ld say
that the house was not a hotel but a private residence during the
period for which he has rented it."

Personally, he rather admired Ellsworth. Seemed to be a resourceful
sort of chap who knew how to make money behave itself, and do its
little tricks without balking in the harness.

"Then you can make him take down the sign!" his wife declared.

He shook his head decidedly.

"It wouldn't do, Belle," he replied. "It would be spite, not
retaliation, and not at all sportsmanlike. The course you suggest
would belittle us more than it would annoy them. There must be some
other way."

He went in to talk with Uncle Billy.

"I want to buy this place," he stated. "Is it for sale?"

"It sartin is!" replied Uncle Billy. He did not merely twinkle this
time. He grinned.

"How much?"

"Three thousand dollars." Mr. Tutt was used to charging by this time,
and he betrayed no hesitation.

"I'll write you out a check at once," and Mr. Van Kamp reached in his
pocket with the reflection that the spot, after all, was an ideal one
for a quiet summer retreat.

"Air you a-goin' t' scribble that there three thou-san' on a piece o'
paper?" inquired Uncle Billy, sitting bolt upright. "Ef you air
a-figgerin' on that, Mr. Kamp, jis' you save yore time. I give a man
four dollars fer one o' them check things oncet, an' I owe myself them
four dollars yit."

Mr. Van Kamp retired in disorder, but the thought of his wife and
daughter waiting confidently on the porch stopped him. Moreover, the
thing had resolved itself rather into a contest between Ellsworth and
himself, and he had done a little making and breaking of men and
things in his own time. He did some gatling-gun thinking out by the
newel-post, and presently rejoined Uncle Billy.

"Mr. Tutt, tell me just exactly what Mr. Ellsworth rented, please," he
requested.

"Th' hull house," replied Billy, and then he somewhat sternly added:
"Paid me spot cash fer it, too."

Mr. Van Kamp took a wad of loose bills from his trousers pocket,
straightened them out leisurely, and placed them in his bill book,
along with some smooth yellowbacks of eye-bulging denominations. Uncle
Billy sat up and stopped twiddling his thumbs.

"Nothing was said about the furniture, was there?" suavely inquired
Van Kamp.

Uncle Billy leaned blankly back in his chair. Little by little the
light dawned on the ex-horse-trader. The crow's feet reappeared about
his eyes, his mouth twitched, he smiled, he