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diff --git a/26895.txt b/26895.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2f37cd --- /dev/null +++ b/26895.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Associate Hermits, by Frank R. Stockton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Associate Hermits + +Author: Frank R. Stockton + +Illustrator: A. B. Frost + +Release Date: October 12, 2008 [EBook #26895] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ASSOCIATE HERMITS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Canada Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + +[Illustration: THE SUPPER [Page 37]] + + + + +THE +ASSOCIATE HERMITS + +By +Frank R. Stockton + +Author of +"The Great Stone of Sardis" + +With Illustrations by A. B. Frost + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK AND LONDON +HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS + +1900 + + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + +THE GREAT STONE OF SARDIS. A Novel. +Illustrated by Peter Newell. Post 8vo, Cloth, +Ornamental, $1 50. + +"The Great Stone of Sardis" is as queer and preposterous as +can be imagined, yet as plausible and real-seeming as a legal +document.... There is a treat in the book.--_Independent_, N. Y. + +A new and worthy example of Stockton's kindly, wholesome, +original, and inexhaustible humor.--_Syracuse Post._ + +Narrated with a seriousness that gives the adventures a semblance +of matters of fact. Through the narrative runs a love interest which +Mr. Stockton manages with great skill.--_Washington Post._ + +NEW YORK AND LONDON: +HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. + +Copyright, 1898, by Harper & Brothers. + +All rights reserved. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. The Dawn of a Wedding-journey 1 + II. Enter Margery 7 + III. Sadler's 15 + IV. A Cataract of Information 23 + V. Camp Rob 35 + VI. Camp Roy 42 + VII. A Stranger 52 + VIII. The Bishop's Tale 63 + IX. Matlack's Three Troubles 74 + X. A Ladies' Day in Camp 82 + XI. Margery Takes the Oars 90 + XII. The Bishop Engages the Attention of the Guides 100 + XIII. The World Goes Wrong with Mr. Raybold 105 + XIV. The Assertion of Individuality 113 + XV. A Net of Cobwebs to Cage a Lion 123 + XVI. A Man who Feels Himself a Man 135 + XVII. Mrs. Perkenpine Asserts Her Individuality 143 + XVIII. The Hermits Associate 153 + XIX. Margery's Breakfast 161 + XX. Martin Asserts His Individuality 173 + XXI. The Individuality of Peter Sadler 185 + XXII. A Tranquillizing Breeze and a Hot Wind 194 + XXIII. Mrs. Perkenpine Finds out Things about Herself 205 + XXIV. A Dissolving Audience 212 + XXV. A Moonlight Interview 220 + XXVI. An Elopement 229 + XXVII. Mrs. Perkenpine Delights the Bishop 239 +XXVIII. The Hermits Continue to Favor Association 248 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE +THE SUPPER Frontispiece +"'CAN THIS BE SADLER'S?'" 16 +"'THEY THROW THE OTHER THINGS BACK'" 54 +"A LESSON IN FLY-FISHING" 80 +"BUT THE BISHOP KNEW BETTER" 98 +"WITH A GREAT HEAVE SENT HIM OUT INTO THE WATER" 102 +"'WHERE ARE ALL OUR FRIENDS?'" 150 +"'HAVEN'T TRIED IT'" 202 +"'IF THEY AIN'T THE CAMP ROBBERS!'" 232 + + + + +THE ASSOCIATE HERMITS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE DAWN OF A WEDDING-JOURNEY + + +Mr. and Mrs. Hector Archibald were prosperous and happy dwellers in a +suburb of one of our large towns. Fortune had favored them in many +ways--in health and in a good average happiness. They had reached early +middle age, and their daughter Kate, their only child, had grown up to be +a beautiful and good young woman, and was on the point of marrying a young +lawyer--Rodney Bringhurst by name--in every way worthy of her. + +Hector Archibald was a little man, with small bright eyes, and hair +slightly touched with gray and very much inclined to curl. His disposition +was lively. He had a strong liking for cheerful occurrences, and was +always willing to do his part in the bringing about of such events. +Novelty had a charm for him. He was not bound by precedence and tradition, +and if he had found himself at a dinner which began with coffee and ended +with oysters on the half-shell, he would have given the unusual meal a +most animated consideration, although he might have utterly withheld any +subsequent approbation. As a general thing, he revolved in an orbit where +one might always be able to find him, were the proper calculations made. +But if any one drew a tangent for him, and its direction seemed suitable +and interesting, he was perfectly willing to fly off on it. + +The disposition of Mrs. Hector Archibald was different. She was born to be +guided by customs, fashions, and forms. She believed it was the duty of a +married woman to make her home happy, and she did it. But she also +believed that in the best domestic circles there were rules and usages for +domestic happiness which would apply to every domestic condition and +contingency. It frequently troubled her, however, to find that certain +customs, forms, or usages of domestic society had changed, and being of a +conservative turn of mind, it was difficult for her to adapt herself to +these changes. But, thoroughly loyal to the idea that what was done by +people she loved and people she respected ought also to be done by her, +she earnestly strove to fit herself to new conditions, especially when she +saw that by not doing so she would be out of touch with her family and her +friends. + +Now of course the wedding of their daughter was the only thing in the +world that seemed of real importance to Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, and for +this all preparations and plans had been agreed upon and made with great +good-will and harmony, excepting one thing, and that was the wedding-trip. +Strange to say, the young people did not wish to take a wedding-trip. They +believed that this old-fashioned custom was unnecessary, troublesome, +commonplace, and stupid. In the gardens and grounds of the Archibald +mansion, and in the beautiful surrounding country, they had loved each +other as lovers, and among these scenes they wished to begin to love each +other as a married couple. Why should such distasteful and unpleasant +ingredients as railroad-cars, steamboats, and hotels be dashed into the +pleasing mixture of their new lives? It had been arranged that for a year +or two, at least, they should live in Kate's dear old home, and why should +they not immediately begin that life there? + +Mr. Archibald did not favor this plan, and his wife was strongly opposed +to it. A wedding without a wedding-trip ought not to be thought of. + +"During the honey-moon a young couple should live for each other, with +each other, apart from the rest of the world. It is a beautiful custom, +which should not be rudely trampled upon," said Mrs. Archibald. + +But although Mrs. Archibald cherished a belief that she ought to conform +her ideas to the domestic customs of the day, her daughter Kate cherished +the belief that the domestic customs of the day ought to conform +themselves to her ideas. + +"Of course we should like to be alone in the honey-moon," she exclaimed. +"We don't object to that; and if there must be a wedding-journey, you and +father can take it and we will stay here. Here are servants, books, things +to eat, and everything our hearts can desire, and here we would really +feel as if we were beginning life as man and wife. As for you two, you +both need a vacation, and nothing could be more perfectly appropriate and +more delightful to everybody than that you should take our wedding-trip. +We don't want it; we will make it a present to you. Take it and be happy, +and leave us here to be happy. People have done this sort of thing before, +so that it is not absolutely wild and unheard of." + +Mr. Archibald welcomed this plan with open arms, and hugged it and his +daughter to his breast. It suited him admirably, and he declared that all +business and engagements of every kind should be set aside, and that he +would be ready to start on the wedding-journey with Mrs. Archibald the +moment the ceremony should be completed. + +"You will wait until the reception is over, father?" said Kate, laughing. + +"Yes," said he, "I will wait for that." + +This novel proposition sent a chill through every fibre of Mrs. +Archibald's physical organism. At first she did not exactly comprehend it, +but when she did, the chills increased. When she had recovered herself a +little she began to make objections. This was easy enough, for they +crowded into her mind like sheep into a pen; but every objection, as she +brought it forth, was ruthlessly set aside or crushed to earth by her +daughter or her husband, assisted by her expectant son-in-law, of whom she +declared she never would have believed such a thing had she been told it. + +The discussion ended, of course, by Mrs. Archibald agreeing to go on this +absurd wedding-journey. But the good lady's mental troubles were not over +when she had given her consent. As this scheme had been devised by those +dearest to her on earth, and as it was certain, these dearest persons +assured her, to meet with the approbation of all people of advanced +thought--at least of those whose thought had advanced far enough to make +it worthy of their consideration--she felt that in doing her part she +ought to do it honestly and with her whole heart; and at her time of life, +to act as a proxy for a young bride by taking a wedding-journey in that +young bride's place was a very difficult thing for Mrs. Archibald to do +honestly and with her whole heart. But she would try to do it. Whatever +else happened, her family must be kept happy, and it should never be said +of her that she hung like a millstone around the combined neck of that +family when it was unitedly climbing towards altitudes of felicity, which, +although she was not able to discern them, must exist, since that fact had +been so earnestly insisted upon by Mr. Archibald, Kate, and Rodney +Bringhurst. + +Thus was this exceptional hymeneal performance decided upon, and at eleven +o'clock on Wednesday, the 6th of June, the marriage service was performed. +At noon the guests sat down to breakfast, and at two o'clock that +afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Hector Archibald departed on the wedding-trip, +leaving behind Mr. and Mrs. Bringhurst at home with each other, and "not +at home" to the world. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ENTER MARGERY + + +At four o'clock on the afternoon of June 6th Mr. and Mrs. Hector Archibald +arrived at a family hotel in the capital of their state. Where they should +go from there had not been decided upon. Nothing in regard to their +wedding-journey had been decided upon except that they were to return to +their home on the 6th of July of that year, and not before. It would have +been impossible, with their minds filled with bridal arrangements, for +them to make plans for their journey. But at this first stopping-place, +where they were free from all responsibility and interruptions, they +could, at their leisure, decide where they should go, how they should go, +and what they should do when they got there. + +After the unrest and turmoil of their own home during the past few weeks, +the quiet and repose of this city hotel were delightful. That evening they +went to the theatre, and after the performance they had a little supper at +a restaurant. + +"People may not think we are a newly married pair," said Mr. Archibald, as +he poured out a glass of wine for his wife, "but it is not impossible that +they may see we know how to enjoy ourselves quite as much as if we were." + +The next morning Mr. Archibald procured a number of railroad maps, +time-tables, circulars of steamboat excursions, advertisements of mountain +retreats and sea-side resorts, and he and his wife sat down to study +these, and to decide upon a destination and a route. After an hour or two +of indeterminate examination Mr. Archibald declared himself a little +tired, and proposed that they should take a recess from their labors and +go and call upon their old friends, the Stanley Dearborns. + +"People on wedding-tours do not make calls," said Mrs. Archibald. + +"That may be true," said her husband, "in ordinary cases, and although I +do not care to announce to everybody the peculiarities of the expedition +which we have undertaken, I do not mind in the least telling the Stanley +Dearborns all about it. Stanley himself would not appreciate it; he would +consider it absurd; but then he is not at home at this time of day, and +Mrs. Dearborn is just the woman to enjoy a reform movement of this sort. +Besides, she is full of ideas about everything, and she may propose some +good place for us to go to." + +Mrs. Dearborn was at home, and very glad to see the Archibalds. She was a +woman whose soul was in touch with the higher education of women--with +female suffrage, the emancipation of the enslaved mind wherever it might +be found, and with progress generally. She was a member of many societies, +belonged to committees without end, wrote reports and minutes by day and +by night, and was one of that ever-increasing class of good people who +continually walk forward in order that their weight may help the world to +turn over. + +In spite of her principles and the advanced position of her thought, Mrs. +Dearborn actually leaned back in her chair and laughed heartily when she +learned what sort of a journey the Archibalds were taking. In this +merriment Mr. Archibald joined with great glee. + +"Ever since I left home," he said, "I have wanted to have a chance for a +good laugh at this trip we are taking. It is the most delightful joke I +have ever known." + +Mrs. Archibald could not help smiling, but her brow was clouded. "If this +expedition is merely a joke," she said, "I do not think we should have +undertaken it; but if it is an earnest assertion of our belief that there +should be a change in the customs of society, then I think we should take +it seriously, and I see nothing to laugh at." + +"My dear Harriet," said Mrs. Dearborn, "we can be good and glad at the +same time; and that is what I am, I am sure. What you are doing is the +initiation of one of the most worthy reforms of the day, and if it should +have an effect in breaking up that wretched custom of the bridal tramp, +which is considered so necessary in this country, society should rise up +and call you blessed. But it is funny, for all that. I am sure that the +first woman who dared to go without crinoline was very funny, and when I +heard of a hospital for cats I could not help laughing; but I believed in +it, and worked for it. And now where are you going?" + +"That is what we want to talk to you about," said Mr. Archibald; and for +half an hour they talked about it. + +At the end of that time it was decided that the mountains were better than +the sea or than a quiet lowland nook; and Mrs. Dearborn strongly +recommended Sadler's, where she and her husband had spent a part of a +summer a few years before. + +"We camped out," said she, "and had a fine time. You can camp out at +Sadler's more easily and satisfactorily than anywhere else in the world." + +Camping suited Mr. Archibald admirably, and, to his surprise, his wife +said she might like it very well. + +"If people are going to laugh at us," she said, "when they find out we are +on a wedding-journey--and they will be sure to find it out in some way or +other--I think the fewer people we mingle with the better. I do not think +I shall like camping altogether, but I know it is healthful, and I suppose +I ought to get used to it. It would be dreadfully lonely for just Mr. +Archibald and me, but I suppose we can take some one with us to guide and +cook." + +"My dear Harriet," said Mrs. Dearborn, "if you are at Sadler's, you can go +into any sort of camp you please. I will tell you all about Sadler's. +Sadler is a man of progress. His hotel or inn is on the very edge of the +forest country, and away from all the centres of resort. He calls his +place the terminal link of public travel in that direction. When you leave +him you travel privately in any way you like. He has established what he +has named a bureau of camping, and he furnishes his patrons with any sort +of a camp they may desire. If the party is few in number and of a timid +disposition, they can have a camp within shouting distance of his house. +If they are brave and adventurous, he will send them out into the depths +of the forest. If they like water, he locates them by the shores of a +lake. If climbing is their passion, he puts them at the foot of a +mountain. Those who want to hunt can do so, and those who dislike +fire-arms are placed in a camp where the popping of guns is never heard. +He provides tents, guides, provisions, and even dangers and sensations." + +"Safety is what I want," interrupted Mrs. Archibald. + +"And that he furnishes," said the other, "for those who desire it." + +"Sadler is the man for me!" cried Mr. Archibald. "We will go to him, look +over his list of camps, and select one to suit us." + +"By-the-way," said Mrs. Dearborn, "a thought has struck me. How would you +like to take Margery with you?" + +"Margery!" exclaimed Mr. Archibald. "That delightful little girl whom I +taught to ride a tricycle when you were visiting us? I would like it ever +so much." + +It struck Mrs. Archibald that people on bridal trips did not generally +take children or young girls with them, but it also struck her that if +they were going into camp it might be pleasant and in many ways +advantageous to have some one of her own sex with her; but she had no time +to formulate these advantages in her mind before Mrs. Dearborn explained +in full. + +"Since Mr. Dearborn and I came home from Sadler's," she said, "Margery has +been perfectly wild to go there, and as soon as the leaves began to bud in +the parks she began to talk about it. We saw no possible chance of her +going there, for her father is too busy to leave home for any length of +time this season, and I cannot go to the mountains this year, for I must +visit my sister, who is not well, and there are three summer conventions +that I am obliged to attend. But if you could take her with you, I do not +believe she would trouble you in the least, and you would give her great +pleasure. Moreover, to speak practically, which I think we always ought to +do, it would not be a bad thing on the score of economy, for things are +always proportionately cheaper for three people in a camp than for two." + +A great many advantages of female companionship now began to creep into +Mrs. Archibald's mind: if her husband should take it into his head to go +out and hunt at night by the light of a torch; if there should be +thunder-storms, and he away with the guide; if he should want to go off +and talk to Indians or trappers, and he always did want to go off and talk +to people of every class--it would be very pleasant to have even Margery +Dearborn with her. So she consented with great good-will to her friend's +proposition, and Mrs. Dearborn was much pleased and thankful. + +"Margery is a true creature of impulse," she said; "that is really her +predominating characteristic, and she will want to bound to the ceiling +when she hears she is to go to Sadler's. She is not at home now, but she +will be in very soon. You must take luncheon with us." + +About a quarter of an hour after that Margery Dearborn came home. She was +very glad indeed to see the Archibalds, whom she remembered as the kindest +of people; and when she heard they were going to take her to Sadler's, she +gave a scream of delight and threw herself upon Mrs. Archibald's neck. + +"You are an angel," she cried, "an angel of blessedness, my dear Aunt +Harriet! Don't you remember, I used to call you that? Won't you let me +call you so still?" And without waiting for an answer, she rushed to Mr. +Archibald, with outstretched hands. "Dear Uncle Archibald, you are just as +good as ever, I see. You know, I wouldn't call you Uncle Hector, because +hectoring meant scolding, which never had anything to do with you. +Sadler's! Oh, when do we start?" + +"To-morrow is Saturday," replied Mr. Archibald; "we must get together some +things we will need for camp-life, and we can start on Monday." + +When the visitors were left to themselves for a few moments, Mr. Archibald +said to his wife, "Harriet, I am astounded. This girl, who used to ride +bareback and jump over fences, is a young lady now, and a handsome one, +too. She is quite a different person from the girl I agreed to take with +us." + +"Mr. Archibald," said his wife, "you never can remember that in this world +people of all ages grow older. She was fourteen when she was visiting us, +and that was four years ago, so of course she is a young lady." + +"No," he answered, "I don't feel that I am growing any older, and I don't +see that you are, and so I totally forget that proclivity in other people. +But what do you think now? Can we take this young woman with us to camp? +Will she not be a dreadful drag?" + +"My dear," said Mrs. Archibald, "I much prefer the young lady to the girl. +I don't want to be the only woman in camp, and the nearer the other woman +is to my age the better." + +"All right," said Mr. Archibald; "if you are satisfied, I am; and, if she +will agree to it, we will add our ages for the time being, and divide by +three, and then we will all stand on a level." