The Man of Last Resort by Melville Davisson Post

Robert dalton was of good blood, having descended from colonial / families of degree. He was perhaps in his middle thirties, in appearance / no usual man, straight as a spire, with a powerful face in which every / feature seemed prominent; hair rather prematurely gray, and soft and / clinging as a woman's, and withal a manner courtly to such a degree that / the young, and those others unskilled in divining the natures of men, / associated with Mr. Dalton relations of a so-called romantic nature. / This conclusion was grossly erroneous, and led to much profitless / gossip. In fact, Robert Dalton was a stern and practical man of large / legal acquirements, with no more romance in his composition than a ship / carpenter. In the practice of his profession he was always cold, clear / headed, and technical, believing no man, and fearing no man; in truth, / the wags asserted, his courtesy was in itself a libel, because of / all members of the bar no one was more rigid, more exacting, or more / relentless than Robert Dalton, of Carpenter, Lomax, & Dalton.

The mental build of young Dalton rendered him especially valuable as / a chancery lawyer, and this department of the business he gradually / assumed until it was almost entirely in his hands. For years he drafted / all difficult pleadings, especially difficult under the rigid practice / of the common law obtaining in the Virginias. He drafted likewise all / deeds, wills, and papers of like tenor, with such unusual care and skill / that he rapidly gained a reputation, -- the sort of reputation which it / usually requires a lifetime to establish, and the value of which is / above rubies.