Vancouver?"

"Yes."

"Vancouver never hit me, that I can swear," said John, "and I am very sure
I never hit him."

"I dare say I am mistaken," said Joe. "You ought to know best. Let us
leave him alone."

"With all my heart," answered John.

"Tell me what you have been doing, Mr. Harrington," said Joe, after a
moment's pause; "all the papers are full of you."

"Yes, I have been rather in the passive mood during the last week. I have
been standing up to be shot at."

"Without shooting back? What are they so angry about?"

"The truth," said John, calmly. "They do not like to hear it."

"What is truth--in this instance?"

"Apparently something so unpleasant that the mere mention of it has roused
the bile of every penny-a-liner in the Republican press. I undertook to
demonstrate that one of the fifteen millions of the 'ablest men in the
country,' whom you are always hearing about, is a swindler. He is, but he
does not like to be told so."