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +SADLER'S + + +It was in the afternoon of Monday, the 11th of June, when Mr. and Mrs. +Archibald, accompanied by Miss Margery Dearborn, arrived at Sadler's, and +with feelings of relief alighted from the cramped stage-coach which had +brought them eight miles from the railroad station. + +"Can this be Sadler's?" said Mr. Archibald, in a tone of surprise. + +"Of course it must be," said his wife, "since they brought us here." + +"It certainly is the place," said Margery, "for there is the name over +that door." + +"How do you feel about it?" said Mr. Archibald to his wife. + +"I feel very well about it," said she. "Why shouldn't I?" + +"How do you feel about it?" he asked of the younger lady. + +"Well," she answered, "I don't exactly understand it. I had visions of +forests and wilds and tumbling mountain streams and a general air of +primevalism, and I am surprised to see this fine hotel with piazzas, and +croquet-grounds, and tennis-courts, and gravelled walks, and babies in +their carriages, and elderly ladies carrying sun-shades." + +"But it seems to me that there is a forest behind it," said Mr. +Archibald. + +"Yes," replied Margery, a little dolefully, "it has that to back it up." + +"Don't let us stand here at the bottom of the steps talking," said Mrs. +Archibald. "I must say I am very agreeably surprised." + +In the wide hall which ran through the middle of the hotel, and not far +from the clerk's desk, there sat a large, handsome man, a little past +middle age, who, in a hearty voice, greeted the visitors as they entered, +but without rising from his chair. This was Peter Sadler, the owner of the +hotel, the legal owner of a great deal of the neighboring country, and the +actual ruler of more of said country than could be easily marked out upon +a map or stated in surveyors' terms. + +In fact, Peter Sadler, was king of that portion of the vast district of +mountain and forest which could be reached in a day's journey in any +direction. If he had wished to extend his domain to points at a greater +distance than this he would have done so, but so far he was satisfied with +the rights he had asserted. He ruled supreme in that region because he had +lived longer in the vicinity than any other white man, because he had a +powerful will which did not brook opposition, and because there was no one +to oppose him. + +[Illustration: "'CAN THIS BE SADLER'S?'"] + +On the arable land which lay outside of the forest, and which really +belonged to him, there were the houses of the men who farmed his fields, +and on the outskirts of the woods were scattered here and there the cabins +of the hunters and guides he employed, and these men knew no law but his +will. Of course the laws of the State covered the district, but such +promulgation and enforcement of these as he might consider necessary were +generally left to Peter Sadler, and as to his own laws, he was always +there to see that these were observed. + +His guests submitted themselves to his will, or they left his hotel very +soon. To people of discernment and judgment it was not difficult to submit +to the will of this full-bearded, broad-chested man, who knew so much +better than they did what they ought to do if they wanted to get all the +good out of Sadler's which they were capable of assimilating. + +This man, who sat all day in a big rolling-chair, and who knew everything +that was going on in the hotel, the farm, and the forest about him, had +been a hunter and a guide in his youth, an Indian-fighter in later years, +and when he had been wounded in both legs, so that it was impossible for +him ever to walk again, he came back to the scenes of his youth and +established an inn for sportsmen--a poor little house at first, which grew +and grew and grew, until it was the large, well-kept hotel so widely known +by his name. + +After dinner, at which meal they were waited upon by women, and not by men +in evening-dress as Margery had begun to fear, Mr. Archibald sought Peter +Sadler and made known to him the surprise of his party at finding +themselves in this fine hotel. + +"What did you expect?" asked Peter, eying him from head to foot. + +"From what we had heard," replied the other, "we supposed we should find +some sort of a preparatory camping-ground in the woods, from which we +could go out and have a camp of our own." + +"That's just what you have found," said Sadler. "In this house you prepare +to camp, if you need preparation. If any man, woman, or child comes here +and wants to go out to camp, and I see that they are sickly or weak or in +any way not fit to live in the woods, I don't let them go one step until +they are fit for it. The air and the food and the water they get here will +make them fit, if anything will do it, and if these three things don't set +them up they simply have to go back where they came from. They can't go +into camp from this house. But if they fancy this hotel--and there isn't +any reason why anybody shouldn't fancy it--they can stay here as long as +they like, and I'll take care of them. Now, sir, if you want to go into +camp, the first thing for you to do is to bring your family here and let +me take a look at them. I've seen them, of course, but I haven't made up +my mind yet whether they are the right sort for camp life. As for you, I +think you will do. There isn't much of you, but you look tough." + +Mr. Archibald laughed. "That's good rough talk," he said, "and smacks more +of camp life than anything I have noticed here. I will go and bring my +wife and Miss Dearborn." + +"There is another reason why I want to see them," said the bluff Peter. +"As you are bent on camping, you'll like to choose a camp, and when +anything of that kind is on hand I want to talk to the whole party. I +don't care to settle the business with one of them, and then have him come +back and say that what has been agreed upon don't suit the others. I want +a full meeting or no session." + +When Mr. Archibald returned with his wife and Margery, he found Peter +Sadler had rolled his chair up to a large circular table at the back of +the hall, on which was spread a map of the forest. He greeted the ladies +in a loud voice and with a cheery smile. + +"And so you want to go camping, do you?" said he. "Sit down and let us +talk it over. I think the young lady is all right. She looks spry enough, +and I expect she could eat pine-cones like a squirrel if she was hungry +and had nothing else. As for you, madam, you don't appear as if anything +in particular was the matter with you, and I should think you could stand +a Number Three camp well enough, and be all the better for a week or two +of it." + +"What is a Number Three camp?" asked Margery, before the astonished Mrs. +Archibald could speak. + +"Well," said Sadler, "it is a camp with a good deal of comfort in it. Our +Number One camps are pretty rough. They are for hunters and scientific +people. We give them game enough in season, and some bare places where +they can make fires and stretch a bit of canvas. That is all they want, to +have a truly good time. That is the best camp of all, I think. Number Two +camps are generally for fishermen. They always want a chance for pretty +good living when they are out in the woods. They stay in camp in the +evenings, and like to sit around and have a good time. Number Threes are +the best camps we put families into, so you see, madam, I'm rating you +pretty high. There's always a log-cabin in these camps, with cots and +straw mattresses and plenty of traps for cooking. And, more than that, +there is a chance for people who don't tramp or fish to do things, such as +walking or boating, according to circumstances. There's one of our camps +has a croquet-ground." + +"Oh, we don't want that!" cried Margery, "it would simply ruin every +illusion that is left to me." + +"Glad to hear that," said Peter. "If you want to play croquet, stay at the +hotel; that's what I say. Now, then, here are the camps, and there's +plenty of them to choose from. You've come in a good time, for the season +isn't fairly begun yet. Next month every camp will be full, with the hotel +crowded with people waiting for their turns." + +"What we want," said Margery, rising and looking over the map, "is the +wildest Number Three you have." + +"Oh, ho!" said Peter. "Not so fast, miss; perhaps we'll wait and see what +this lady has to say first. If I'm not mistaken, madam, I think you're +inclined the other way, and I don't put people into camps that they will +be wanting to leave after the first rainy day. Now let me show you what +I've got. Here is one, four hours' walk, horses for women, with a rocky +stream through the middle of it." + +"That is grand!" cried Margery. "Is it really in the woods?" + +"Now let me do the talking," said Peter. "They are all in the woods; we +don't make camps in pasture-fields. Even the Number Sevens, where the +meals are sent to the campers from the hotel, and they have bath-tubs, are +in the woods. Now here is another one, about three miles west from the one +I just showed you, but the same distance from here. This, you see, is on +the shore of a lake, with fishing, boating, and bathing, if you can stand +cold water." + +"Glorious!" cried Margery. "That is exactly what we want. A lake will be +simply heavenly!" + +"Everything seems to suit you, miss," said Peter, "just as soon as you +hear of it. But suppose we consider more of them before you choose. Some +two miles north of here, in the thickest of the forest, in a clearing that +I made, there is a small camp that strikes the fancy of some people. There +is a little stream there and it has fish in it too, and it runs through +one corner of the log-cabin, so there are seven or eight feet of the +stream inside the house, and on rainy days you can sit there and fish; and +some people like to go to sleep with the running water gurgling close to +them where they can hear it when they are in bed. Then there's an owl to +this camp. The men heard him there when they were making the clearing, and +he's never left the spot. Some people who were out there said they never +felt as much away from the world as they did listening to that little +stream gurgling and that owl hooting." + +"I believe," exclaimed Margery, "that in a place like that I could write +poetry!" + +"It would give me the rheumatism and the blues," said Mrs. Archibald, upon +which Peter Sadler exclaimed, + +"That settles that. Now then, here is another." + +Several other camps were considered, but it was the general conclusion +that the one by the lake was the most desirable. It had a good cabin with +three rooms, with plenty of open space, near by, for the tents of the +guides; there was a boat which belonged to the camp, and in every way it +seemed so suitable that Mr. Archibald secured it. He thought the price was +rather high, but as it included guides, provisions, fishing-tackle, and in +fact everything needed, he considered that although it might cost as much +as lodgings in a city hotel, they would get more good out of it. + +"Has this camp any name?" asked the enthusiastic Margery, in the course of +the conference. + +"That's about your twenty-seventh question, miss," said Peter, "but it's +one I can answer. Yes, it's got a name. It's called Camp Rob." + +"Oh!" ejaculated Margery, in a disappointed tone. "What a name!" + +"Yes," said Peter, "it isn't much of a name. The first people who went out +there named it that, and it stuck to it, and it's all it's got. Camps are +like horses--we've got to tell them apart, and so we give them names, and +that's Camp Rob." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A CATARACT OF INFORMATION + + +Peter Sadler would have been glad to have the Archibald party stay at his +hotel for a few days, and Mrs. Archibald would have been perfectly +satisfied to remain there until they were ready to return to their own +house, but her husband and Margery were impatient to be in the woods, and +it was therefore decided to start for the camp the next day. Peter Sadler +was a man of system, and his arrangements were made promptly and rapidly. + +"You've got to have a guide," said he, "and another man to help him, and I +think I'll give you Phil Matlack. Phil is an old hand at the business, and +if you don't know what you want, he'll tell you. If you are in Phil's +hands, you needn't be afraid anything will happen to you. Whatever you +want, ask him for it, and ten to one he'll have it, whether it's +information or fishhooks. I tell you again, you're lucky to be here early +and get the best of everything. Camp Rob with Phil Matlack will stand at a +premium in three or four weeks from now." + +That evening after supper Mr. Archibald lighted a cigar and went out into +the grounds in front of the hotel, where he was presently joined by his +wife. + +"Where is Margery?" asked he. + +"She is in her room," replied Mrs. Archibald, "but she called to me that +she would be down directly." + +In about ten minutes down came Margery and floated out upon the lawn. She +was dressed in white, with flowers in her hair, and she was more charming, +Mr. Archibald said, as she approached, than even the sunset sky. + +"You should not speak in that way of works of nature," said his wife. + +"Isn't she a work of nature?" he asked. + +"Not altogether," was the wise reply. "Why did you dress yourself in that +fashion?" she asked Margery. "I did not suppose you would bring such a +fine gown, as we started out to go into camp. And even in this hotel a +travelling-suit is good enough for any one." + +"Oh, I tucked this into one of my bags," replied Margery. "I always like +to have something nice to fall back upon. Don't you want to take a little +stroll, Aunt Harriet?" + +Mr. Archibald leaned back in his garden-chair and slowly puffed his cigar, +and as he puffed he took his eyes from the sunset sky and watched his wife +and Margery. + +A little beyond them, as they walked, sat two elderly ladies on a bench, +wearing shawls, and near by stood a girl in a short dress, with no hat on, +and a long plait down her back. A little farther on was a tennis-court, +and four people, apparently young, were playing tennis. There were two +men, and neither of them wore a tennis-suit. One was attired as a +bicyclist, and the other wore ordinary summer clothes. The young women +were dressed in dark-blue flannel and little round hats, which suggested +to Mr. Archibald the deck of a yacht. + +Near the hotel was an elderly gentleman walking up and down by himself, +and on the piazza were the rest of the guests he had seen at the table; +not very many of them, for it was early in the season. + +Mr. Archibald now turned his eyes again to the sky. It was still +beautiful, although its colors were fading, and after a time he looked +back towards his wife. She was now talking to the two elderly ladies on +the bench, and Margery was engaged in conversation with the girl with the +plait down her back. + +"When I finish my cigar," thought Mr. Archibald, "I will go myself and +take a stroll." And it struck him that he might talk to the old gentleman, +who was still walking up and down in front of the hotel. After +contemplating the tops of some forest trees against the greenish-yellow of +the middle sky, he turned his eyes again towards his wife, and found that +the two elderly ladies had made room for her on the bench, that the +tennis-game had ceased, and that one of the girls in blue flannel had +joined this group and was talking to Margery. + +In a few moments all the ladies on the bench rose, and Mrs. Archibald and +one of them walked slowly towards an opening in the woods. The other lady +followed with the little girl, and Margery and the young woman in blue +walked in the same direction, but not in company with the rest of the +party. The two young men, with the other tennis-player between them, +walked over from the tennis-court and joined the first group, and they all +stopped just as they reached the woods. There they stood and began talking +to each other, after which one of the young men and the young woman +approached a large tree, and he poked with a stick into what was probably +a hole near its roots, and Mr. Archibald supposed that the discussion +concerned a snake-hole or a hornets' nest. Then Margery and the other +young woman came up, and they looked at the hole. Now the whole company +walked into the woods and disappeared. In about ten minutes Mr. Archibald +finished his cigar and was thinking of following his wife and Margery, +when the two elderly ladies and Mrs. Archibald came out into the open and +walked towards the hotel. Then came the little girl, running very fast as +she passed the tree with the hole near its roots. In a few minutes Mrs. +Archibald stopped and looked back towards the woods; then she walked a +little way in that direction, leaving her companions to go to the hotel. +Now the young man in the bicycle suit emerged from the woods, with a girl +in dark-blue flannel on each side of him. + +"Upon my word!" exclaimed Mr. Archibald, and rising to his feet, advanced +towards his wife; but before he reached her, Margery emerged from the wood +road, escorted by the young man in the summer suit. + +"Upon my word," Mr. Archibald remarked, this time to his wife, "that ward +of ours is not given to wasting time." + +"It seems so, truly," said she, "and I think her mother was right when she +called her a creature of impulse. Let us wait here until they come up. We +must all go in; it is getting chilly." + +In a few minutes Margery and the young man had reached them. + +"Thank you very much," said this creature of impulse to her escort. "My +uncle and aunt will take care of me now. Aunt Harriet and Uncle Archibald, +this is Mr. Clyde. He saw a great snake go into a hole over there just +before supper-time, and I think we ought all to be very careful how we +pass that way." + +"I don't think there is very much danger after nightfall," said Mr. Clyde, +who was a pleasant youth with brown hair, "and to-morrow I'll see if I can +kill him. It's a bad place for a snake to have a hole, just where ladies +would be apt to take their walks." + +"I don't think the snake will trouble us much," said Mrs. Archibald, "for +we leave to-morrow. Still, it would be a good thing to kill it." + +After this there were a few remarks made about snakes, and then Mr. Clyde +bade them good-evening. + +"How in the world, Margery," said Mrs. Archibald, "did you get acquainted +so quickly with that young man--and who is he?" + +"Oh, it all happened quite naturally," said she. "As we turned to go out +of the woods he was the gentleman nearest to me, and so of course he came +with me. Those two girls are sisters, and their name is Dodworth. They +introduced Mr. Clyde and the other gentleman, Mr. Raybold, to me. But that +was after you had been talking to Mrs. Dodworth, their mother, who is Mr. +Raybold's aunt. The other lady, with the shawl on, is Mrs. Henderson, +and--would you believe it?--she's grandmother to that girl in the short +dress! She doesn't begin to look old enough. The Dodworths don't go into +camp at all, but expect to stay here for two weeks longer, and then they +go to the sea-shore. Mrs. Henderson leaves day after to-morrow. + +"Mr. Clyde and his friend live in Boston. They are both just beginning to +practise law, though Mr. Clyde says that Mr. Raybold would rather be an +actor, but his family objects. The old gentleman who is walking up and +down in front of the hotel has heart-disease, some people say--but that is +not certain. He stayed here all last summer, and perhaps he will this +year. In two weeks hardly any of the people now in this hotel will be +here. One family is going into camp when the father and two sons come on +to join them, and the rest are going to the sea-shore, except one lady. +You may have noticed her--the one with a dark-purple dress and a little +purple cap. She's a school-teacher, and she will spend the rest of the +summer with her sister in Pennsylvania. + +"That man Phil Matlack, who is going with us to-morrow, is quite a +character, and I expect I shall like him awfully. They say that about five +years ago he killed a man who made an attack on him in the woods, but he +was never tried for it, nor was anything whatever done to him, because Mr. +Sadler said he was right, and he would not have any nonsense about it. +There are people about here who believe that Phil Matlack would fight a +bear single-handed if it happened to be necessary. Mr. Sadler would do it +himself if he could walk. Nobody knows how many men he killed when he was +fighting Indians; and, would you believe it? his wife is a plain, little, +quiet woman, who lives in some part of the hotel where nobody ever sees +her, because she is rather bashful and dislikes company. + +"The other person who is going with us is not very much more than a boy, +though they say he is very strong and a good hunter. His name is Martin +Sanders, and I forgot to say that the old gentleman with the heart-disease +is named Parker. + +"It's generally thought that Phil Matlack would rather have some one else +than Martin Sanders to go with him, because he says Martin knows too much. +The fact is that Martin is well educated, and could have gone into some +good business, but he was so fond of the woods that he gave up everything +to come out here and learn guiding. You know we were told that our camp in +the woods has three rooms in it? Well, it really has four, for there was +an artist there last year who built a little room for a studio for rainy +days. I expect Mr. Sadler forgot that, or didn't think it worth counting. +There are no snakes at all where we are going to camp, but two miles +farther on there are lots of them." + +"Over the brink of Niagara," interjected Mr. Archibald, "they say eighteen +million cubic feet of water pour every minute. Where on earth, Margery, +did you fill your mind with all that information?" + +"I got it from those two Dodworth girls and Mr. Clyde," said she. "Mr. +Raybold told me some things, too, but mostly about his bicycle. He feels +badly about it, because he brought it here, and now he finds there is no +place to use it. I should think he ought to have known that the primeval +forest isn't any place for a bicycle." + +"Mr. Archibald," said Mrs. Archibald, when they had retired to their room, +"I did not agree with you when you wished we could have started for camp +to-day, but now I am quite of your mind." + +Tuesday was fine, and preparations were made for the Archibald party to +start for their camp after an early luncheon. + +The bluff and hearty Peter took such an interest in everything that was +being done for their comfort, giving special heed to all the possible +requirements of Mrs. Archibald, that the heart of Mr. Archibald was +touched. + +"I wish," said he to his good-natured host, "that you were going with us. +I do not know any one I would rather camp with than you." + +"If I could do it," replied Peter, "I'd like it ever so well. So far as I +have been able to make you out, you are the sort of a man I'd be willing +to run a camp for. What I like about you is that you haven't any mind of +your own. There is nothing I hate worse than to run against a man with a +mind of his own. Of course there have to be such fellows, but let them +keep away from me. There is no room here for more than one mind, and I +have pre-empted the whole section." + +Mr. Archibald laughed. "Your opinion of me does not sound very +complimentary," he said. + +"It is complimentary!" roared Peter Sadler, striking the table with his +fist. "Why, I tell you, sir, I couldn't say anything more commendable of +you if I tried! It shows that you are a man of common-sense, and that's +pretty high praise. Everything I've told you to do you've done. Everything +I've proposed you've agreed to. You see for yourself that I know what is +better for you and your party than you do, and you stand up like a man and +say so. Yes, sir; if a rolling-chair wasn't as bad for the woods as the +bicycle that Boston chap brought down here, I'd go along with you." + +Mr. Archibald had a very sharp sense of the humorous, and in his enjoyment +of a comical situation he liked company. His heart was stirred to put his +expedition in its true light before this man who was so honest and +plain-spoken. "Mr. Sadler," said he, "if you will take it as a piece of +confidential information, and not intended for the general ear, I will +tell you what sort of a holiday my wife and I are taking. We are on a +wedding-journey." And then he told the story of the proxy bridal tour. + +Peter Sadler threw himself back in his chair and laughed with such great +roars that two hunting-dogs, who were asleep in the hall, sprang to their +feet and dashed out of the back door, their tails between their legs. + +"By the Lord Harry!" cried Peter Sadler, "you and your wife are a pair of +giants. I don't say anything about that young woman, for I don't believe +it would have made any difference to her whether you were on a +wedding-trip or travelling into the woods to bury a child. I tell you, +sir, you mayn't have a mind that can give out much, but you've got a mind +that can take in the biggest kind of thing, and that is what I call grand. +It is the difference between a canyon and a mountain. There are lots of +good mountains in this world, and mighty few good canyons. Tom, you Tom, +come here!" + +In answer to the loud call a boy came running up. + +"Go into my room," said Peter Sadler, "and bring out a barrel bottle, +large size, and one of the stone jars with a red seal on it. Now, sir," +said he to Mr. Archibald, "I am going to give you a bottle of the very +best whiskey that ever a human being took into the woods, and a jar of +smoking-tobacco a great deal too good for any king on any throne. They +belong to my private stock, and I am proud to make them a present to a man +who will take a wedding-trip to save his grown-up daughter the trouble. As +for your wife, there'll be a basket that will go to her with my +compliments, that will show her what I think of her. By-the-way, sir, have +you met Phil Matlack?" + +"No, I have not!" exclaimed Mr. Archibald, with animation. "I have heard +something about him, and before we start I should like to see the man who +is going to take charge of us in camp." + +"Well, there he is, just passing the back door. Hello, Phil! come in +here." + +When the eminent guide, Phil Matlack, entered the hall, Mr. Archibald +looked at him with some surprise, for he was not the conventional tall, +gaunt, wiry, keen-eyed backwoodsman who had naturally appeared to his +mental vision. This man was of medium height, a little round-shouldered, +dressed in a gray shirt, faded brown trousers very baggy at the knees, a +pair of conspicuous blue woollen socks, and slippers made of carpet. His +short beard and his hair were touched with gray, and he wore a small +jockey cap. With the exception of his eyes, Mr. Matlack's facial features +were large, and the expression upon them was that of a mild and generally +good-natured tolerance of the world and all that is in it. It may be +stated that this expression, combined with his manner, indicated also a +desire on his part that the world and all that is in it should tolerate +him. Mr. Archibald's first impressions of the man did not formulate +themselves in these terms; he simply thought that the guide was a slipshod +sort of a fellow. + +"Phil," said Mr. Sadler, "here is the gentleman you are going to take into +camp." + +"Glad to see him," said Matlack; "hope he'll like it." + +"And I want to say to you, Phil," continued Sadler, "right before him, +that he is a first-class man for you to have in charge. I don't believe +you ever had a better one. He's a city man, and it's my opinion he don't +know one thing about hunting, fishing, making a camp-fire, or even digging +bait. I don't suppose he ever spent a night outside of a house, and +doesn't know any more about the weather than he does about planting +cabbages. He's just clean, bright, and empty, like a new peach-basket. +What you tell him he'll know, and what you ask him to do he'll do, and if +you want a better man than that to take into camp, you want too much. +That's all I've got to say." + +Matlack looked at Peter Sadler and then at Mr. Archibald, who was leaning +back in his chair, his bright eyes twinkling. + +"How did you find out all that about him?" he asked. + +"Humph!" exclaimed Peter Sadler. "Don't you suppose I can read a man's +character when I've had a good chance at him? Now how about the +stores--have they all gone on?" + +"They were sent out early this mornin'," said Matlack, "and we can start +as soon as the folks are ready." