The applicant proceeded to give the boundaries of his property, its
nature, comprising tillage, pasture, woodland, and pleasure-grounds,
in ample circuit; together with a mansion-house, in the construction
of which it had been his object to realize a castle in the air,
hardening its shadowy walls into granite, and rendering its
visionary splendor perceptible to the awakened eye. Judging from his
description, it was beautiful enough to vanish like a dream, yet
substantial enough to endure for centuries. He spoke, too, of the
gorgeous furniture, the refinements of upholstery, and all the
luxurious artifices that combined to render this a residence where
life might flow onward in a stream of golden days, undisturbed by
the ruggedness which fate loves to fling into it.

"I am a man of strong will," said he, in conclusion; "and at my
first setting out in life, as a poor, unfriended youth, I resolved
to make myself the possessor of such a mansion and estate as this,
together with the abundant revenue necessary to uphold it. I have
succeeded to the extent of my utmost wish. And this is the estate
which I have now concluded to dispose of."

"And your terms?" asked the Intelligencer, after taking down the
particulars with which the stranger had supplied him.

"Easy, abundantly easy!" answered the successful man, smiling, but
with a stern and almost frightful contraction of the brow, as if to
quell an inward pang. "I have been engaged in various sorts of
business,--a distiller, a trader to Africa, an East India merchant,
a speculator in the stocks,--and, in the course of these affairs,
have contracted an encumbrance of a certain nature. The purchaser