" said the old man.

"You may be my uncle, but I am not sufficiently acquainted with you yet
for that," she answered. "You can come upstairs, if you feel tired, and
lie down till supper time."

"Thank you, I will," said Uncle Obed.

The offer of Mrs. Ross was dictated not so much by kindness as by the
desire to get her shabby uncle well out of the way, and have a chance
for a private conference with her husband, whom she expected every
minute.

If the unannounced visit of Uncle Obed may be thought to need an excuse,
it can easily be found. For years, when Mrs. Ross was a girl, she and
her mother were mainly supported by the now despised uncle, without whom
they might have become dependent upon charity.

It was not a time that Mrs. Ross, in her present luxury, liked to think
about, and for years she had not communicated with the uncle to whom she
owed so much.

Full of charity himself, he was unconscious of her lack of gratitude,
and supposed that her failure to write was owing to lack of time. He had
come in good faith, when bereft of his daughter, to renew acquaintance
with his niece, never dreaming how unwelcome he would be. Philip's
rudeness impressed him unpleasantly, but, then, the boy had never seen
him before, and that was some excuse.

CHAPTER VII

AN UNWELCOME GUEST

"I don't believe that old tramp's my great-uncle," said Philip Ross to
himself, but he felt uneasy, nevertheless.

It hurt his pride to think that he should have such a shabby relation,
and he resolved to ascertain by inquiry from his mother whether there
were any grounds for the old man's claim.

He came into the house just after Uncle Obed had been shown upstairs by
the servant, not to the spare room, but to a small, inconvenient bedroom
on the third floor, next to the one occupied by the two servants.

"Mother," asked Philip, "is it really true?"

"Is what really true?"

"That that shabby old man is any relation of ours?"

"I don't know with certainty," answered his mother. "He says he is, but
I shouldn't have known him."

"Did you have any uncle in Illinois?"

"Yes, I believe so," Mrs. Ross admitted, reluctantly.

"You always said you were of a high family," said Philip,
reproachfully.

Mrs. Ross blushed, for she did not like to admit that her pretensions to
both were baseless. She was not willing to admit it now, even to
Philip.

"It is true," she replied, in some embarra