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +CAMP ROB + + +It was early in the afternoon when the Archibald party took up the line of +march for Camp Rob. The two ladies, supplied by Mrs. Sadler with coarse +riding-skirts, sat each upon a farm-horse, and Mr. Archibald held the +bridle of the one that carried his wife. Matlack and Martin Sanders, the +young man who was to assist him, led the way, while a led horse, loaded +with the personal baggage of the travellers, brought up the rear. + +Their way wound through a forest over a wood road, very rough and barely +wide enough for the passage of a cart. The road was solemn and still, +except where, here and there, an open space allowed the sunlight to play +upon a few scattered wild flowers and brighten the sombre tints of the +undergrowth. + +After a ride which seemed a long one to the ladies, who wished they had +attired themselves in walking-costume, the road and the forest suddenly +came to an end, and before them stretched out the waters of a small lake. +Camp Rob was not far from the head of the lake, and for some distance +above and below the forest stood back from the water's edge. In the shade +of a great oak tree there stood a small log-house, rude enough to look at, +but moderately comfortable within, and from this house to the shore a wide +space was cleared of bushes and undergrowth. + +The lake was narrow in proportion to its length, which was about two +miles, and on the other side the forest looked like a solid wall of green +reflected in the water beneath. Even Mrs. Archibald, whose aching back +began to have an effect upon her disposition, was delighted with the +beauty of the scene, which delight endured until she had descended from +her horse and entered the log-cabin in which she was to dwell for a time. + +It is not necessary to describe the house, nor is it necessary to dive +into the depths of Mrs. Archibald's mind as she gazed about her, passing +silently from room to room of the little house. She was a good woman, and +she had made up her mind that she would not be a millstone around the +necks of her companions. Many people have been happy in camps, and, +indeed, camp-life has become one of the features of our higher +civilization, and this, from what she had heard, must be a camp above the +common. So, think what she might, she determined to make no open +complaint. If it were possible for her to be happy here, she would be +happy. + +As for Margery, no determination was needed in her case. Everything was +better than she had expected to find it. The cabin, with the bark on +almost everything, even the furniture, was just what a house in the woods +ought to be; and when she entered the little studio, which was nearer +allied to the original forest than any other part of the house, she +declared that that must be her room, and that living there she would feel +almost like a dryad in an oak. + +"You've camped out before?" said Phil Matlack to Mr. Archibald, as he was +taking a survey of the scene. + +"Oh yes," said the other, "I've been out a few days at a time with +fishing-parties, but we never had such a fine camp as this--so well +located and such good accommodations." + +"You are a fisherman, then?" said the guide. + +"Yes. I am very fond of it. I've fished ever since I was a boy, and know a +good deal about bait, in spite of what Mr. Sadler said." + +"I had an idea of that sort," remarked Phil, "but it ain't no use to +contradict Peter. It helps keep up his spirits for him to think he can +read the characters of people just as quick as he can aim a rifle. And +it's a mighty important thing to keep Peter's spirits up. If Peter's +spirits was to go down, things round here would flatten out worse than a +rotten punkin when it's dropped." + +It did not take long to establish the new-comers in their woodland +quarters. The tent for the two men, which had arrived in the morning, was +pitched not far from the cabin, and then Matlack and Martin went to work +to prepare supper. The dining-room in pleasant weather was the small space +in front of the house, where there was a table made of a wide board +supported by stakes, with a low and narrow board on each side, also +resting on stakes, and forming seats. + +The supper was a better one and better served than any of the party had +expected. The camp outfit included table-cloths, and even napkins. + +"To-morrow," said Matlack, as he brought a dish of hot and savory broiled +ham, "after Mr. Archibald gets to work, we'll have some fish." + +Mrs. Archibald had been a little fearful that under these primitive +conditions the two men might expect to sit at the table with them, but she +need have had no such fears. Matlack and Martin cooked and waited with a +skill and deftness which would have surprised any one who did not reflect +that this was as much their business as hunting or woodcraft. + +After supper a camp-fire was built at a safe distance from the house, for +although the evening air was but slightly cool, a camp without a camp-fire +would not be a camp. The party ranged themselves around it, Mrs. Archibald +on a rug brought from the cabin, and her husband and Margery on the +ground. Mr. Archibald lighted his pipe, the fire lighted the trees and the +lake, and joy inexpressible lighted the heart of Margery. + +"If I could smoke a pipe," said she, "and get Mr. Matlack to come here and +tell me how he killed a man, I should be perfectly happy." + +That night Mrs. Archibald lay awake on her straw mattress. Absolute +darkness was about her, but through the open window she could see, over +the tops of the trees on the other side of the lake, one little star. + +"If I could get any comfort out of that little star," thought the good +lady, "I would do it; but I can't do it, and there is nothing else to +comfort me." + +On the other side of the room, on another straw mattress, she could hear +her husband breathing steadily. Then, upon the bare boards of the floor, +which were but a few inches below her little cot-bed, she thought she +heard the patter of small feet. A squirrel, perhaps, or, horrible to think +of, it might be a rat. She was sure rats would eat straw beds, and her +first impulse was to wake Mr. Archibald; but she hesitated, he was +sleeping so soundly. Still she listened, and now she became almost certain +that what she heard was not the patter of small feet; it sounded more like +something soft which was dragging itself over the floor--possibly a snake. +This idea was simply awful, and she sat up in bed. Still she did not call +Mr. Archibald, for should he suddenly spring on the floor, he would be in +more danger from the snake than she was. + +She listened and she listened, but she heard nothing more, and then her +reason began to assure her that a snake's movements on a bare floor would +be absolutely noiseless; but in a moment all thoughts of serpents were +driven from her head. Outside of the cabin she heard a sound that could be +nothing less than the footsteps of some living creature--a wild beast, +perhaps a panther. The door was shut and fastened, but the window was +open. To call Mr. Archibald and tell him a wild beast was walking outside +the house would be positively wicked. Half-awakened, he would probably +rush out of the door to see what it was. What could she do? For an instant +she thought of lighting a candle and standing it in the window. She knew +that wild beasts were afraid of fire, and she did not believe that even a +panther would dare jump over a lighted candle. But if she struck a match +and got up, she would waken her husband; and, besides, if the wind, of +which she could feel a puff every now and then, did not blow out the +candle, it might blow it over and set fire to the cabin. + +She heard the footsteps no more, and lay down again, but not to sleep. The +wind seemed to be rising, and made a wild, unearthly sound as it surged +through the trees which surrounded and imprisoned her, and shut her out +from the world in which she was born and in which she ought to live. There +was a far-away sound which came to her ears once, twice, thrice, and which +might have been the call of some ghostly bird or the war-whoop of an +Indian. At last she drew the covering over her head, determined that, so +long as she could not see, she would not hear. + +"A wedding-journey!" she said to herself, and the idea, coupled with the +sense of her present grewsome and doleful condition, was so truly absurd +and ridiculous that she could not restrain a melancholy laugh. + +"What is the matter, my dear?" exclaimed Mr. Archibald, suddenly turning +over in his bed. "Are you choking? Is the room too close? Shall I open the +door?" + +"No, indeed," she said, "for that was a laugh you heard. I couldn't help +laughing at the thought that there should be two such idiots in the world +as you and myself." + +"It is idiotic, isn't it?" said Mr. Archibald. "It is gloriously idiotic, +and it will do us both a world of good. It is such a complete and perfect +change that I don't wonder you laugh." Then he laughed himself, clearly +and loudly, and turned over on his side and went to sleep. + +Mrs. Archibald felt certain that she would not sleep another wink that +night, but she did sleep seven hours and a half, and was awakened by +Margery singing outside her window. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +CAMP ROY + + +No thoughts of idiocy crossed the minds of any of the camping party during +their first breakfast under the great oak-tree. The air, the sunlight, the +rippling waters of the lake, the white clouds in the blue sky, the great +trunks of the trees, the rustling of the leaves, the songs of the birds, +the hum of insects, the brightness of everything, their wonderful +appetites--the sense of all these things more than filled their minds. + +For the greater part of that day Mr. Archibald fished, sometimes in a +stream which ran into the head of the lake about a quarter of a mile above +the camp, and sometimes on the shores of the lake itself. Margery +sketched; her night in the studio had filled her with dreams of art, and +she had discovered in a corner a portable easel made of hickory sticks +with the bark on, and she had tucked some drawing materials into one of +her bags. + +Mrs. Archibald was a little tired with her journey of the day before, and +contented herself with sitting in the shade in pleasant places, occupied +with some needle-work she had brought with her, and trying to discipline +her mind to habits of happiness in camp. This was not very difficult +during the first part of this beautiful day, but towards the end of the +afternoon she began to think less of the joys of a free life in the heart +of nature and more of the pleasure of putting on her bonnet and going out +to make some calls upon her friends. In this state of mind it pleased her +to see Phil Matlack coming towards her. + +"Would you like a cup of tea, ma'am?" said he. + +"No, thank you," she answered. "It would seem rather odd to have afternoon +tea in the woods, and I really don't care for it." + +"We can have 'most anything in the woods, ma'am," said Matlack, "that we +can have anywhere else, providin' you don't mind what sort of fashion you +have it in. I thought it might be sort of comfortin' to you to have a cup +of tea. I've noticed that in most campin' parties of the family order +there's generally one or two of them that's lonesome the first day; and +the fact is I don't count on anything particular bein' done on the first +day in camp, except when the party is regular hunters or fishermen. It's +just as well for some of them to sit round on the first day and let things +soak into them, provided it isn't rain, and the next day they will have a +more natural feelin' about what they really want to do. Now I expect you +will be off on some sort of a tramp to-morrow, ma'am, or else be out in +the boat; and as for that young lady, she's not goin' to sketch no more +after to-day. She's got young Martin out in the boat, restin' on his oars, +while she's puttin' him into her picture. She's rubbed him out so often +that I expect he'll fall asleep and tumble overboard, or else drop one of +his oars." + +"Mr. Matlack," said Mrs. Archibald, "will you please sit down a moment? I +want to ask you something." + +"Certainly, ma'am," said he, and forthwith seated himself on a log near +by, picking up a stick as he did so, and beginning to shave the bark from +it with his pocket-knife. + +"Do you know," said she, "if there are panthers in these woods?" + +Matlack looked up at her quickly. "I expect you heard them walkin' about +your cabin last night," said he; "and not only panthers, but most likely a +bear or two, and snakes rustlin' in the leaves; and, for all I know, coons +or 'possums climbin' in and out of the window." + +"Oh, nothing so bad as that," she replied. "I only thought--" + +"Excuse me, ma'am," he interrupted. "I didn't mean that you heard all +those things, but most likely a part of them. Hardly any family parties +goes into camp that some of them don't hear wild beasts the first night. +But they never come no more. Them kind of wild beasts I call +first-nighters, and they're about the worst kind we've got, because they +really do hurt people by scratchin' and clawin' at their nerves, whereas +the real wild beasts in these parts--and they're mighty scarce, and never +come near camp--don't hurt nobody." + +"I am glad to hear it," said she. "But what on earth can be keeping Mr. +Archibald? When he started out after dinner he said he would be back very +soon." + +"Oh, he's got the fever, ma'am," said Matlack. + +"Fever!" exclaimed Mrs. Archibald, dropping her work in her lap. + +"Oh, don't be frightened," said he; "it is only the fishin' fever. It +don't hurt anybody; it only keeps the meals waitin'. You see, we are +pretty nigh the first people out this year, and the fish bite lively. Are +you fond of fishin', ma'am?" + +"No, indeed," said she; "I dislike it. I think it is cruel and slimy and +generally unpleasant." + +"I expect you'll spend most of your time in the boat," suggested Matlack. +"Your husband rows, don't he?" + +"He doesn't row me," said Mrs. Archibald, with earnestness. "I never go +out in a boat except with a regular boatman. I suppose you have a larger +boat than the one that young man is in? I can see it from here, and it +looks very small." + +"No, ma'am," said Matlack; "that's the only one we've got. And now I guess +I'll go see about supper. This has been a lazy day for us, but we always +do calc'late on a lazy day to begin with." + +"It strikes me," said Matlack to himself, as he walked away, "that this +here camp will come to an end pretty soon. The man and the young woman +could stand it for a couple of weeks, but there's nothing here for the old +lady, and it can't be long before she'll have us all out of the woods +again." + +"You can come in," called Margery, about ten minutes after this +conversation; and young Martin, who had not the least idea of going to +sleep in the boat, dipped his oars in the water and rowed ashore, pulled +the boat up on the beach, and then advanced to the spot where Margery was +preparing to put away her drawing materials. + +"Would you mind letting me see your sketch?" said he. + +"Oh no," said she; "but you'll see it isn't very much like the scene +itself. When I make a drawing from nature I never copy everything I see +just as if I were making a photograph. I suppose you think I ought to draw +the boat just as it is, but I always put something of my own in my +pictures. And that, you see, is a different kind of a boat from the one +you were in. It is something like Venetian boats." + +"It isn't like anything in this part of the world, that is true," said the +young man, as he held the drawing in his hand; "and if it had been more +like a gondola it would not have suited the scene. I think you have caught +the spirit of the landscape very well; but if you don't object to a little +criticism, I should say that the shore over there is too near the +foreground. It seems to me that the picture wants atmosphere; that would +help the distance very much." + +"Do you draw?" asked Margery, in surprise. + +"I used to be very fond of sketching," said he. "I stayed at Sadler's a +good part of the last winter, and when I wasn't out hunting I made a good +many drawings of winter scenes. I would be glad to show them to you when +we go back." + +"Well," said she, "if I had known you were an artist I would not have +asked you to go out there and sit as a model." + +"Oh, I am not an artist," replied Martin; "I only draw, that's all. But if +you make any more water sketches and would like me to put some ducks or +any other kind of wild-fowl in the foreground I will be glad to do it for +you. I have made a specialty of natural-history drawings. Don't bother +yourself about that easel; I'll carry up your things for you." + +About half-way to the cabin Margery suddenly stopped and turned round +towards the young man, who was following her. "How did you come to be a +guide?" she asked. + +He smiled. "That's because I was born a naturalist and a sportsman. I went +into business when I finished my education, but I couldn't stand that, and +as I couldn't afford to become a gentleman sportsman, I came here as a +guide. I'm getting a lot of experience in this sort of life, and when I've +saved money enough I'm going on an exploring expedition, most likely to +Central America. That's the kind of life that will suit me." + +"And write a book about it?" asked Margery. + +"Most likely," said he. + +That night, after supper, Margery remarked: "Our two guides are American +citizens, and I don't see why they can't eat at the table with us instead +of waiting until we have finished. We are all free and equal in the +woods." + +"Margery Dearborn!" exclaimed Mrs. Archibald. "What are you talking +about?" + +She was going to say that if there were one straw more needed to break her +back, that straw would be the sight of the two guides sitting at the table +with them, but she restrained herself. She did not want Mr. Archibald to +know anything about the condition of her back. + +"So long as they don't want to do it, and don't do it," said she, "pray +don't let us say anything about it. Let's try to make things as pleasant +as we can." + +Mr. Archibald was lighting his pipe, and when he was sure the tobacco was +sufficiently ignited he took the pipe from his mouth and turned towards +his wife. + +"Harriet," said he, "you have been too much alone to-day. I don't know +what I shall do to-morrow; but whatever it is, I am going to take you with +me." + +"Of course that depends on what it is you do," she answered. "But I will +try to do everything I can." + +Mr. Archibald heaved a little sigh, which was not noticed by any one, +because it sounded like a puff. + +"I am afraid," he thought, "that this camping business is not going to +last very much longer, and we shall be obliged to make the rest of our +wedding-journey in a different style." + +The next morning, when Mr. Archibald went out of his cabin door, he looked +over the lake and saw a bird suddenly swoop down upon the water, breaking +the smooth surface into sparkles of silver, and then rise again, a little +silvery fish glittering in its claws. + +"Beautifully done!" said he. "A splendid stroke!" And then turning, he +looked up the lake, and not far from the water's edge he saw Margery +walking with Mr. Clyde, while Mr. Raybold followed a little in the rear. + +"Harriet," he cried, quickly stepping into the cabin again, "look out +here! What is the meaning of this?" + +Mrs. Archibald was dressed, and came out. When she saw the trio +approaching them, she was not so much surprised as was her husband. + +"I don't know the meaning of anything that happens in these woods," she +said; "but if a lot of people have come from the hotel with those young +men I cannot say I am sorry." + +"Come," said her husband, "we must look into this." + +In two minutes the Archibalds had met the new-comers, who advanced with +outstretched hands, as if they had been old friends. Mr. Archibald, not +without some mental disquietude at this intrusion upon the woodland +privacy of his party, was about to begin a series of questions, when he +was forestalled by Margery. + +"Oh, Uncle Archibald and Aunt Harriet!" she exclaimed, "Mr. Clyde and Mr. +Raybold have come out here to camp. Their camp is right next to ours, and +it is called Camp Roy. You see, some years ago there was a large camping +party came here, and they called the place Camp Rob Roy, but it was +afterwards divided, and one part called Camp Rob and the other Camp Roy." + +"Indeed!" interrupted Mr. Archibald. "Mr. Sadler did not tell us that ours +was only half a camp with only half a name." + +"I don't suppose he thought of it," said Margery. "And the line between +the two camps is just three hundred feet above our cabin. I don't suppose +anybody ever measures it off, but there it is; and Mr. Clyde and Mr. +Raybold have taken Camp Roy, which hasn't any house on it. They started +before daybreak this morning, and brought a tent along with them, which +they have pitched just back of that little peninsula; and they haven't any +guide, because they want to attend to their own cooking and everything, +and the man who brought the tent and other things has gone back. They are +going to live there just like real backwoodsmen, and they have a boat of +their own, which is to be brought up from the bottom of the lake +somewhere--I mean from the lower end of the lake. And, Aunt Harriet, may I +speak to you a moment?" + +With this the young woman drew Mrs. Archibald aside, and in a low voice +asked if she thought it would be out of the way to invite the two young +men to take breakfast with them, as it was not likely they had all their +cooking things in order so early. + +Five people sat down to breakfast under the great oak-tree, and it was a +lively meal. Mr. Archibald's mental disquiet, in which were now apparent +some elements of resentment, had not subsided, but the state of his mind +did not show itself in his demeanor, and he could not help feeling pleased +to see that his wife was in better spirits. He had always known that she +liked company. + +After breakfast he took Matlack aside. "I don't understand this business," +said he. "When I hired this camp I supposed we were to have it to +ourselves; but if there are other camps jammed close against it we may be +in the midst of a great public picnic before a week is out." + +"Oh, that camp over there isn't much of a camp," replied the guide. "The +fact is, it is only the tail end of a camp, and I don't suppose Peter +Sadler thought anybody would be likely to take it just now, and so didn't +think it worth while to speak of it. Of course it's jammed up against this +one, as you say; but then the people in one camp haven't the right to +cross the line into another camp if the people in the other camp don't +want them to." + +"Line!" said Mr. Archibald. "It is absurd to think of lines in a place +like this. And I have no intention of making myself disagreeable by +ordering people off my premises. But I would like to know if there is +another camp three hundred feet on this side of our cabin, or three +hundred feet back of it." + +"No, sir," said Matlack, speaking promptly; "there isn't another camp +between this and the lower end of the lake. There's a big one there, and +it's taken; but the people aren't coming until next month." + +"If a larger party had taken Camp Roy," said Mr. Archibald to his wife a +little later, "I should not mind it so much. But two young men! I do not +like it." