ghout, if the fellow insisted upon it.

"I want nothing to do with you, sir," he said, less violently, but,
as he felt, not more effectually. "You are in my house without my
invitation, and against my wish!"

"I didn't expect to find you here. I came in because I saw the door
open, and I thought I might see Dick or his wife and give them, this
paper for you. But I'm glad I found you, and if you won't give me any
reason for not wanting me here, I can give it myself, and I think I can
make out a very good case for you." Kenton quivered in anticipation of
some mention of Ellen, and Bittridge smiled as if he understood. But he
went on to say: "I know that there were things happened after you first
gave me the run of your house that might make you want to put up the
bars again--if they were true. But they were not true. And I can prove
that by the best of all possible witnesses--by Uphill himself. He stands
shoulder to shoulder with me, to make it hot for any one who couples his
wife's name with mine."

"Humph!" Kenton could not help making this comment, and Bittridge, being
what he was, could not help laughing.

"What's the use?" he asked, recovering himself. "I don't pretend that
I did right, but you know there wasn't any harm in it. And if there had
been I should have got the worst of it. Honestly, judge, I couldn't tell
you how much I prized being admitted to your house on the terms I was.
Don't you think I could appreciate the kindness you all showed me?
Before you took me up, I was alone in Tuskingum, but you opened every
door in the place for me. You made it home to me; and you won't believe
it, of course, because you're prejudiced; but I felt like a son and
brother to you all. I felt towards Mrs. Kenton just as I do towards my
own mother. I lost the best friends I ever had when you turned against
me. Don't you suppose I've seen the difference here in Tuskingum? Of
course, the men pass the time of day with me when we meet, but they
don't look me up, and there are more near-sighted girls in this town!"
Kenton could not keep the remote dawn of a smile out of his eyes, and
Bittridge caught the far-off gleam. "And everybody's been away the whole
winter. Not a soul at home, anywhere, and I had to take my chance of
surprising Mrs. Dick Kenton when I saw your door open here." He laughed
forlornly, as the gleam faded out of Kenton's eye again. "And the worst
of it is that my own mother isn't at home to me, figuratively spe