Sentence:  “[…] This is Mr. Churchill, who, as you are aware, is good enough to come to us for his diaconate, and, as we hope, for much longer; and being a <WSD>gentleman</WSD> of independent means, he declines to take any payment.” Saying this Walden rubbed his hands together and smiled contentedly. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (historical) A man of gentle but not noble birth, "particularly" a man of means (originally ownership of property) who does not work for a living but has no official status in a peerage; (law) an armiferous man ranking below a knight.