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A STRANGER + + +It was at the close of a pleasant afternoon four days after the arrival of +the young men at Camp Roy, and Mrs. Archibald was seated on a camp-stool +near the edge of the lake intently fishing. By her side stood Phil +Matlack, who had volunteered to interpose himself between her and all the +disagreeable adjuncts of angling. He put the bait upon her hook, he told +her when her cork was bobbing sufficiently to justify a jerk, and when she +caught a little fish he took it off the hook. Fishing in this pleasant +wise had become very agreeable to the good lady, and she found pleasures +in camp life which she had not anticipated. Her husband was in a boat some +distance out on the lake, and he was also fishing, but she did not care +for that style of sport; the fish were too big and the boat too small. + +A little farther down the lake Martin Sanders sat busily engaged in +putting some water-fowl into the foreground of Margery's sketch. A +critical observer might have noticed that he had also made a number of +changes in said sketch, all of which added greatly to its merits as a +picture of woodland scenery. At a little distance Margery was sitting at +her easel making a sketch of Martin as an artist at work in the woods. The +two young men had gone off with their guns, not perhaps because they +expected to find any legitimate game at that season, but hoping to secure +some ornithological specimens, or to get a shot at some minor quadrupeds +unprotected by law. Another reason for their expedition could probably +have been found in some strong hints given by Mr. Archibald that it was +unwise for them to be hanging around the camps and taking no advantage of +the opportunities for sport offered by the beautiful weather and the +forest. + +It was not long before Margery became convinced that the sketch on which +she was working did not resemble her model, nor did it very much resemble +an artist at work in the woods. + +"It looks a good deal more like a cobbler mending shoes," she said to +herself, "and I'll keep it for that. Some day I will put a bench under him +and a shoe in his hand instead of a sketch." With that she rose, and went +to see how Martin was getting on. "I think," she said, "those dark ducks +improve the picture very much. They throw the other things back." Then she +stopped, went to one side, and gazed out over the lake. "I wonder," she +said, "if there is really any fun in fishing. Uncle Archibald has been out +in that boat for more than two hours, and he has fished almost every day +since he's been here. I should think he would get tired of it." + +"Oh no," said Martin, looking up with animation. "If you know how to fish, +and there is good sport, you never get tired of it." + +"I know how to fish," said Margery, "and I do not care about it at all." + +"You know how to fish?" said Martin. "Can you make a cast with a fly?" + +"I never tried that," said she. "But I have fished as Aunt Harriet does, +and it is easy as can be." + +"Oh," said he, "you don't know anything about fishing unless you have +fished with a fly. That is the only real sport. It is as exciting as a +battle. If you would let me teach you how to throw a fly, I am sure you +would never find fishing tiresome, and these woods would be like a new +world to you." + +"Why don't you do it yourself, then?" she asked. + +"Because I am paid to do other things," he replied. "We are not sent here +simply to enjoy ourselves, though I must say that I--" And then he +suddenly stopped. "I wish you would let me teach you fly-fishing. I know +you would like it." + +Margery looked at the eager face turned towards her, and then she gazed +out over the water. + +"Perhaps I might like it," she said. "But it wouldn't be necessary for you +to take that trouble. Uncle Archibald has two or three times asked me to +go out with him, and of course he would teach me how to fish as he does. +Isn't that somebody calling you?" + +"Yes," said Martin, rising; "it's Phil. I suppose it's nearly +supper-time." + +As they walked towards the camp, Margery in front, and Martin behind her +carrying the drawing-materials and the easel, Margery suddenly turned. + +[Illustration: "'THEY THROW THE OTHER THINGS BACK'"] + +"It was very good of you to offer to teach me to fish with flies," she +said, "and perhaps, if Uncle Archibald doesn't want to be bothered, I may +get you to show me how to do it." + +The young man's face brightened, and he was about to express his pleasure +with considerable warmth; but he checked himself, and merely remarked that +whenever she was ready he would provide a rod and flies and show her how +to use them. + +Mrs. Archibald had gone into the cabin, and Margery went up to Matlack, +who was on his way to the little tent in which the camp cooking was done. + +"Did Mrs. Archibald tell you," said she, "that we have invited Mr. Clyde +and Mr. Raybold to supper to-night?" + +The guide stopped and smiled. "She told me," said he, "but I don't know +that it was altogether necessary." + +"I suppose you mean," said Margery, "that they are here so much; but I +don't wonder; they must do awfully poor cooking for themselves. I don't +suppose they will bring anything back that is good to eat." + +"Not at this time of year," said he, "but I shall be satisfied if they +bring themselves home." + +"What do you mean by that?" asked Margery, quickly. + +"Well," said Matlack, "I don't doubt the bicycle fellow will always come +back all right, but I'm afeard about the other one. That bicycle chap +don't know no more about a gun than he does about makin' bread, and I +wouldn't go out huntin' with him for a hundred dollars. He's just as +likely to take a crack at his pardner's head as at anything else that's +movin' in the woods." + +"That is dreadful!" exclaimed Margery. + +"Yes, it is," returned the guide; "and if I had charge of their camp he +wouldn't go out with a gun again. But it will be all right in a day or +two. Peter will settle that." + +"Mr. Sadler, do you mean?" asked Margery. "What's he got to do with it?" + +"He's got everything to do with it," said Matlack. "He's got everything to +do with everything in this part of the country. He's got his laws, and he +sees to it that people stand by them. One of his rules is that people who +don't know how to use guns sha'n't shoot in his camps." + +"But how can he know about the people out here in the woods?" asked +Margery. + +"I tell you, miss," said Matlack, speaking slowly and decisively, "Peter +Sadler's ways of knowing things is like gas--the kind you burn, I mean. I +was a-visitin' once in a city house, and slept in a room on the top floor, +and there was a leak in the pipe in the cellar, and that gas just went +over the whole house, into every room and closet, and even under the beds, +and I've often thought that that was just like Peter's way of doin' things +and knowin' things. You take my word for it, that bicycle-man won't go out +huntin' many more days, even if he don't shoot his pardner fust." + +"He won't go to-morrow," thought Margery; and then she said to Matlack: "I +think we ought to know Mr. Sadler's rules. Has he any more of them?" + +"Oh, they ain't very many," said Matlack. "But there's one I think of now, +and that is that no woman shall go out in a boat by herself on this +lake." + +"That is simply horrid!" exclaimed Margery. "Women can row as well as +men." + +"I don't say they can't," said Matlack. "I'm only tellin' you what Peter's +rules are, and that's one of them." + +Margery made no reply, but walked away, her head thrown back a little more +than was usual with her. + +"I've got to keep my eye on her," said Matlack to himself, as he went to +the cabin; "she's never been broke to no harness." + + * * * * * + +Mr. Raybold did not shoot Mr. Clyde, nor did he shoot anything else. Mr. +Clyde did shoot a bird, but it fell into the water at a place where the +shore was very marshy, and it was impossible for him to get it. He thought +it was a heron, or a bittern, or perhaps a fish-hawk, but whatever it was, +both ladies said that it was a great pity to kill it, as it was not good +to eat, and must have been very happy in its life in the beautiful +forest. + +"It is very cruel to shoot them when they are not strictly game," said Mr. +Clyde, "and I don't believe I will do it. If I had the things to stuff +them with, that would be different, but I haven't. I believe fishing is +just as much fun, and more sensible." + +"I do not!" exclaimed Mr. Raybold. "I hold that hunting is a manly art, +and that a forester's life is as bold and free to him as it is to the +birds in the air. I believe I have the blood of a hunter in me. My voice +is for the woods." + +"I expect you will change your voice," thought Margery, "when Mr. Sadler +takes your gun away from you." But she did not say so. + +Mr. Archibald stood with his hands in his pockets reflecting. He had hoped +that these two young men were inveterate hunters, and that they would +spend their days in long tramps. He did not at all approve of their +fishing. Fishing could be done anywhere--here, for instance, right at this +very door. + +Supper was over, and the five inhabitants of Camps Rob and Roy had seated +themselves around the fire which Martin had carefully built, keeping in +view a cheery blaze without too much heat. Pipes had been filled and +preparations made for the usual evening smoke and talk, when a man was +seen emerging from the woods at the point where the road opened into the +clearing about the camp. It was still light, for these hungry campers +supped early, and the man could be distinctly seen as he approached, and +it was plain that he was not a messenger from Sadler's. + +He was rather a large man, dressed in black, and wearing a felt hat with a +wide, straight brim. Hanging by a strap from his shoulder was a small +leather bag, and in his hand he carried a closed umbrella. Advancing +towards the fire, he took off his hat, bowed, and smiled. He wore no +beard, his face was round and plump, and his smile was pleasant. + +"Good-evening, ladies and gentlemen," said he, and his voice was as +pleasant as his smile. + +"Good-evening," said Mr. Archibald, and then for a moment there was a +pause. + +"I presume," said the new-comer, looking about him, "that this is a +camp." + +"It is a camp," said Mr. Archibald. + +"The fact is so obvious," said the man in black, "that it was really +unnecessary for me to allude to it. May I ask to be allowed to sit down +for a few moments? I am fatigued." + +At this juncture Phil Matlack arrived on the scene. "Well, sir," said he, +"have you any business with anybody here? Who do you wish to see?" + +"I have no business," said the other, "and--" + +"And you are a stranger to everybody here?" interrupted Matlack. + +"Yes, but I hope--" + +"Now then," said the guide, quickly, "I've got to ask you to move on. This +is one of Peter Sadler's camps, and he has strict rules against strangers +stoppin' in any of them. If you've lost your way, I'll tell you that this +road, if you don't turn to the right or the left, will take you straight +to Sadler's, and there's time enough for you to get there before dark." + +"Mr. Matlack," exclaimed Mrs. Archibald, who had risen to her feet, "I +want to speak to you! It's a shame," she said, when the guide had +approached her, "to send that man away without even giving him a chance to +rest himself. He may be a very respectable person on a walking tour." + +"I guess he is on a walkin' tour," said Matlack, "and I guess he's a +regular tramp, and there's no orders we've got that's stricter than them +against tramps." + +"Well, I don't care who he is," said Mrs. Archibald, "or what your rules +are, but when a perfectly good-mannered man comes to us and asks simply to +be allowed to rest, I don't want him to be driven away as if he were a +stray pig on a lawn. Mr. Archibald, shouldn't he be allowed to rest a +while?" + +Her husband rose and approached the stranger. "Where are you going, sir?" +said he. + +The man looked at Matlack, at Martin, who stood behind him, and then at +the rest of the company, and after this comprehensive glance he smiled. + +"From present appearances," he said, "I think I am going to go." + +Mr. Archibald laughed. "When do you expect to get there?" he asked. + +"It seems to me," said the other, reflectively, "that I am always going +there, and I suppose I shall have to keep on doing it." + +"Look here," said Mr. Archibald, turning to Matlack, "give him some +supper, and let him rest. There will be time enough for him to get to +Sadler's after that. If Sadler has anything to say against it, refer him +to me." + +"All right, sir," said Matlack, "if you say so. I'm no harder on my +fellow-bein's than other people, but rules is rules, and it isn't for me +to break them." + +"My dear sir," said the stranger to Mr. Archibald, "your words are more +grateful to me than the promise of food. I see that you consider me a +tramp, but it is a mistake. I am not a tramp. If you will allow me, after +I have eaten a little supper--a meal which I must admit I greatly need--I +will explain to you how I happen to be here." And with a bow he walked +towards the table where Matlack and Martin had been eating their supper. + +"Do you know what I think he is?" said Mr. Clyde, when Mr. Archibald had +resumed his seat and his pipe. "I believe he is a wandering actor. Actors +always have smoothly shaven faces, and he looks like one." + +"Actor!" exclaimed Arthur Raybold. "That's nonsense. He's not in the least +like an actor. Anybody could see by his tread and his air that he's never +been on the stage. He's more like a travelling salesman. The next thing +he'll do will be to pull out of that bag some samples of spool thread or +patent thimbles." + +"You are both wrong," said Margery--"entirely wrong. I have been looking +at him, and I believe he is a Methodist minister with a dead horse. They +ride circuits, and of course when their horses die they walk. Just wait a +little, and see if I am not right." + +They waited a little, and then they waited a little longer, and they had +begun to be tired of waiting before the stranger finished his meal and +approached the fire. His face was brighter, his smile was more pleasant, +and his step had a certain jauntiness in it. + +"I thank you all," he said, "for the very good meal I have just enjoyed. I +am now going to go, but before I start I would like very much--indeed, I +crave it as a favor--to place myself before you in my proper light. May I +have permission to do so, madam and sir?" he said, addressing Mrs. and Mr. +Archibald, but with a respectful glance at the others, as if he would not +ignore any one of them. + +"Certainly," said Mrs. Archibald. "Sit down and tell us about yourself." + +The stranger seated himself with alacrity a little back from the circle, +and nearer to the young men than to the Archibald party. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BISHOP'S TALE + + +The stranger placed his broad-brimmed hat on the ground beside him, +exposing a large round head somewhat bald in front, but not from age, and +the rest of it covered with close-cut brown hair. His black clothes fitted +him very closely, their extreme tightness suggesting that they had +shrunken in the course of wearing, or that he had grown much plumper since +he had come into possession of them; and their general worn and dull +appearance gave considerable distance to the period of their first +possession. But there was nothing worn or dull about the countenance of +the man, upon which was an expression of mellow geniality which would have +been suitably consequent upon a good dinner with plenty of wine. But his +only beverage had been coffee, and in his clear bright eye there was no +trace of any exhilaration, except that caused by the action of a hearty +meal upon a good digestion and an optimistic disposition. + +"I am very glad," he said, looking about him at the company, and then +glancing with a friendly air towards the two guides, who stood a little +back of Mr. Archibald, "to have this opportunity to explain my appearance +here. In the first place, I must tell you that I am a bishop whose diocese +has been inundated, and who consequently has been obliged to leave it." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Archibald; and Margery looked at Mr. Clyde, with the +remark: + +"There! You see I was very near to it." + +"I presume this statement will require some explanation," continued the +man in black, "and I will make it presently. I am going to be exceedingly +frank and open in all that I say to you, and as frankness and openness are +so extremely rare in this world, it may be that I shall obtain favor in +your eyes from the fact of my possessing those unusual qualities. +Originally I was a teacher, and for a year or two I had a very good +country school; but my employment at last became so repugnant to me that I +could no longer endure it, and this repugnance was due entirely to my +intense dislike for children." + +"That is not at all to your credit," observed Mrs. Archibald; "and I do +not see how you became a bishop, or why you should have been made one." + +"Was your diocese entirely meadow-land?" inquired Mr. Archibald. + +"I am coming to all that," said the stranger, with a smile of polite +consideration towards Mrs. Archibald. "I know very well that it is not at +all to my credit to dislike children, but I said I would be honest, and I +am. I do dislike them--not their bodies, but their minds. Children, +considered physically, are often pleasant to the view, and even +interesting as companions, providing their innate juvenility is +undisturbed; but when their personalities are rudely thrown open by a +teacher, and the innate juvenility prematurely exposed to the air, it is +something so clammy, so chilly to the mental marrow, that I shrink from it +as I would shrink from the touch of any cold, clammy thing." + +"Horrible!" exclaimed Mrs. Archibald. + +"I am not sure," observed Margery, "that there is not some truth in that. +I had a Sunday-school class for a little while, and although I can't say +there was a clamminess, there was--well, I don't know what there was, but +I gave it up." + +"I am glad," said the man in black, "that my candor is not sinking me in +the estimation of every one present; but even if it did, I am obliged to +tell the truth. I do not know what would have become of me if I had not +had the good-fortune to catch the measles from a family with whom I was +spending Sunday in another town. As soon as the disease plainly showed +itself upon me my school was broken up, and it was never gathered together +again, at least under me. + +"I must make my story brief, and can only say that not long after this I +found myself in another town, where it became necessary for me to do +something to support myself. This was difficult, for I am an indefinite +man, and definiteness seems necessary to success in any line. Happening +one day to pass a house with open lower windows, I heard the sound of +children's voices speaking in unison, and knowing that this must be a +school, I looked in, compelled entirely by that curiosity which often +urges us to gaze upon human suffering. I found, however, that this was a +kindergarten conducted by a young woman. Unobserved by scholars or +teacher, I watched the proceedings with great interest, and soon became +convinced that kindergartening was a much less repellent system of tuition +than any I had known; but I also perceived that the methods of the young +woman could be greatly improved. I thought a good deal upon this subject +after leaving the open window. Soon afterwards, becoming acquainted with +the young person in charge of the children, I offered to teach her a much +better system of kindergartening than she was using. My terms were very +low, and she became my scholar. I soon learned that there were other +kindergartens in the town, and some of the teachers of these joined my +class. Moreover, there were young women in the place who were not +kindergartners, but who would like to become such, and these I also +taught, sometimes visiting them at their houses, and sometimes giving my +lessons in a room loaned by one of my patrons. My system became very +popular, because it was founded upon common-sense." + +"What was your system?" asked Mrs. Archibald. "I am interested in +kindergartens myself." + +"My object," he answered, "was to make the operation of teaching +interesting to the teacher. It struck me very forcibly that a continuance +of a few years in the present inane performances called kindergartening +would infallibly send to our lunatic asylums a number of women, more or +less young, with more or less depleted intellects. The various games and +exercises I devised were very interesting, and I am sure I had scholars +who never intended to become kindergartners, and who studied with me +solely for their own advantage. It was at this time that I adopted the +clerical dress as being more suitable to my vocation than any other +costume, and some one having called me the bishop, the name soon became +popular, and I was generally known by it." + +"But what is your real name?" asked Mrs. Archibald. + +"Madam," said the man, "you must excuse me if I ask you to recall your +question. I have a good name, and I belong to a very good family, but +there are reasons why I do not at present wish to avow that name. Some of +these reasons are connected with the report that I purposely visited the +family with the measles in order to get rid of my school; others are +connected with the inundation of my diocese, of which I shall speak; +others refer to my present indefinite method of life. There is reason to +suppose that the time is not far distant when my resumption of my family +name will throw no discredit upon it, but that period has not yet arrived. +Do you press your question, madam?" + +"Oh no," said Mrs. Archibald; "it really makes no difference; and out here +in the woods a man may call himself a bishop or a cardinal or anything he +likes." + +"Thank you very much," said he, "and I will continue to speak in figures, +and call myself a bishop." + +"Where I was brought up," interpolated Phil Matlack, still standing behind +Mr. Archibald, "I was taught that figures don't lie." + +"My good sir," said the speaker, with a smile, "in mathematics they don't, +in poetry and literature they often do. Well, as I was saying, my +diocese extended itself, my revenues were satisfactory, and I had +begun to believe that I had found my true work in life, when suddenly +there was a misfortune. There arrived in our town three apostles of +kindergartening--two of them were women, and one was a man. They had heard +of my system, and had come to investigate it. They did so, with the +result that in an astonishingly short time my diocese was inundated with a +flood of Froebelism which absolutely swept me away. With this bag, +this umbrella, and this costume, which has now become my wardrobe, I +was cast out in all my indefiniteness upon a definite world." + +"And how did you get here?" asked Mrs. Archibald. + +"I had heard of Sadler and his camps," said he; "and in this beautiful +month and in this beautiful weather I thought it would be well to +investigate them. I accordingly went to Mr. Sadler's, where I arrived +yesterday afternoon. I found Mr. Sadler a very definite man, and, I am +sorry to say, that as he immediately defined me as a tramp, he would +listen to no other definition. 'You have no money to pay for food and +lodgings,' said he, 'and you come under my tramp laws. I don't harbor +tramps, but I don't kick them out into the woods to starve. For labor on +this place I pay one dollar and a half a day of ten hours. For meals to +day-laborers I charge fifteen cents each. If you want your supper, you can +go out to that wood-shed and split wood for one hour.' I was very hungry; +I went out into the wood-shed; I split wood for one hour, and at the end +of that time I had a sufficient meal. When I had finished, Mr. Sadler sent +for me. 'Do you want to stay here all night?' he said. 'I do,' I answered. +'Go, then, and split wood for another hour.' I did so, and it was almost +dark when I had finished. In the morning I split wood for my breakfast, +and when I had finished I went to Mr. Sadler and asked him how much he +would charge for a luncheon wrapped in a piece of paper. 