Sentence:  “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my <WSD>dear</WSD> fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.nb...” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (A formal way to start (often after "my") addressing somebody one likes or regards kindly.)