A glance was enough to reveal that they were not epistolary.

Sheridan would not have read a "private letter" that came into his possession in that way, though in a "matter of business" he might have felt it his duty to take advantage of an opportunity afforded in any manner whatsoever.

Having satisfied himself that Bibbs's scribblings were only a sample of the kind of writing his son preferred to the machine-shop, he decided, innocently enough, that he would be justified in reading them.
It appears that a lady will nod pleasantly upon some windy generalization of a companion, and will wear the most agreeable expression of accepting it as the law, and then--days afterward, when the thing is a mummy to its promulgator--she will inquire out of a clear sky: "WHY did you say that the people down-town have nothing in life that a chicken hasn't?
What did you mean ?" And she may say it in a manner that makes a sensible reply very difficult -- you will be so full of wonder that she remembered so seriously.
Yet, what does the rooster lack?
He has food and shelter; he is warm in winter; his wives raise not one fine family for him, but dozens.

He has a clear sky over him; he breathes sweet air; he walks in his April orchard under a roof of flowers.

He must die, violently perhaps, but quickly.