'Seven and a half +cents,' he said. I split wood for half an hour, and left Sadler's +ostensibly to return to the station by the way I had come; but while I had +been at work, I found from the conversation of some of the people that one +of the camps was occupied, and I also discovered in what direction it lay. +Consequently, after I had passed out of the sight of the definite Peter +Sadler, I changed my course, and took a path through the woods which I was +told would lead to this road, and I came here because I might just as well +pass this way as any other, and because, having set out to investigate +camp life, I wished to do so, and I hope I may be allowed to say that +although I have seen but little of it, I like it very much." + +"Now, then," said Phil Matlack, walking around the circle and approaching +the stranger, "you said, when you first came here, that you were going to +go, and the time has come when you've got to go." + +"Very well," said the other, looking up with a smile; "if I've got there +I'd better stop." + +Mr. Archibald and the young men laughed, but Matlack and Martin, who had +now joined him, did not laugh. + +"You've barely time enough," said the former, "to get to Sadler's before +it is pitch-dark, and--" + +"Excuse me," said the other, "but I am not going back to Sadler's +to-night. I would rather have no bed than split wood for an hour after +dark in order to procure one. I would prefer a couch of dried leaves." + +"You come along into the road with this young man and me; I want to talk +to you," said Matlack. + +"Now, Matlack," said Mr. Archibald, "don't be cruel." + +"I am not," said the guide. "I am the tenderest-hearted person in the +world; but even if you say so, sir, I can't let a stranger stay all night +in a camp that I've got charge of." + +"Look here, Matlack," exclaimed Mr. Clyde, "you haven't got charge of our +camp!" + +"No, I haven't," said the other. + +"Well, then, this person can come over and stay with us. We have a little +tent that we brought to put over the cooking-stove, and he can sleep in +that." + +"Very well," said Matlack; "if you take him out of this camp I haven't +anything to say--that is, to-night." + +"My dear sir," said the stranger, rising, and approaching Mr. Clyde, "I +accept your offer with pleasure, and thank you most heartily for it. If +you had proffered me the hospitality of a palace, I could not be more +grateful." + +"All right," said Clyde; "and I suppose it is time for us to be off, so I +will bid you all good-night. Come along, Arthur. Come along, bishop." + +The face of the last-named individual beamed with delight as he heard this +appellation, and bidding everybody good-night, and thanking them for the +kindness with which he had been treated, he followed the two young men. + +The three walked some little distance towards Camp Roy, and then Clyde +came running back to speak to Margery, who was now standing by herself +watching the young moon descend among the trees. Then Mr. Raybold also +stopped and came back to Margery, upon which the bishop stopped and waited +for them. In about ten minutes he was joined by the two young men, and the +three proceeded to Camp Roy. + +"There is one thing, Harriet," said Mr. Archibald, "which I wish you would +speak to Margery about. I don't want her to get up so early and go out for +a morning walk. I find that those young men are also early risers." + +"I will speak to her," said Mrs. Archibald; "where is she?" + +"Over there, talking to young Martin," said her husband. "It isn't quite +dark yet, but I think it is time we were all in bed." + +"Quite time," said she. "Margery tells me that that young guide, who is a +handsome fellow, is going to teach her how to fish with flies. I wish you +would sometimes take her out in the boat with you, Mr. Archibald; I am +sure that you could teach her how to fish." + +He smiled. "I suppose I could," he said; "and I also suppose I could pull +her out of the water the first time she hooked a big fish. It would be +like resting a boat on a pivot to put her into it." + +"Then you don't take her," said Mrs. Archibald, decisively. "And you can't +take her with you up the stream, because, of course, she can't wade. I +don't want her to get tired of camp-life, but--" + +"Don't be afraid of the young men," interrupted her husband, with a laugh; +"so long as there are three of them there is no danger." + +"Of course I will not, if you don't wish it, Aunt Harriet," said Margery, +when Mrs. Archibald had spoken to her about the early morning walks; "and +I will stay in my room until you call me." + +The next morning, when Mrs. Archibald was ready to leave the cabin, she +did call Margery, but received no answer. Then she went to the little +studio-room, and when she opened the door she found its occupant leaning +out of the window talking to Mr. Clyde and Mr. Raybold, who stood +outside. + +"Good-morning, Aunt Harriet!" exclaimed Margery, gayly. "Mr. Clyde has +brought me nearly an armful of birch-bark, all thin and smooth. I am going +to make a birch-bark bedspread out of it. I'll cover a sheet with these +pieces, you see, and sew them on. Then I can have autographs on them, and +mottoes, and when I cover myself up with it I shall really feel like a +dryad." + +"And here is what I have brought," said Mr. Raybold, holding up an armful +of bark. + +"Oh, thank you very much," said Margery, taking the mass, but not without +dropping a good many of the pieces. "Of course it was kind of him to bring +it," she said to Mrs. Archibald, as they left the room together, "but he +needn't have bothered himself: I don't want to sleep under a wood-pile." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MATLACK'S THREE TROUBLES + + +"Have you asked those two young men to breakfast again?" inquired Mr. +Archibald, after examining, with a moderate interest, the specimen of +birch-bark which Margery had shown him. + +"Oh no, indeed," said she, "they have had their breakfast. They have been +telling me about it. The bishop got up very early in the morning and +cooked it for them. He's a splendid cook, and he found things in their +hampers that they didn't know they had. They said his coffee was +delicious, and they have left him there in their camp now, washing the +dishes and putting everything in order. And do you think, Uncle Archibald, +that it is going to rain?" + +"I do," said he, "for it is sprinkling already." + +This proved to be the first bad day since the Archibald party had gone +into camp, and the rain soon began to come down in a steady, practised +way, as if the clouds above were used to that sort of thing and could +easily keep it up all day. + +As there was no place under roof to which company could be conveniently +invited, Margery retired to her room and set herself diligently to work on +her birch-bark quilt. + +Mrs. Archibald established herself in the division of the cabin which was +intended to be used as a sitting and dining room in bad weather, and +applied herself to some sewing and darning, which had been reserved for +just such a day as this. Mr. Archibald, in a water-proof suit, tried +fishing for half an hour or so, but finding it both unpleasant and +unprofitable, he joined his wife, made himself as comfortable as possible +on two chairs, and began to read aloud one of the novels they had brought +with them. + +Mr. Clyde and Mr. Raybold had considerately gone to their own camp when it +began to rain, hoping, however, that the shower would be over in a short +time. But the rain was not a shower, and they spent the morning on their +backs in their tent, talking and smoking. Of course they could not expect +the bishop to depart in the rain, so they had told him to make himself as +comfortable as he could in the little kitchen tent, and offered him a pipe +and a book. The first he declined, as he never smoked, but the latter he +accepted with delight. + +After the mid-day dinner Phil Matlack, in a pair of high hunting-boots and +an oil-skin coat, came to Mr. Archibald and said that as there was nothing +he could do that afternoon, he would walk over to Sadler's and attend to +some business he had there. + +"About the bishop?" asked Mr. Archibald. + +"Partly," said Matlack. "I understand the fellow is still over there with +those two young men. I don't suppose they'll send him off in the rain, and +as he isn't in my camp, I can't interfere. But it may rain for two or +three days." + +"All right," said Mr. Archibald, "and if we want anything we'll ask +Martin." + +"Just so," said Matlack. "If there's anything to do that you don't want to +do yourself, you can get him to do it; but if you want to know anything +you don't know yourself, you'd better wait until I come back." + +When Matlack presented himself before Peter Sadler he found that ponderous +individual seated in his rolling-chair near the open door, enjoying the +smell of the rain. + +"Hello, Phil!" he cried. "What's wrong at the camp?" + +The guide left his wet coat and cap on the little piazza outside, and +after carefully wiping his feet, seated himself on a chair near the door. + +"There's three things wrong," said he. "In the first place, there's a +tramp out there, and it looks to me as if he was a-goin' to stick, if he +can get allowed to do it." + +"Is he too big for you to bounce?" roared Peter. "That's a pretty story to +come tell me!" + +"No, he ain't," said the other; "but I haven't got the bouncin' of him. +He's not in my camp. The young men have took him in; but I expect he'll +come over with them as soon as it's done rainin', for when that happens +they're bound to come themselves." + +"Look here, Phil," said Peter, "is he dressed in black?" + +"Yes, he is," said the guide. + +Mr. Sadler slapped his hand on the arm of his chair. "Phil Matlack," he +shouted, "that's my favorite tramp. I never had a man here who paid his +bill in work as he did. It was cash down, and good money. Not a minute of +wood-splitting more or less than the market-price for meals and bed. I'd +like to have a tramp like that come along about twice a week. But I tell +you, Phil, he ain't no tramp. Couldn't you see that? None of them loafers +ever worked as he did." + +"He may not be a tramp," said Matlack, "but he's trampin'. What are you +goin' to do about him? Let him stay there?" + +"What's he doin' now?" asked Sadler. + +"He's cookin' for those two young men." + +"Well, they need some one to do it for them, and they didn't want to go to +the expense of a guide. Let the parson alone for a day or two, and if he +does anything out of the way just you take him by one ear and Martin take +him by the other and bring him to me. I'll attend to him. What's the next +trouble?" + +"That's out of my camp, too," said Matlack, "but I'm bound to report it. +The bicycle fellow that you hired a gun to don't know the fust thing about +usin' it, and the next thing you'll hear will be that he's shot his +pardner, who's worth six of him." + +Mr. Sadler sat up very straight in his chair and stared at the guide. +"Phil Matlack," he shouted, "what do you take me for? I hired that gun to +that young man. Don't you suppose I know what I'm about?" + +"That's all right," said Matlack, "but the trouble is he don't know what +he's about." + +"Get away man," said Peter, with a contemptuous sniff, "he'll never hurt +anybody. What do you take me for? When he came to me and wanted a gun, I +handed him two or three, so that he might choose one that suited him, and +by the way he handled them I could see that most likely he'd never handled +one before, and so I set him up all right. He's got a good gun, and all +the cartridges he'll be likely to want; and the cartridges are all like +this. They're a new kind I heard of last winter, and I got a case from +Boston last week. I don't see how I ever managed to run my camps without +them. Do you see that shot?" said he, opening one end of a cartridge. +"Well, take one in your hand and pinch it." + +Phil did so, and it crumbled to dust in his hand. + +"When that load's fired," said Peter, "all the shot will crumble into +dust. It wouldn't do to give raw hands blank-cartridges, because they'd +find that out; but with this kind they might sit all day and fire at a +baby asleep in its cradle and never disturb it, provided the baby was +deaf. And he can't use his pardner's cartridges, for I gave that fellow a +twelve-bore gun and his is a ten-bore." + +Phil grinned. "Well, then," said he, "I suppose I might as well make my +mind easy, but if that bicycle man hunts much he'll get the conviction +borne in on him that he's a dreadful bad shot." + +"Then he'll give up shooting, which is what is wanted," said Sadler. +"What's your third bother?" + +"That young woman has made up her mind to go out in the boat by herself +the very fust time she feels like it," said Matlack; "she didn't say so +with her mouth, but she said it with the back of her head and her +shoulders, and I want to know if that rule of yours is going to hold good +this summer. Women is gettin' to do so many things they didn't use to that +I didn't know but what you'd consider they'd got far enough to take +themselves out on the lake, and if you do think so, I don't want to get +myself in hot water with those people and then find you don't back me +up." + +"If you don't want to get yourself into hot water with me, Phil Matlack, +you'd better get it into your head just as soon as you can that when I +make a rule it's a rule, and I don't want people comin' to me and talkin' +about changes. Women in my camp don't go out in boats by themselves, and +it's easy enough to have that rule kept if you've got backbone enough to +do it. Keep the boat locked to the shore when it ain't in use, and put the +key in your pocket, and if anybody gets it that 'ain't any right to it, +that's your lookout. Now that's the end of your troubles, I hope. How's +things goin' on generally in the camp?" + +"Oh, well enough," said Matlack. "I thought at fust the old lady'd give +out in a day or two, but I've taught her parlor-fishin', which she's took +to quite lively, and she's got used to the woods. The boss, he sticks to +fishin', as if it was office-work, and as for the rest of them, I guess +they're all gettin' more and more willin' to stay." + +"Why?" asked Peter. + +"Well, one of them is a gal and the others isn't," replied Matlack, +"that's about the p'int of it." + +During Matlack's walk back the skies cleared, and when he reached the camp +he found Mrs. Archibald seated in her chair near the edge of the lake, a +dry board under her feet, and the bishop standing by her, putting bait on +her hook, and taking the fish off of it when any happened to be there. Out +in the boat sat Mr. Archibald, trusting that some fish might approach the +surface in search of insects disabled by the rain. Farther on, at a place +by the water's edge that was clear of bushes and undergrowth, Martin was +giving Miss Dearborn a lesson in fly-fishing. + +"He's a mighty good fisherman," thought Matlack, looking at the young +fellow as he brought his rod back from the water with a long graceful +sweep, and then, with another sweep and an easy inclination of his body +forward, sending the fly far out on the smooth surface of the lake, +"although there ain't no need to tell him so; and I don't wonder she'd +rather stand and watch him than try to do it herself." + +Walking up and down near the edge of the wood were Messrs. Clyde and +Raybold. + +Phil smiled. "They don't seem to be happy," he said to himself. "I guess +they're hankerin' to take a share in her edication; but if you don't know +nothin' yourself, you can't edicate other people." + +Matlack directed his steps towards Mrs. Archibald; but before he reached +her he was met by the bishop, who hurried towards him. + +"I shall be obliged to surrender my post to you," he said, "which will be +greatly to the lady's satisfaction, I imagine, for I must appear a poor +attendant after you." + +[Illustration: "A LESSON IN FLY-FISHING"] + +"Goin' to leave us?" said Matlack. "You look quite spruced up." + +The bishop smiled. "You allude, I suppose," said he, "to the fact that my +hat and clothes are brushed, and that I am freshly shaved and have on a +clean collar. I like to be as neat as I can. This is a gutta-percha +collar, and I can wash it whenever I please with a bit of damp rag, and it +is my custom to shave every day, if I possibly can. But as to leaving you, +I shall not do so this evening. I have promised those young gentlemen who +so kindly invited me to their camp that I would prepare their supper for +them, and I must now go to make the fire and get things in readiness." + +"Have they engaged you as cook and general help?" asked Matlack. + +"Oh no," said the bishop, with a smile, "they are kind and I am grateful, +that is all." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A LADIES' DAY IN CAMP + + +Two days after the rainy day in camp Mr. Archibald determined to take the +direction of affairs into his own hands, so far as he should be able. +Having no authority over the two young men at Camp Roy, he had hitherto +contented himself with a disapproval of their methods of employing their +time, which he communicated only to his wife. But now he considered that, +as they were spending so much of their time in his camp and so little in +their own, he would take charge of them exactly as if they belonged to his +party. He would put an end, if possible, to the aimless strolls up and +down the beach with Margery, and the long conversations of which that +young woman had grown to be so fond, held sometimes with both young men, +though more frequently with one. If Clyde and Raybold came into the woods +to lounge in the shade and talk to a girl, they must go to some other camp +to do it. But if they really cared to range the forest, either as +sportsmen or lovers of nature, he would do his best to help them; so this +day he organized an expedition to a low mountain about two miles away, +taking Matlack with him as guide, and inviting the two young men to join +him. They had assented because no good reason for declining had presented +itself, and because Phil Matlack earnestly urged them to come along and +let him show them what a real forest tramp was like. Before his recent +talk with Peter Sadler, Phil would not have dared to go out into the woods +in company with the bicycle man. + +The two ladies were perfectly willing to remain in camp under the charge +of Martin, who was capable of defending them against any possible danger; +and as the bishop had agreed to take charge of Camp Roy during the absence +of its occupants, Mr. Archibald planned for a whole day's tramp, the first +he had taken since they went into camp. + +When Martin's morning work was done he approached the shady spot where the +two ladies had established themselves, and offered to continue his lessons +in fish-flying if Miss Dearborn so desired. But Miss Dearborn did not wish +to take any lessons to-day. She would rest and stay with Mrs. Archibald. +Even the elder lady did not care to fish that morning. The day was hot and +the shade was grateful. + +Martin walked away dissatisfied. In his opinion, there had never been a +day more suitable for angling; this was a day which would be free from +interruptions, either from two young fellows who knew nothing about real +game-fishing, or from Matlack, who always called him away to do something +when he was most interested in his piscatorial pedagogics. This was a day +when he could stand by that lovely girl, give her the rod, show her how to +raise it, wave it, and throw it, and sometimes even touch her hand as he +took it from her or gave it back, watching her all the time with an +admiration and delight which no speckled trout or gamy black bass had ever +yet aroused in him, and all this without fear that a gentleman out on the +lake might possibly be observing them with the idea that he was more +interested in his work than the ordinary guide might be supposed to be. +But luck was against him, and Martin, who did not in the least consider +himself an ordinary guide, walked up and down in moody reflection, or +grimly threw himself upon the ground, gazing upward at the sky--not half +so blue as he was--but never walking or resting so far away that he could +not hear the first cry from her should snake, bear, dragon-fly, or danger +of any kind approach her. + +To the ladies, about half an hour later, came the bishop, who, newly +shaved and brushed, wished them good-morning, and offered his services in +any manner which might be desired. If Mrs. Archibald wished to fish by the +side of the lake, he was at her service; but Mrs. Archibald did not care +to fish. + +"This is a most charming day," said the bishop, removing his hat, "but I +suppose it is more charming to me because it is my last day here." + +"And so you are really going to go?" said Mrs. Archibald, smiling. + +"I suppose you think I am not likely to get there," said he, "but really I +have stayed here long enough, and for several reasons." + +"Sit down," said Margery, "and tell us what they are. There is a nice +little rock with some moss on it." + +The bishop promptly accepted the invitation and seated himself. As he did +so, Martin, at a little distance, scowled, folded his arms, and slightly +increased the length of his sentinel-like walk. + +"Yes," said the bishop, brushing some pine leaves from his threadbare +trousers, "during the time that I have accepted the hospitality of those +young gentlemen I feel that I have in a great measure repaid them for +their kindness, but now I see that I shall become a burden and an expense +to them. In the first place, I eat a great deal more than both of them put +together, so that the provisions they brought with them will be exhausted +much sooner than they expected. I am also of the opinion that they are +getting tired of eating in their own camp, but as I make a point of +preparing the meals at stated hours, of course they feel obliged to +partake of them." + +"By which you mean, I suppose," said Mrs. Archibald, "that if they had not +you to cook for them they would be apt to take a good many meals with us, +as they did when they first came, and which would be cheaper and +pleasanter." + +"I beg, madam," said the bishop, quickly, "that you will not think that +they have said anything of the sort. I simply inferred, from remarks I +have heard, that one of them, at least, is very much of the opinion you +have just stated; therefore I feel that I cannot be welcome much longer in +Camp Roy. There is also another reason why I should go now. I have a +business prospect before me." + +"I am glad to hear that," said Mrs. Archibald. "Is it a good one?" + +"I think it is," said the bishop. "I have been considering it earnestly, +and the more I fix my mind upon it the greater appear its advantages. I +don't mind in the least telling you what it is. A gentleman who is +acquainted with my family and whom I have met two or three times, but not +recently, possesses a very fine estate some thirty miles south of this +place. He has been in Europe for some time, but is expected to return to +his country mansion about the end of this week. It is my purpose to offer +myself to him in the capacity of private librarian. I do not think it will +be difficult to convince him that I have many qualifications for the +situation." + +"Has he so many books that he needs a librarian?" asked Margery. + +"No," said the bishop, "I have no reason to suppose that he has any more +books than the ordinary country gentleman possesses, but he ought to have. +He has a very large income, and is now engaged in establishing for his +family what is intended to become, in time, an ancestral mansion. It is +obvious to any one of intelligence that such a grand mansion would not be +complete without a well-selected library, and that such a library could +not be selected or arranged by an ordinary man of affairs. Consequently, +unless he has a competent person to perform this duty for him, his +library, for a long time, will be insignificant. When I shall put the +question before him, I have no doubt that he will see and appreciate the +force and value of my statements. Such a position will suit me admirably. +I shall ask but little salary, but it will give me something far better +than money--an opportunity to select from the book marts of the whole +world the literature in which I delight. Consequently, you will see that +it is highly desirable that I should be on hand when this gentleman +arrives