re convenient, and because it is so much more
cheerful than the dining-room. There is a pump out there, and here is a
towel, if you would like to wash your hands."

As the man went out the back door I complimented my wife. She was really
an admirable hostess.

The individual in faded snuff-color was certainly hungry, and he seemed
to enjoy his supper. During the meal he gave us some account of himself.
He was an artist and had traveled, mostly on foot it would appear,
over a great part of the country. He had in his valise some very pretty
little colored sketches of scenes in Mexico and California, which he
showed us after supper. Why he carried these pictures--which were done
on stiff paper--about with him I do not know. He said he did not care
to sell them, as he might use them for studies for larger pictures some
day. His valise, which he opened wide on the table, seemed to be filled
with papers, drawings, and matters of that kind. I suppose he preferred
to wear his clothes, instead of carrying them about in his valise.

After sitting for about half an hour after supper, he rose, with
an uncertain sort of smile, and said he supposed he must be moving
on,--asking, at the same time, how far it was to the tavern over the
ridge.

"Just wait one moment, if you please," said Euphemia. And she beckoned
me out of the room.

"Don't you think," said she, "that we could keep him all night? There's
no moon, and it would be a fearful dark walk, I know, to the other side
of the mountain. There is a room upstairs that I can fix for him in ten
minutes, and I know he's honest."

"How do you know it?" I asked.

"Well, because he wears such curious-colored clothes. No criminal would
ever wear such clothes. He could never pass unnoticed anywhere; and
being probably the only person in the world who dressed that way, he
could always be detected."

"You are doubtless correct," I replied. "Let us keep him."

When we told the good man that he could stay all night, he was extremely
obliged to us, and went to bed quite early. After we had fastened the
house and had gone to our room, my wife said to me,

"Where is your pistol?"

I produced it.

"Well," said she, "I think you ought to have it where you can get at
it."

"Why so?" I asked. "You generally want me to keep it out of sight and
reach."

"Yes; but when there is a strange man in the house we ought to take
extra precautions."

"But this man you say is honest," I replie