reminding one of an elephant, that, in a fit of incontinent playfulness, had indulged in antics characteristic of its clumsy bulk and brawn.  Outside were ample stables, a green-house, a Chinese pagoda that was called “the summer-house,” an exquisite garden and trees, among which latter were carefully cherished the seven ancient oaks that had given the town its name.

Robert Belcher was not a gentleman.  He supposed himself to be one, but he was mistaken.  Gentlemen of wealth usually built a fine house; so Mr. Belcher built one.  Gentlemen kept horses, a groom and a coachman; Mr. Belcher did the same.  Gentlemen of wealth built green-houses for themselves and kept a gardener; Mr. Belcher could do no less.  He had no gentlemanly tastes, to be sure, but he could buy or hire these for money; so he bought and hired them; and when Robert Belcher walked through his stables and jested with his men, or sauntered into his green-house and about his grounds, he rubbed his heavy hands together, and fancied that the costly things by which he had surrounded himself were the insignia of a gentleman.

From his windows he could look down upon the village, all of which he either owned or controlled.  He owned the great mill; he owned the water-privilege; he owned many of the dwellings, and held mortgages on many others; he owned the churches, for all purposes practical to himself; he owned the ministers—­if not, then this was another mistake that he had made.  So long as it was true that they could not live without him, he was content with his title.  He patronized the church, and the church was too weak to decline his ostentatious courtesy.  He humiliated every man who came into his presence, seeking a subscription for a religious or charitable purpose, but his subscription was always sought, and as regularly obtained.  Humbly to seek his assistance for any high purpose was a concession to his power, and to grant the assistance sought was to establish an obligation.  He was willing to pay for personal influence and personal glory, and he often paid right royally.

Of course, Mr. Belcher’s residence had a library; all gentlemen have libraries.  Mr. Belcher’s did not contain many books, but it contained a great deal of room for them.  Here he spent his evenings, kept his papers in a huge safe built into the wall, smoked, looked down on the twinkling village and his huge mill, counted his gains and constructed his schemes.  Of Mrs. Belcher and the little Belchers, he saw but little.  He fed and dressed them well, as he did his horses.  All gentlemen feed and dress their dependents well.  He was proud of his family as he saw them riding in their carriage.  They looked gay and comfortable, and were, as he thought, objects of envy among the humbler folk of the town, all of which reflected pleasantly upon himself.