upon his estate." + +With a look of gentle pity Mrs. Archibald gazed at the smooth round face +of the bishop, flushed with the delights of anticipation and brightened by +the cheery smile which nearly always accompanied his remarks. "And is that +your only prospect?" she said. "I don't want to discourage you, but it +seems to me that if you had some regular business--and you are not too old +to learn something of the sort--it would be far better for you than trying +to obtain the mythical position you speak of. I see that you are a man of +intelligence and education, and I believe that you would succeed in almost +any calling to which you would apply yourself with earnestness and +industry. You must excuse me for speaking so plainly, but I am much older +than you are and I do it for your good." + +"Madam," exclaimed the bishop, radiant with grateful emotion, "I thank you +from the bottom of my heart for what you have said. I thank you for your +appreciation of me and for the generous motive of your words, but, to be +frank with you, I am not suited to a calling such as you have mentioned. I +have many qualities which I well know would promote my fortunes were they +properly applied, but that application is difficult, for the reason that +my principal mental characteristic is indefiniteness. When but a little +child I was indefinite. Nobody knew what I was going to do, or how I would +turn out; no one has since known, and no one knows now. In whatever way I +have turned my attention in my endeavors to support myself, I have been +obstructed and even appalled by the definiteness of the ordinary pursuits +of life. Now the making of a private library is in itself an indefinite +occupation. It has not its lines, its rules, its limitations. But do not +think, kind lady, that I shall always depend upon such employment. Should +I obtain it, I should hold it only so long as it would be necessary, and +it may be necessary for but a little while. Do you care to hear of my +permanent prospects?" said he, looking from one lady to the other. + +"Certainly," said Margery, "we would like to hear all you have to tell." + +"Well then," said the bishop, folding his arms and smiling effusively, but +with a gentle curbing of his ordinary cheerfulness, "I will inform you +that I have an uncle who is a man of wealth and well on in years. +Unfortunately, or fortunately it may be, this uncle greatly dislikes me. +He objects so strongly to my methods of thought and action, and even to my +physical presence, that he cannot bear to hear me speak or even to look at +me, and the last time I was in his company, about four years ago, he told +me that he would leave me a legacy on condition that he should never hear +from me or see me again. He promised to make the proper provision in his +will immediately, but declared, and I know he will keep his word, that if +he ever received a letter from me or even saw me or heard my voice he +would instantly strike out that clause. I appreciated and respected his +feelings, and accepted the condition. From that moment I have not written +to him, nor shall I ever write to him, and I shall never go near him so +long as he is alive. As I said, he is of advanced age, and it is +impossible that he can long survive. When his demise takes place my +circumstances will, I believe, be satisfactory." + +"Did your uncle say how much he would leave you?" asked Mrs. Archibald. + +"No, madam," returned the other, "he did not, but I feel sure that the sum +will be measured by his satisfaction in knowing that his existence is +entirely freed from me." + +"Really," said Mrs. Archibald, "there is nothing about you so indefinite +as your prospects." + +"And it seems horrible to me," said Margery, "to be hoping that some one +may die in order that you may be better off, for, as you want money so +much, you must hope that your uncle will die." + +The bishop smiled and rose. "And now," said he, "I suppose I must go to +prepare the dinner at Camp Roy. There is nobody but myself to eat it, but +I have assumed the duty, and it must be performed. Good-morning. By your +leave, I shall look in upon you again." + +Mrs. Archibald had a mind to ask him to stay and dine with them, but +having noticed an unfriendly expression on the face of Martin when his +gloomy walk brought him in her direction, she thought it would not be wise +to do so. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MARGERY TAKES THE OARS + + +After dinner Mrs. Archibald prepared herself for a nap, the most +delightful thing she could think of during the warm hours of such a day. +Margery, after seeing the elder lady comfortably disposed in the shady +sitting-room of the cabin, went out-of-doors with no doubt in her mind as +to what would be for her the most delightful thing to do. She would take a +row on the lake all by herself. + +She went down to the boat, which was partly drawn up on the beach and +fastened to a heavy stake. But when she reached it she was disgusted to +find that the chain was secured to the stake by a padlock. The oars were +in the boat, and she could easily have pushed it into the water, but she +could not set it free without the key to the padlock. + +"I do believe," she exclaimed, "that the will of that horrid Mr. Sadler is +like gas. It goes everywhere, even to the tops of the houses and under the +beds." But she did not give up her intention. She tried to detach the +chain from the boat, but finding this impossible, she thought of going for +Martin. Perhaps he might have a key. This idea, however, she quickly put +aside. If he had a key, and gave it to her, she might get him into +trouble, and, besides, she did not believe that he would let her go alone, +and in any other way she did not wish to go. Standing with her pretty +brows knit, and one heel deep in the soft ground into which she had +stamped it, she heard approaching footsteps, and turning, saw the bishop. +He came forward with a buoyant step. + +"Is there anything I can do for you, Miss Dearborn?" he said. "Do you wish +to go out on the lake? Do you want some one to row you?" + +"Yes and no," said Margery. "I want to go out in the boat, and I don't +want anybody to row me. But that chain is fastened with an abominable +padlock, and I cannot launch the boat." + +"One of your guides is here," said he. "Perhaps I can get a key from +him." + +"No, no," said Margery, quickly; "he must not know about it. There is a +Sadler law against it, and he is employed by Sadler." + +"It is very securely fastened," said the bishop, examining the lock and +chain. "It is the work of the guide Matlack, I have no doubt. But, Miss +Dearborn," said he, with a bright smile, "there is a boat at Camp Roy. +That is not locked, and I can bring it here in twenty minutes." + +"No," said Margery; "I don't want that boat. I've seen it. It is a clumsy +old thing, and, besides, it leaks. I want this one. This is just the kind +of boat I want to row. It is too bad! If I could get off now there would +be nobody to hinder me, for Martin is washing the dinner dishes, or doing +something of that kind, and whenever he does house-work he always keeps +himself out of sight." + +The bishop examined the stake. It was a stout little tree trunk driven +deep into the ground and projecting about five feet above the surface, +with the chain so wrapped around it that it was impossible to force it up +or down. Seizing the stake near the top, the bishop began to push it +backward and forward, and being a man of great strength, he soon loosened +it so much that, stooping, he was able to pull it from the ground. + +"Hurrah!" exclaimed Margery. "It came up just like pulling a tooth." + +"Yes," said the radiant bishop, "the good Matlack may be very careful +about fastening a boat, but I think I have got the better of him this +time; and now I will put the stake, chain and all, in the bow. That is the +best way of disposing of them. Are you sure that you prefer going alone? I +shall be delighted to row you if you wish me to." + +"Oh no," said Margery; "I am just wild to row myself, and I want to hurry +and get off for fear Martin will be coming down here." + +"Are you sure you understand rowing and the management of a boat?" he +asked. + +"Oh yes," she replied, "I can row; of course I can. I will get in, and +then you can push off the boat." + +"Allow me," said the bishop. But before he could reach her to help her, +Margery stepped quickly into the boat and was about to seat herself. + +"If you will take the seat next to the stern," said the bishop, holding +the boat so that it would be steady, "I think that will be better. Then +the weight of the stake in the bow will put the boat on an even keel." + +"All right," said Margery, accepting his suggestion and seating herself. +"Now just wait until I get the oars into the rowlocks, and then you can +push me off." + +"Which way do you intend to row?" asked the bishop. + +"Oh, I shall go down towards the lower end of the lake, because that way +there are more bushes along the banks and Martin will be less apt to see +me. If I go the other way I will be in plain sight of the camp, and he may +think he ought to do something--fire a gun across my bows to bring me to, +maybe, as they do at sea." + +"Hardly," said the bishop, "but let me advise you not to go very far from +the shore, so that if you feel tired you can come in easily, and if you +will allow me I will walk down the shore in the direction in which you +intend to row." + +"Oh, I am not going to get tired," said she. "I could row all day. It is +splendid to be in a boat all by myself and have the whole management of +it. Now please push me off." + +With some reluctance, but with a sincere desire to make the young girl +happy, which could not be overcome by prudence--at least by such prudence +as he possessed--the bishop, with a strong, steady push, sent the boat +well out on the surface of the water. + +"That was beautifully done," Margery called back to him. "Now I have room +enough to turn around without any trouble at all." + +She turned the boat about with its bow towards the lower end of the lake, +but it was not done without trouble. "I have not rowed for a good while," +she said, "but I am getting used to the oars already. Now then, I'm off," +and she began to pull with a strength which, had it been suitably paired +with skill, would have made her an excellent amateur oarswoman. But the +place of skill was supplied by enthusiasm and determination. Once or twice +an oar slipped from the rowlock and she nearly went over backward, and +several times one of the blades got under the water with the flat side up, +so that she had difficulty in getting it out. She raised her oars much too +high in the air, but she counterbalanced this by sinking them very deep +into the water. But she got on, and although her course was somewhat +irregular, its general trend was in the direction desired. + +The bishop walked along the bank, keeping as near to the water as he +could. Sometimes masses of shrubbery shut off all view of the lake, and +then there would be an open space where he would stop and watch the boat. + +"Please keep near the shore, Miss Dearborn," he called, "that will be +better, I think, and it is certainly more shady and pleasant than farther +out." + +"I know what you mean," cried Margery, pulling away in high good-humor, +"you think it is safer near the shore; but I am not going to row very far +this time, and after a little while I may pull the boat in and rest for a +time before starting back," and then she rowed on with renewed energy. + +The next time the bishop was able to hail the boat, it was at a point +where he was obliged to push his way through the bushes in order to see +out upon the lake. + +"Miss Dearborn," he called, "I think you are a great deal too far from +shore, and you must be getting very tired and hot. Your face is greatly +flushed. I will hurry along and see if I can find a good place for you to +stop and cool yourself." + +"I am all right," cried Margery, resting on her oars. "I get along very +well, only the boat doesn't steer properly. I think it is because of the +weight of that stick in the bow. I suppose I cannot get rid of it?" + +"Oh no!" cried the bishop, in alarm; "please don't think of it! But if you +touch shore at the first open space, I think I can arrange it better for +you." + +"Very good," said she; "you go ahead and find such a place, and I will +come in." + +"If you touch shore," said the bishop to himself, "you don't go out again +in that boat alone! You don't know how to row at all." + +The bishop ran a hundred yards or more before he found a place at which a +boat could be beached. It was not a very good place, but if he could reach +out and seize the bow, that would be enough for him. He was strong enough +to pull that boat over a paved street. + +As he looked out over the water he saw that Margery had progressed +considerably since he had seen her last, but she was still farther from +shore than before. + +"Row straight towards me!" he shouted. "Here is a fine landing-place, cool +and shady." + +She looked around and managed to turn the boat's head in his direction. +Then she rowed hard, pulling and splashing, and evidently a little tired. +She was strong, but this unusual exercise was a trial to her muscles. +Perhaps, too, she felt that the bishop was watching her, and that made her +a little nervous, for she could not help being aware that she was not +handling the oars as well as when she started out. With a strong pull at +her right oar to turn the boat inland, she got her left oar tangled +between the water and the boat, so it seemed to her, and lost her hold of +it. In a moment it was overboard and floating on the lake. + +Leaning over the side of the boat, she made a grasp at the oar, but it was +too far for her to reach it; and then, by a spasmodic movement of the +other oar, the distance was increased. + +The bishop's face grew pale. As he looked at her he saw that she was +moving away from the floating oar, and now he understood why she had +progressed so well. There was a considerable current in the lake which had +carried her along, and was now moving the heavy boat much faster than it +moved the oar. What should he tell her to do? If she could put her single +oar out at the stern, she might scull the boat; but he was sure she did +not understand sculling, and to try it she would have to stand up, and +this would be madness. + +She now took the other oar from the rowlock, and was about to rise, when +the bishop shouted to her. + +"What are you going to do?" he cried. + +"I am going to the stern," she said, "to see if I cannot reach that oar +with this one. Perhaps I can pull it in." + +"For Heaven's sake, don't do that!" he cried. "Don't stand up, or the boat +will tip, and you will fall overboard." + +"But what can I do?" she called back. "I can't row with one oar." + +"Try rowing a little on one side, and then on the other," said he. +"Perhaps you can bring in the boat in that way." + +She followed his suggestion, but very awkwardly, and he saw plainly that +she was tired. Instead of approaching the shore, the boat continued to +float down the lake. + +Margery turned again. "Bishop," she cried, "what shall I do? I must do +something, or I can't get ashore at all." + +She did not look frightened; there was more of annoyance in her +expression, as if she thought it impertinent in fate to treat her in this +way, and she would not stand it. + +"If I had thought of the current," said the bishop to himself, "I would +never have let her go out alone, and she can't be trusted in that boat +another minute longer. She will do something desperate." So saying, the +bishop took off his hat and threw it on the ground. Then he unbuttoned his +coat and began to take it off, but he suddenly changed his mind. Even in +that wilderness and under these circumstances he must appear respectable, +so he buttoned his coat again, hastily took off his shoes, and, without +hesitating, walked into the water until it was above his waist, and then +calling to Margery that he was coming to her, he began to swim out into +the lake. He did not strike out immediately for the boat, but directed his +course towards the floating oar. Turning his head frequently towards +Margery, he could see that she was sitting perfectly still, watching him, +and so he kept on with a good heart. + +The bishop was a powerful swimmer, but he found great difficulty in making +his way through the water, on account of the extreme tightness of his +clothes. It seemed to him that his arms and legs were bandaged in splints, +as if he had been under a surgeon's care; but still he struck out as well +as he could, and in time reached the oar. Pushing this before him to the +boat, Margery took hold of it. + +"You swim splendidly," said she. "You can climb in right here." + +But the bishop knew better than that, and worked his way round to the +stern, and after holding on a little while to get his breath, he managed +to clamber into the boat. + +"Was the water very cold?" said she. + +On his replying that it was, she said she thought so because he seemed +stiff. + +"Now, Miss Dearborn," said he, "I have made the stern seat very wet, but I +don't believe you will mind that, and if you will sit here I will take the +oars and row you in." + +[Illustration: "BUT THE BISHOP KNEW BETTER"] + +"Oh, I think I can do that myself," said Margery. "I am rested now, and I +am ever so much obliged to you for getting my oar for me." + +Under almost any circumstances the bishop could smile, and now he smiled +at the ridiculousness of the idea of Margery's rowing that boat back +against the current, and with him in it. + +"Indeed," said he, "I must insist. I shall freeze to death if I don't warm +myself by exercise." So, reaching out his hand, he assisted Margery to the +stern, and seating himself in her place, he took the oars, which she had +drawn in. + +"I don't see why I could not make the boat go along that way," said she, +as they began to move steadily towards the camp. "I believe I could do it +if people would only let me practise by myself; but they always want to +show me how, and I hate to have anybody show me how. It is funny," she +continued, "that you seem so very wet all but your collar. That looks as +smooth and nice as if it had just come from the laundry." + +The bishop laughed. "That is because it is gutta-percha," he said, +"intended for rough use in camp; but the rest of my habiliments were not +intended for wet weather." + +"And you have no hat," said she. "Doesn't the sun hurt your head?" + +"My head does feel a little warm," said he, "but I didn't want to row back +to the place where I left my hat. It was not a good landing-place, after +all. Besides," he said to himself, "I never thought of my hat or my +shoes." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BISHOP ENGAGES THE ATTENTION OF THE GUIDES + + +When the boat touched the shore Margery ran to the cabin to assure Mrs. +Archibald of her safety, if she had been missed. + +The bishop was sticking the stake in the hole from which he had pulled it, +when Martin came running to him. + +"That's a pretty piece of business!" cried the young man. "If you wanted +to go out in the boat, why didn't you come to me for the key? You've got +no right to pull up the stakes we've driven down. That's the same thing as +stealing the boat. What's the matter? Did you tumble overboard? You must +be a pretty sort of an oarsman! If the ladies want to go out in the boat, +I am here to take them. I'd like you to understand that." + +As has been said before, the bishop could smile under almost any +circumstances, and he smiled now, but at the same time his brow wrinkled, +which was not common when he smiled. + +"I am going down to the shore to get my hat and shoes," he said, "and I +would like you to come along with me. I can't stand here and talk to +you." + +"What do you want?" said Martin. + +"Come along and see," said the bishop; "that is, if you are not afraid." + +That was enough, and the young man walked behind him until they reached +the spot where the bishop had taken to the water. Then he stopped, and +explained to Martin all that had happened. + +"Now," said he, "what have you got to say?" + +Martin, now that he knew that the bishop had plunged into the water for +the sake of the beautiful Margery, was more jealously angry than when he +had supposed he had merely taken her out to row. + +"I haven't anything to say," he answered, shortly, "except that parsons +had better attend to their own business, if they have any, and let young +ladies and boats alone." + +"Oh, that's all, is it?" said the bishop, and with a quick step forward he +clutched the young man's arm with his right hand, while he seized his belt +with the other, and then with a great heave sent him out into the water +fully ten feet from the shore. With a splash like a dropped anchor Martin +disappeared from view, but soon arose, his head and shoulders above the +surface, where he stood for a moment, spluttering and winking and almost +dazed. + +The bishop stood on the bank and smiled. "Did you fall overboard?" said +he. "You must be a pretty sort of a boatman!" + +Without replying, Martin began to wade ashore. + +"Come on," said the bishop; "if you can't get up the bank, I'll help +you." + +But Martin needed no help; he scrambled to the bank, shook himself, and +then advanced upon the bishop, fire in his eye and his fist clinched. + +"Stop, young man," said the other. "It would not be fair to you if I did +not tell you that I am a boxer and a heavy-weight, and that I threw you +into the water because I didn't want to damage your face and eyes. You +were impertinent, but I am satisfied, and the best thing you can do is to +go and change your clothes before any one sees you in that plight. You are +better off than I am, because I have no clothes with which to make a +change." So saying, he sat down and began to put on his shoes. + +Martin stood for a moment and looked at the bishop, he thought of Margery +and a possible black eye, and then he walked as fast as he could to his +tent to get some dry clothes. He was very wet, he was very hot, he was +very angry, and what made him more angry than anything else was a respect +for the bishop which was rising in him in spite of all his efforts to keep +it down. + +When Mr. Archibald and his party came back to camp late in the afternoon, +Margery, who had already told her story to Mrs. Archibald, told it to each +of the others. Mr. Archibald was greatly moved by the account of the +bishop's bravery. He thoroughly appreciated the danger to which Margery +had been exposed. There were doubtless persons who could be trusted so sit +quietly in a little boat with only one oar, and to float upon a lake out +of sight and sound of human beings until another boat could be secured and +brought to the rescue, but Margery was not one of these persons. Her +greatest danger had been that she was a child of impulse. He went +immediately to Camp Roy to see the bishop and express his gratitude, for +no matter how great the foolish good-nature of the man had been, his brave +rescue of the girl was all that could be thought of now. + +[Illustration: "WITH A GREAT HEAVE SENT HIM OUT INTO THE WATER"] + +He found the bishop in bed, Mr. Clyde preparing the supper, and Mr. +Raybold in a very bad humor. + +"It's the best place for me," said the bishop, gayly, from under a heavy +army blanket. "My bed is something like the carpets in Queen Elizabeth's +time, and this shelter-tent is not one which can be called commodious, but +I shall stay here until morning, and then I am sure I shall be none the +worse for my dip into the cold lake." + +As Mr. Archibald had seen the black garments of the bishop hanging on a +bush as he approached the tent, he was not surprised to find their owner +in bed. + +"No," said the bishop, when Mr. Archibald had finished what he had to say, +"there is nothing to thank me for. It was a stupid thing to launch a young +girl out upon what, by some very natural bit of carelessness, might have +become to her the waters of eternity, and it was my very commonplace duty +to get her out of the danger into which I had placed her; so this, my dear +sir, is really all there is to say about the matter." + +Mr. Archibald differed with him for about ten minutes, and then returned +to his camp. + +Phil Matlack was also affected by the account of the rescue, and he +expressed his feelings to Martin. + +"He pulled up the stake, did he?" said Phil. "Well, I'll make him pull up +his stakes, and before he goes I've a mind to teach him not to meddle with +other people's affairs." + +"If I were you," said Martin, "I wouldn't try to teach him anything." + +"You think he is too stupid to learn?" said Matlack, getting more and more +angry at the bishop's impertinent and inexcusable conduct. "Well, I've +taught stupid people before this." + +"He's a bigger man than you are," said Martin. + +Matlack withdrew the knife from the loaf of bread he was cutting, and +looked at the young man. + +"Bigger?" said he, scornfully. "What's that got to do with it? A load of +hay is bigger than a crow-bar, but I guess the crow-bar would get through +the hay without much trouble." + +"You'd better talk about a load of rocks," said Martin. "I don't think +you'd find it easy to get a crow-bar through them." + +Matlack looked up inquiringly. "Has he been thrashing you?" he asked. + +"No, he hasn't," said Martin, sharply. + +"You didn't fight him, then?" + +"No, I didn't," was the answer. + +"Why didn't you? You were here to take charge of this camp and keep things +in order. Why didn't you fight him?" + +"I don't fight that sort of a man," said Martin, with an air which, if it +were not disdainful, was intended to be. + +Matlack gazed at him a moment in silence, and then went on cutting the +bread. "I don't understand this thing," he said to himself. "I must look +into it." