"You ought to be ashamed of yourself. That's all I've got to say."
"I'm afraid not."
"I'll talk just as much as I please."
"I'm afraid so. But let us all be cheerful now. Yesterday it was dark and misty, and now the sun is bright. Here, mamma, kiss me to my labor. I haven't drawn at the weak sinews of my feeble salary, and you shall have enough to buy a new sofa."
"That's a good dear," she said, kissing him. "Don't let what I said worry you. I didn't mean it."
He whistled at the dog as he went out; he sang merrily as he walked along the road, with the sunrise on his face and the noontime in his heart.
CHAPTER XIII.
DORSEY.
It was Mitchell's day to cook, and when Milford came in to dinner, the hired man told him that he had something of importance to tell.