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE WORLD GOES WRONG WITH MR. RAYBOLD + + +The next morning Mr. Archibald started out, very early, on a fishing +expedition by himself. He was an enthusiastic angler, and had not greatly +enjoyed the experience of the day before. He did not object to shooting if +there were any legitimate game to shoot, and he liked to tramp through the +mountain wilds under the guidance of such a man as Matlack; but to keep +company all day with Raybold, who, in the very heart of nature, talked +only of the gossip of the town, and who punctuated his small talk by +intermittent firing at everything which looked like a bird or suggested +the movements of an animal, was not agreeable to him. Clyde was a better +fellow, and Mr. Archibald liked him, but he was young and abstracted, and +the interest which clings around an abstracted person who is young is +often inconsiderable, so he determined for one day at least to leave Sir +Cupid to his own devices, for he could not spend all his time defending +Margery from amatory dawdle. For this one day he would leave the task to +his wife. + +That day Mr. Raybold was in a moody mood. Early in the morning he had +walked to Sadler's, his object being to secure from the trunk which he had +left there a suit of ordinary summer clothes. He had come to think that +perhaps his bicycle attire, although very suitable for this sort of life, +failed to make him as attractive in the eyes of youth and beauty as he +might be if clothed in more becoming garments. It was the middle of the +afternoon before he returned, and as he carried a large package, he went +directly to his own camp, and in about half an hour afterwards he came +over to Camp Rob dressed in a light suit, which improved his general +appearance very much. + +In his countenance, however, there was no improvement whatever, for he +looked more out of humor than when he had set out, and when he saw that +Mrs. Archibald was sitting alone in the shade, reading, and that at a +considerable distance Harrison Clyde was seated by Margery, giving her a +lesson in drawing upon birch bark, or else taking a lesson from her, his +ill-humor increased. + +"It is too bad," said he, taking a seat by Mrs. Archibald without being +asked; "everything seems to go wrong out here in these woods. It is an +unnatural way to live, anyhow, and I suppose it serves us right. When I +went to Sadler's I found a letter from my sister Corona, who says she +would like me to make arrangements for her to come here and camp with us +for a time. Now that suits me very well indeed. My sister Corona is a very +fine young woman, and I think it would be an excellent thing to have two +young ladies here instead of one." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Archibald, "that might be very pleasant. I should be glad +for Margery to have a companion of her own sex." + +"I understand precisely," said Raybold, nodding his head sagaciously; "of +her own sex. Yes, I see your drift, and I agree with you absolutely. There +is a little too much of that thing over there, and I don't wonder you are +annoyed." + +"I did not say I was annoyed," said Mrs. Archibald, rather surprised. + +"No," he answered, "you did not say so, but I can read between the lines, +even spoken lines. Now when I heard that my sister wanted to come out +here," he continued, "at first I did not like it, for I thought she might +be some sort of a restraint upon me; but when I considered the matter +further, I became very much in favor of it, and I sent a telegram by the +stage telling her to come immediately, and that everything would be ready +for her. My sister has a sufficient income of her own, and she likes to +have everything suited to her needs. I am different. I am a man of the +world, and although I do not always care to conform to circumstances, I +can generally make circumstances conform to me. As Shakespeare says, 'The +world is my pottle, and I stir my spoon.' You must excuse my quoting, but +I cannot help it. My life work is to be upon the stage, and where one's +mind is, there will his words be also." + +Mr. Raybold was now in a much more pleasant mood than when he came to sit +in the shade with Mrs. Archibald. He was talking; he had found some one +who listened and who had very little to say for herself. + +"Consequently," he remarked, "I ordered from Mr. Sadler the very best tent +that he had. It has two compartments in it, and it is really as +comfortable as a house, and as my sister wrote that she wished a female +attendant, not caring to have her meals cooked by boys--a very flippant +expression, by-the-way--I have engaged for her a she-guide." + +"A what?" asked Mrs. Archibald. + +"A person," said he, "who is a guide of the female gender. She was the +wife of a hunter who was accidentally shot, Sadler told me, by a young man +who was with him on a gunning expedition. I told Sadler that it was +reprehensible to allow such fellows to have guns, but he said that they +are not as dangerous now as they used to be. This is because the guides +have learned to beware of them, I suppose. This woman has lived in the +woods and knows all about camp life, and Sadler says there could not be a +better person found to attend a young lady in camp. So I engaged her, and +I must say she charged just as much as if she were a man." + +"Why shouldn't she," said Mrs. Archibald, "if she is just as good?" + +To this remark Raybold paid no attention. "I will tell you," he said, +"confidentially, of course, and I think you have as much reason to be +interested in it as I have, why I came to view with so much favor my +sister's coming here. She is a very attractive young woman, and I think +she cannot fail to interest Clyde, and that, of course, will be of +advantage to your niece." + +"She is not my niece, you know," said Mrs. Archibald. + +"Well," said he, "it is all the same. 'Let it be a bird wing or a flower, +so it pleases'--a quotation which is also Avonian--and if Clyde likes +Corona he will let Miss Dearborn alone. That's the sort of man he is." + +"And in that case," said Mrs. Archibald, "I suppose you would not be +unwilling to provide Margery with company." + +"Madam," said the young man, leaning forward and fixing his eyes upon the +ground, and then turning them upon her without moving his face towards +her, "with me all that is a different matter. I may have occasion later to +speak to you and your husband upon the subject of Miss Dearborn." + +"In which case," said Mrs. Archibald, quickly, "I am sure that my husband +will be very glad to speak to you. But why, may I ask, were you so +disturbed when you came here, just now? You said the world was going +wrong." + +"I declare," said he, knitting his brows and clapping one hand on his +knee, "I actually forgot! The world wrong? I should say it was wrong! My +sister can't come, and I don't know what to do about it." + +"Can't come?" asked Mrs. Archibald. + +"Of course not," said he, all his ill-humor having returned. "That fellow, +the bishop, is in our camp and in Clyde's bed. Clyde foolishly gave him +his bed because he said the cook-tent was too cramped for a man to stay in +it all day." + +"Why need he stay?" asked Mrs. Archibald. "Has he taken cold? Is he +sick?" + +"No indeed," said Raybold. "If he were sick we might send for a cart and +have him taken to Sadler's, but the trouble is worse than that. His +clothes, in which he foolishly jumped into the water, have shrunken so +much that he cannot get them on, and as he has no others, he is obliged to +stay in bed." + +"But surely something can be done," said Mrs. Archibald. + +"No," he interrupted, "nothing can be done. The clothes have dried, and if +you could see them as they hang up on the bushes, you would understand why +that man can never get into them again. The material is entirely +unsuitable for out-door life. Clyde proposes that we shall lend him +something, but there are no clothes in this party into which such a +sausage of a man could get himself. So there he is, and there, I suppose, +he will remain indefinitely; and I don't want to bring my sister to a camp +with a permanently occupied hospital bed in it. As soon as I agreed to +Corona's coming I determined to bounce that man, but now--" So saying, Mr. +Raybold rose, folded his arms, and knit his brows, and as he did so he +glanced towards the spot where Margery and Clyde had been sitting, and +perceived that the latter had departed, probably to get some more birch +bark; and so, with a nod to Mrs. Archibald, he sauntered away, bending his +steps, as it were accidentally, in the direction of the young lady left +alone. + +When Mr. Archibald heard, that evening, of the bishop's plight and +Raybold's discomfiture, he was amused, but also glad to know there was an +opportunity for doing something practical for the bishop. He was beginning +to like the man, in spite of his indefiniteness, so he went to see the +bedridden prelate who was neither sick nor clerical, and with very little +trouble induced him to take a few general measurements of his figure. + +"It is so good of you," said the delighted recumbent, "that I shall not +say a word, but step aside in deference to your conscience, whose +encomiums will far transcend anything I can say. You will pardon me, I am +sure, if I make my measurements liberal. The cost will not be increased, +and to live, move, and breathe in a suit of clothes which is large enough +for me is a joy which I have not known for a long time. Shoes, did you +say, sir? Truly this is generosity supereminent." + +"Yes," said Mr. Archibald, laughing, "and you also shall have a new hat. I +will fit you out completely, and if this helps you to make a new and a +good start in life, I shall be greatly gratified." + +"Sir," said the bishop, the moisture of genuine gratitude in his eyes, +"you are doing, I think, far more good than you can imagine, and pardon me +if I suggest, since you are going to get me a hat, that it be not of +clerical fashion. If everything is to be new, I should like everything +different, and I am certain the cost will be less." + +"All right," said Mr. Archibald. "I will now make a list of what you need, +and I will write to one of my clerks, who will procure everything." + +When Mr. Archibald went back to his camp he met Raybold, stalking moodily. +Having been told what had been done for the bishop's relief, the young man +was astonished. + +"A complete outfit, and for him? I would not have dreamed of it; and +besides, it is of no use; it must be days before the clothes arrive, and +my sister wishes to come immediately." + +"Do you suppose," exclaimed Mr. Archibald, "that I am doing this for the +sake of your sister? I am doing it for the man himself." + +When Mr. Archibald told his wife of this little interview they both +laughed heartily. + +"If Mr. Raybold's sister," said she, "is like him, I do not think we shall +care to have her here; but sisters are often very different from their +brothers. However, the bishop need not prevent her coming. If his clothes +do not arrive before she does, I am sure there could be no objection to +her tent being set up for a time in some of the open space in our camp, +and then we shall become sooner acquainted with her; if she is a suitable +person, I shall be very glad indeed for Margery to have a companion." + +"All right," said Mr. Archibald; "let her pitch her tent where she +pleases. I am satisfied." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE ASSERTION OF INDIVIDUALITY + + +It was a week after her brother had sent her his telegram before Miss +Corona Raybold arrived at Camp Rob, with her tent, her outfit, and her +female guide. Mrs. Archibald had been surprised that she did not appear +sooner, for, considering Mr. Raybold's state of mind, she had supposed +that his sister had wished to come at the earliest possible moment. + +"But," said Raybold, in explaining the delay, "Corona is very different +from me. In my actions 'the thunder's roar doth crowd upon the lightning's +heels,' as William has told us." + +"Where in Shakespeare is that?" asked Mrs. Archibald. + +Mr. Raybold bent his brow. "For the nonce," said he, "I do not recall the +exact position of the lines." And after that he made no more Avonian +quotations to Mrs. Archibald. + +The arrival of the young lady was, of course, a very important event, and +even Mr. Archibald rowed in from the lake when he saw her caravan +approaching, herself walking in the lead. She proved to be a young person +of medium height, slight, and dressed in a becoming suit of dark blue. Her +hair and eyes were dark, her features regular and of a classic cut, and +she wore eye-glasses. Her manner was quiet, and at first she appeared +reserved, but she soon showed that if she wished to speak she could talk +very freely. She wore an air of dignified composure, but was affable, and +very attentive to what was said to her. + +Altogether she made in a short time an extremely favorable impression upon +Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, and in a very much less time an extremely +unfavorable impression upon Margery. + +Miss Raybold greeted everybody pleasantly, even informing Matlack that she +had heard of him as a famous guide, and after thanking Mr. and Mrs. +Archibald for their permission to set up her tent on the outskirts of +their camp, she proceeded to said tent, which was speedily made ready for +her. + +Mrs. Perkenpine, her guide, was an energetic woman, and under her orders +the men who brought the baggage bestirred themselves wonderfully. + +Just before supper, to which meal the Raybolds and Mr. Clyde had been +invited, the latter came to Mr. Archibald, evidently much troubled and +annoyed. + +"I am positively ashamed to mention it to you, sir," he said, "but I must +tell you that Raybold has ordered the men who brought his sister's tent to +bring our tent over here and put it up near her's. I was away when this +was done, and I wish to assure you most earnestly that I had nothing to do +with it. The men have gone, and I don't suppose we can get it back +to-night." + +Mr. Archibald opened his eyes very wide. "Your friend is certainly a +remarkable young man," said he, "but we must not have any bad feeling in +camp, so let everything remain as it is for to-night. I suppose he wished +to be near his sister, but at least he might have asked permission." + +"I think," said Clyde, "that he did not so much care to be near his sister +as he did to be away from the bishop, who is now left alone in our little +shelter-tent." + +Mr. Archibald laughed. "Well," said he, "he will come to no harm, and we +must see that he has some supper." + +"Oh, I shall attend to that," said Clyde, "and to his breakfast also. And, +now I come to think of it, I believe that one reason Raybold moved our +tent over here was to get the benefit of his sister's cook. The bishop did +our cooking, you know, before he took to his bed." + +That evening Miss Raybold joined the party around the camp-fire. She +declared that in the open air she did not in the least object to the use +of tobacco, and then she asked Mr. Archibald if his two guides came to the +camp-fire after their work was done. + +"They do just as they please," was the answer. "Sometimes they come over +here and smoke their pipes a little in the background, and sometimes they +go off by themselves. We are very democratic here in camp, you know." + +"I like that," said Miss Raybold, "and I will have Mrs. Perkenpine come +over when she has arranged the tent for the night. Arthur, will you go and +tell her?" + +Her brother did not immediately rise to execute this commission. He hoped +that Mr. Clyde would offer to do the service, but the latter did not +improve the opportunity to make himself agreeable to the new-comer, and +Raybold did the errand. + +Harrison Clyde was sitting by Margery, and Margery was giving a little +attention to what he said to her and a great deal of attention to Corona +Raybold. + +"More self-conceit and a better-fitting dress I never saw," thought +Margery; "it's loose and easy, and yet it seems to fit perfectly, and I do +believe she thinks she is some sort of an upper angel who has condescended +to come down here just to see what common people are like." + +Corona talked to Mr. Archibald. It was her custom always to talk to the +principal personage of a party. + +"It gives me pleasure, sir," said she, "to meet with you and your wife. It +is so seldom that we find any one--" She was interrupted by Mrs. +Perkenpine, who stood behind her. + +The she-guide was a large woman, apparently taller than Matlack. Her +sunburnt face was partly shaded by a man's straw hat, secured on her head +by strings tied under her chin. She wore a very plain gown, coarse in +texture, and of a light-blue color, which showed that it had been washed +very often. Her voice and her shoes, the latter well displayed by her +short skirt, creaked, but her gray eyes were bright, and moved about after +the manner of searchlights. + +"Well," said she to Miss Raybold, "what do you want?" + +Corona turned her head and placidly gazed up at her. "I simply wished to +let you know that you might join this company here if you liked. The two +men guides are coming, you see." + +Mrs. Perkenpine glanced around the group. "Is there any hunting stories to +be told?" she asked. + +Mr. Archibald laughed. "I don't know," he said, "but perhaps we may have +some. I am sure that Matlack here has hunting stories to tell." + +Mrs. Perkenpine shook her head. "No, sir," said she; "I don't want none of +his stories. I've heard them all mostly two or three times over." + +"I dare say you have," said Phil, seating himself on a fallen trunk, a +little back from the fire; "but you see, Mrs. Perkenpine, you are so +obstinate about keepin' on livin'. If you'd died when you was younger, you +wouldn't have heard so many of those stories." + +"There's been times," said she, "when you was tellin' the story of the +bear cubs and the condensed milk, when I wished I had died when I was +younger, or else you had." + +"Perhaps," said Miss Raybold, in a clear, decisive voice, "Mr. Matlack may +know hunting stories that will be new to all of us, but before he begins +them I have something which I would like to say." + +"All right," said Mrs. Perkenpine, seating herself promptly upon the +ground; "if you're goin' to talk, I'll stay. I'd like to know what kind of +things you do talk about when you talk." + +"I was just now remarking," said Miss Corona, "that I am very glad indeed +to meet with those who, like Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, are willing to set +their feet upon the modern usages of society (which would crowd us +together in a common herd) and assert their individuality." + +Mr. Archibald looked at the speaker inquiringly. + +"Of course," said she, "I refer to the fact that you and Mrs. Archibald +are on a wedding-journey." + +At this remark Phil Matlack rose suddenly from the tree-trunk and Martin +dropped his pipe. Mr. Clyde turned his gaze upon Margery, who thereupon +burst out laughing, and then he looked in amazement from Mr. Archibald to +Mrs. Archibald and back again. Mrs. Perkenpine sat up very straight and +leaned forward, her hands upon her knees. + +"Is it them two sittin' over there?" she said, pointing to Margery and +Clyde. "Are they on a honey-moon?" + +"No!" exclaimed Arthur Raybold, in a loud, sharp voice. "What an +absurdity! Corona, what are you talking about?" + +To this his sister paid no attention whatever. "I think," she said, "it +was a noble thing to do. An assertion of one's inner self is always noble, +and when I heard of this assertion I wished very much to know the man and +the woman who had so asserted themselves, and this was my principal reason +for determining to come to this camp." + +"But where on earth," asked Mr. Archibald, "did you hear that we were on a +wedding-journey?" + +"I read it in a newspaper," said Corona. + +"I do declare," exclaimed Mrs. Archibald, "everything is in the +newspapers! I did think that we might settle down here and enjoy ourselves +without people talking about our reason for coming!" + +"You don't mean to say," cried Mrs. Perkenpine, now on her feet, "that you +two elderly ones is the honey-mooners?" + +"Yes," said Mr. Archibald, looking with amusement on the astonished faces +about him, "we truly are." + +"Well," said the she-guide, seating herself, "if I'd stayed an old maid as +long as that, I think I'd stuck it out. But perhaps you was a widow, +mum?" + +"No, indeed," cried Mr. Archibald; "she was a charming girl when I married +her. But just let me tell you how the matter stands," and he proceeded to +relate the facts of the case. "I thought," he said, in conclusion, turning +to Matlack, "that perhaps you knew about it, for I told Mr. Sadler, and I +supposed he might have mentioned it to you." + +"No, sir," said Matlack, relighting his pipe, "he knows me better than +that. If he'd called me and said, 'Phil, I want you to take charge of a +couple that's goin' honey-moonin' about twenty-five years after they +married, and a-doin' it for somebody else and not for themselves,' I'd +said to him, 'They're lunatics, and I won't take charge of them.' And +Peter he knows I would have thought that and would have said it, and so he +did not mention the particulars to me. He knows that the only things that +I'm afraid of in this world is lunatics. 'Tisn't only what they might do +to me, but what they might do to themselves, and I won't touch 'em." + +"I hope," said Mrs. Archibald, "that you don't consider us lunatics now +that you have heard why we are here." + +"Oh no," said the guide; "I've found that you're regular common-sense +people, and I don't change my opinions even when I've heard particulars; +but if I'd heard particulars first, it would have been all up with my +takin' charge of you." + +"And you knew it all the time?" said Clyde to Margery, speaking so that +she only could hear. + +"I knew it," she said, "but I didn't think it worth talking about. Do you +know Mr. Raybold's sister? Do you like her?" + +"I have met her," said Clyde; "but she is too lofty for me." + +"What is there lofty about her?" said Margery. + +"Well," said he, "she is lofty because she has elevated ideas. She goes in +for reform; and for pretty much all kinds, from what I have heard." + +"I think she is lofty," remarked Margery, "because she is stuck-up. I +don't like her." + +"It is so seldom," Corona now continued, "that we find people who are +willing to assert their individuality, and when they are found I always +want to talk to them. I suppose, Mr. Matlack, that your life is one long +assertion of individuality?" + +"What, ma'am?" asked the guide. + +"I mean," said she, "that when you are out alone in the wild forest, +holding in your hand the weapon which decides the question of life or +death for any living creature over whom you may choose to exercise your +jurisdiction, absolutely independent of every social trammel, every bond +of conventionalism, you must feel that you are a predominant whole and not +a mere integral part." + +"Well," said Matlack, speaking slowly, "I may have had them feelin's, but +if I did they must have struck in, and not come out on the skin, like +measles, where I could see 'em." + +"Corona," said her brother, in a peevish undertone, "what is the good of +all that? You're wasting your words on such a man." + +His sister turned a mild steady gaze upon him. "I don't know any man but +you," she said, "on whom I waste my words." + +"Is assertin' like persistin'?" inquired Mrs. Perkenpine at this point. + +"The two actions are somewhat alike," said Corona. + +"Well, then," said the she-guide, "I'm in for assertin'. When my husband +was alive there was a good many things I wanted to do, and when I wanted +to do a thing or get a thing I kept on sayin' so; and one day, after I'd +been keepin' on sayin' so a good while, he says to me, 'Jane,' says he, +'it seems to me that you're persistin'.' 'Yes,' says I, 'I am, and I +intend to be.' 'Then you are goin' to keep on insistin' on persistin'?' +says he. 'Yes,' says I; and then says he, 'If you keep on insistin' on +persistin' I'll be thinkin' of 'listin'.' By which he meant goin' into the +army as a regular, and gettin' rid of me; and as I didn't want to be rid +of him, I stopped persistin'; but now I wish I had persisted, for then +he'd 'listed, and most likely would be alive now, through not bein' shot +in the back by a city fool with a gun." + +"I do not believe," said Mrs. Archibald to her husband, when they had +retired to their cabin, "that that young woman is going to be much of a +companion for Margery. I think she will prefer your society to that of any +of the rest of us. It is very plain that she thinks it is your +individuality which has been asserted." + +"Well," said he, rubbing his spectacles with his handkerchief before +putting them away for the night, "don't let her project her individuality +into my sport. That's all I have to say." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A NET OF COBWEBS TO CAGE A LION + + +"I think there's something besides a lunatic that you are afraid of," said +Martin to Matlack the next morning, as they were preparing breakfast. + +"What's that?" inquired the guide, sharply. + +"It's that fellow they call the bishop," said Martin. "He put a pretty +heavy slur on you. You drove down a stake, and you locked your boat to it, +and you walked away as big as if you were the sheriff of the county, and +here he comes along, and snaps his fingers at you and your locks, and, as +cool as a cucumber, he pulls up the stake and shoves out on the lake, all +alone by herself, a young lady that you are paid to take care of and +protect from danger." + +"I want you to know, Martin Sanders," said Matlack, "that I don't pitch +into a man when he's in his bed, no matter what it is that made him take +to his bed or stay there. But I'll just say to you now, that when he gets +up and shows himself, there'll be the biggest case of bounce in these +parts that you ever saw." + +"Bounce!" said Martin to himself, as he turned away. "I have heard so much +of it lately that I'd like to see a little." + +Matlack also communed with himself. "He's awful anxious to get up a +quarrel between me and the parson," he thought. "I wonder if he was too +free with his tongue and did get thrashed. He don't show no signs of it, +except he's so concerned in his mind to see somebody do for the parson +what he ain't able to do himself. But I'll find out about it! I'll thrash +that fellow in black, and before I let him up I'll make him tell me what +he did to Martin. I'd do a good deal to get hold of something that would +take the conceit out of that fellow." + +Mr. Arthur Raybold was a deep-minded person, and sometimes it was +difficult for him, with the fathoming apparatus he had on hand, to +discover the very bottom of his mind. Now, far below the surface, his +thoughts revolved. He had come to the conclusion that he would marry +Margery. In the first place, he was greatly attracted by her, and again he +considered it would be a most advantageous union. She was charming to look +upon, and her mind was so uncramped by conventionalities that it could +adapt itself to almost any sphere to which she might direct it. He +expected his life-work to be upon the stage, and what an actress Miss +Dearborn would make if properly educated--as he could educate her! With +this most important purpose in view, why should he waste his time? The +Archibalds could not much longer remain in camp. They had limited their +holiday to a month, and that was more than half gone. He must strike now. + +The first thing to do was to get Clyde out of the way; then he would speak +to Mr. Archibald and ask for authority to press his suit, and he would +press that suit as few men on earth, he said to himself, would be able to +press it. What girl could deny herself to him when he came to her clad not +only with his own personal attributes, but with the fervor of a Romeo, the +intellectuality of a Hamlet, and the force of an Othello? + +The Clyde part of the affair seemed very simple; as his party would of +course have their own table Clyde would see his sister at every meal, and +as Corona did not care to talk to him, and must talk to somebody, she +would be compelled to talk to Clyde, and if she talked to Clyde and looked +at him as she always did when she talked to people, he did not see how he +could help being attracted by her, and when once that sort of thing began +the Margery-field would be open to him. + +He excused himself that morning for hurriedly leaving the breakfast-table +by saying that he wished to see Mr. Archibald before he started out +fishing. + +He found that gentleman talking to Matlack. "Can I see you alone, sir?" +said Raybold. "I have something of importance I wish to say to you." + +"Very good," said the other, "for I have something I wish to say to you," +and they retired towards the lake. + +"What is it?" inquired Mr. Archibald. + +"It is this," said Raybold, folding his arms as he spoke. "I am a man of +but few words. When I have formed a purpose I call upon my actions to +express it rather than my speech. I will not delay, therefore, to say to +you that I love your ward, and my sole object in seeking this interview is +to ask your permission to pay my addresses to her. That permission given, +I will attend to the rest." + +"After you have dropped your penny in the slot," remarked Mr. Archibald. +"I must say," he continued, "that I am rather surprised at the nature of +your communication. I supposed you were going to explain your somewhat +remarkable conduct in bringing your tent into my camp without asking my +permission or even speaking to me about it; but as what you have said is +of so much more importance than that breach of good manners I will let the +latter drop. But why did you ask my permission to address Miss Dearborn? +Why didn't you go and do it just as you brought your tent here? Did you +think that if you had a permit from me for that sort of sport you could +warn off trespassers?" + +"It was something of that kind," said Raybold, "although I should not have +put it in that trifling way." + +"Then I will remark," said Mr. Archibald, "that I know nothing of your +matrimonial availability, and I do not want to know anything about it. My +wife and I brought Miss Dearborn here to enjoy herself in the woods, not +to be sought in marriage by strangers. For the present I am her guardian, +and as such I say to you that I forbid you to make her a proposal of +marriage, or, indeed, to pay her any attentions which she may consider +serious. If I see that you do not respect my wishes in this regard, I +shall ask you to consider our acquaintance at an end, and shall dispense +with your visits to this camp. Have I spoken plainly?" + +The knitted brows of Raybold were directed towards the ground. "You have +spoken plainly," he said, "and I have heard," and with a bow he walked +away. + +As he approached his tent a smile, intended to be bitter, played about his +features. + +"A net of cobwebs," he muttered, "to cage a lion!" + +The weather had now grown sultry, the afternoon was very hot, and there +was a general desire to lie in the shade and doze. Margery's plans for a +siesta were a little more complicated than those of the others. She longed +to lie in a hammock under great trees, surrounded by the leafy screens of +the woodlands; to gaze at the blue sky through the loop-holes in the +towering branches above her, and to dream of the mysteries of the forest. + +"Martin," said she, to the young guide, "is there a hammock among the +things we brought with us?" + +His face brightened. "Of course there are hammocks," he said. "I wonder +none of you asked about them before." + +"I never thought of it," said Margery. "I haven't had time for lounging, +and as for Aunt Harriet, she would not get into one for five dollars." + +"Where shall I hang it?" he asked. + +"Not anywhere about here. Couldn't you find some nice place in the woods, +not far away, but where I would not be seen, and might have a little time +to myself? If you can, come and tell me quietly where it is." + +"I know what she means," said Martin to himself. "It's a shame that she +should be annoyed. I can find you just such a place," he said to Margery. +"I will hang the hammock there, and I will take care that nobody else +shall know where it is." And away he went, bounding heart and foot. + +In less than a quarter of an hour he returned. "It's all ready, Miss +Dearborn," he said. "I think I have found a place you will like. It's +generally very close in the woods on a day like this, but there is a +little bluff back of us, and at the end of it the woods are open, so that +there is a good deal of air there." + +"That is charming," said Margery, and with a book in her hand she +accompanied Martin. + +They were each so interested in the hammock business that they walked side +by side, instead of one following the other, as had been their custom +heretofore. + +"Oh, this is a delightful place!" cried Margery. "I can lie here and look +down into the very heart of the woods; it is a solitude like Robinson +Crusoe's island." + +"I am glad you like it," said Martin. "I thought you would. I have put up +the hammock strongly, so that you need not be afraid of it; but if there +is any other way you want it I can change it. There is not a thing here +that can hurt you, and if a little snake should happen along it would be +glad to get away from you if you give it a chance. But if you should be +frightened or should want anything you have only to call for me. I shall +hear you, for I shall be out in the open just at the edge of the woods." + +"Thank you very much," said Margery; "nothing could be nicer than this, +and you did it so quickly." + +He smiled with pleasure as he answered that he could have done it more +quickly if it had been necessary; and then he retired slowly, that she +might call him back if she thought of anything she wanted. + +Margery lay in the hammock, gazing out over the edge of the bluff into the +heart of the woods; her closed book was in her hand, and the gentle breeze +that shook the leaves around her and disturbed the loose curls about her +face was laden with a moist spiciness which made her believe it had been +wandering through some fragrant foliage of a kind unknown to her, far away +in the depths of the forest, where she could not walk on account of the +rocks, the great bushes, and the tall ferns. It was lovely to lie and +watch the leafy boughs, which seemed as if they were waving their +handkerchiefs to the breeze as it passed. + +"I don't believe," she said to herself, as she cast her eyes upward +towards an open space above her, "that if I were that little white cloud +and could float over the whole world and drop down on any spot I chose +that I could drop into a lovelier place than this." Then she brought her +gaze again to earth, and her mind went out between the shadowy trunks +which stretched away and away and away towards the mysteries of the +forest, which must always be mysteries to her because it was impossible +for her to get to them and solve them--that is, if she remained awake. But +if Master Morpheus should happen by, she might yet know everything--for +there are no mysteries which cannot be solved in dreams. + +Master Morpheus came, but with him came also Arthur Raybold; not by the +little pathway that approached from the direction of the lake, but parting +the bushes as if he had been exploring. When she heard footsteps behind +her, Margery looked up quickly. + +"Mr. Raybold!" she exclaimed. "How on earth did you happen here?" + +"I did not happen," said he, wiping his brow with his handkerchief. "I +have been looking for you, and I have had tough work of it. I saw you go +into the woods, and I went in also, although some distance below here, and +I have had a hard and tiresome job working my way up to you; but I have +found you. I knew I should, for I had bent my mind to the undertaking." + +"Well, I wish you hadn't," said Margery, in a vexed tone. "I came here to +be alone and take a nap, and I wish you would find some other nice place +and go and take a nap yourself." + +He smiled deeply. "That would not answer my purpose at all," said he. +"Napping is far from my desires." + +"But I don't care anything about your desires," said Margery, in a tone +which showed she was truly vexed, "I have pre-empted this place, and I +want it to myself. I was just falling into a most delightful doze when you +came, and I don't think you have any right to come here and disturb me." + +"The sense of right, Miss Dearborn," said he, "comes from the heart, and +we do not have to ask other people what it is. My heart has given me the +right to come here, and here I am." + +"And what in the name of common-sense are you here for?" said Margery. +"Speaking about your heart makes me think you came here to make love to +me. Is that it?" + +"It is," said he, "and I wish you to hear me." + +"Mr. Raybold," said she, her eyes as bright, he thought, as if they had +belonged to his sister when she was urging some of her favorite views upon +a company, "I won't listen to one word of such stuff. This is no place for +love-making, and I won't have it. If you want to make love to me you can +wait until I go home, and then you can come and speak to my mother about +it, and when you have spoken to her you can speak to me, but I won't +listen to it here. Not one word!" + +Thus did the indignant craftiness of Margery express itself. "It's a good +deal better," she thought, "than telling him no, and having him keep on +begging and begging." + +"Miss Dearborn," said Raybold, "what I have to say cannot be postponed. +The words within me must be spoken, and I came here to speak them." + +With a sudden supple twist Margery turned herself, hammock and all, and +stood on her feet on the ground. "Martin!" she cried, at the top of her +voice. + +Raybold stepped back astonished. "What is this?" he exclaimed. "Am I to +understand--" + +Before he had time to complete his sentence Martin Sanders sprang into the +scene. + +"What is it?" he exclaimed, with a glare at Raybold, as if he suspected +why he had been called. + +"Martin," said Margery, with a good deal of sharpness in her voice, "I +want you to take down this hammock and carry it away. I can't stay here +any longer. I thought that at least one quiet place out-of-doors could be +found where I would not be disturbed, but it seems there is no such place. +Perhaps you can hang the hammock somewhere near our cabin." + +Martin's face grew very red. "I think," said he, "that you ought not to be +obliged to go away because you have been disturbed. Whoever disturbed you +should go away, and not you." + +Now Mr. Raybold's face also grew red. "There has been enough of this!" he +exclaimed. "Guide, you can go where you came from. You are not wanted +here. If Miss Dearborn wishes her hammock taken down, I will do it." Then +turning to Margery, he continued: "You do not know what it is I have to +say to you. If you do not hear me now, you will regret it all your life. +Send this man away." + +"I would very much like to send a man away if I knew how to do it," said +Margery. + +"Do it?" cried Martin. "Oh, Miss Dearborn, if you want it done, ask me to +do it for you!" + +"You!" shouted Raybold, making two steps towards the young guide; then he +stopped, for Margery stood in front of him. + +"I have never seen two men fight," said she, "and I don't say I wouldn't +like it, just once; but you would have to have on boxing-gloves; I +couldn't stand a fight with plain hands, so you needn't think of it. +Martin, take down the hammock just as quickly as you can. And if you want +to stay here, Mr. Raybold, you can stay, but if you want to talk, you can +talk to the trees." + +Martin heaved a sigh of disappointment, and proceeded to unfasten the +hammock from the trees to which it had been tied. For a moment Raybold +looked as if he were about to interfere, but there was something in the +feverish agility of the young guide which made his close proximity as +undesirable as that of a package of dynamite. + +Margery turned to leave the place, but suddenly stopped. She would wait +until Martin was ready to go with her. She would not leave those two young +men alone. + +Raybold was very angry. He knew well that such a chance for a private +interview was not likely to occur again, and he would not give up. He +approached the young girl. + +"Margery," he said, "if you--" + +"Martin," she cried to the guide, who was now ready to go, "put down that +hammock and come here. Now, sir," she said, turning to Raybold, "let me +hear you call me Margery again!" + +She waited for about a half a minute, but she was not called by name. Then +she and Martin went away. She had nearly reached the cabin before she +spoke, and then she turned to the young man and said: "Martin, you needn't +trouble yourself about putting up that hammock now; I don't want to lie in +it. I'm going into the house. I am very much obliged to you for the way +you stood by me." + +"Stood by you!" he exclaimed, in a low voice, which seemed struggling in +the grasp of something which might or might not be stronger than itself. +"You don't know how glad I am to stand by you, and how I would always--" + +"Thank you," said Margery; "thank you very much," and she walked away +towards the cabin. + +"Oh, dear!" she sighed, as she opened the door and went in. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A MAN WHO FEELS HIMSELF A MAN + + +Towards the end of the afternoon, when the air had grown cooler, Mr. +Archibald proposed a boating expedition to the lower end of the lake. His +boat was large enough for Matlack, the three ladies, and himself, and if +the two young men wished to follow, they had a boat of their own. + +When first asked to join the boating party Miss Corona Raybold hesitated; +she did not care very much about boating; but when she found that if she +stayed in camp she would have no one to talk to, she accepted the +invitation. + +Mr. Archibald took the oars nearest the stern, while Matlack seated +himself forward, and this arrangement suited Miss Corona exactly. + +The boat kept down the middle of the lake, greatly aided by the current, +and Corona talked steadily to Mr. Archibald. Mrs. Archibald, who always +wanted to do what was right, and who did not like to be left out of any +conversation on important subjects, made now and then a remark, and +whenever she spoke Corona turned to her and listened with the kindest +attention, but the moment the elder lady had finished, the other resumed +her own thread of observation without the slightest allusion to what she +had just heard. + +As for Mr. Archibald, he seldom said a word. He listened, sometimes his +eyes twinkled, and he pulled easily and steadily. Doubtless he had a good +many ideas, but none of them was expressed. As for Margery, she leaned +back in the stern, and thought that, after all, she liked Miss Raybold +better than she did her brother, for the young lady did not speak one word +to her, nor did she appear to regard her in any way. + +"But how on earth," thought Margery, "she can float over this beautiful +water and under this lovely sky, with the grandeur of the forest all about +her, and yet pay not the slightest attention to anything she sees, but +keep steadily talking about her own affairs and the society she belongs +to, I cannot imagine. She might as well live in a cellar and have +pamphlets and reformers shoved down to her through the coal-hole." + +Messrs. Clyde and Raybold accompanied the larger boat in their own skiff. +It was an unwieldy craft, with but one pair of oars, and as the two young +men were not accustomed to rowing together, and as Mr. Raybold was not +accustomed to rowing at all and did not like it, Mr. Clyde pulled the +boat. But, do what he could, it was impossible for him to get near the +other boat. Matlack, who was not obliged to listen to Miss Corona, kept +his eye upon the following skiff, and seemed to fear a collision if the +two boats came close together, for if Clyde pulled hard he pulled harder. +Arthur Raybold was not satisfied. + +"I thought you were a better oarsman," he said to the other; "but now I +suppose we shall not come near them until we land." + +But the Archibald party did not land. Under the guidance of Matlack they +swept slowly around the lower end of the lake; they looked over the big +untenanted camp-ground there; they stopped for a moment to gaze into the +rift in the forest through which ran the stream which connected this lake +with another beyond it, and then they rowed homeward, keeping close to the +farther shore, so as to avoid the strength of the current. + +Clyde, who had not reached the end of the lake, now turned and determined +to follow the tactics of the other boat and keep close to the shore, but +on the side nearest to the camp. This exasperated Raybold. + +"What are you trying to do?" he said. "If you keep in the middle we may +get near them, and why should we be on one side of the lake and they on +the other?" + +"I want to get back as soon as they do," said Clyde, "and I don't want to +pull against the current." + +"Stop!" said Raybold. "If you are tired, let me have the oars." + +Harrison Clyde looked for a minute at his companion, and then deliberately +changed the course of the boat and rowed straight towards the shore, +paying no attention whatever to the excited remonstrances of Raybold. He +beached the boat at a rather poor landing-place among some bushes, and +then, jumping out, he made her fast. + +"What do you mean?" cried Raybold, as he scrambled on shore. "Is she +leaking more than she did? What is the matter?" + +"She is not leaking more than usual," said the other, "but I am not going +to pull against that current with you growling in the stern. I am going to +walk back to camp." + +In consequence of this resolution the two young men reached Camp Rob about +the same time that the Archibald boat touched shore, and at least an hour +before they would have arrived had they remained in their boat. + +The party was met by Mrs. Perkenpine, bearing letters and newspapers. A +man had arrived from Sadler's in their absence, and he had brought the +mail. Nearly every one had letters; there was even something for Martin. +Standing where they had landed, seated on bits of rock, on the grass, or +on camp-chairs, all read their letters. + +While thus engaged a gentleman approached the party from the direction of +Camp Roy. He was tall, well built, handsomely dressed in a suit of +light-brown tweed, and carried himself with a buoyant uprightness. A neat +straw hat with a broad ribbon shaded his smooth-shaven face, which +sparkled with cordial good-humor. A blue cravat was tied tastefully under +a broad white collar, and in his hand he carried a hickory walking-stick, +cut in the woods, but good enough for a city sidewalk. Margery was the +first to raise her eyes at the sound of the quickly approaching +footsteps. + +"Goodness gracious!" she exclaimed, and then everybody looked up. + +For a moment the new-comer was gazed upon in silence. From what gigantic +bandbox could this well-dressed stranger have dropped? Then, with a loud +laugh, Mr. Archibald cried, "The bishop!" + +No wonder there had not been instant recognition. The loose, easy-fitting +clothes gave no hint of redundant plumpness; no soiled shovel-hat cast a +shadow over the smiling face, and a glittering shirt front banished all +thought of gutta-percha. + +"Madam," exclaimed the bishop, raising his hat and stepping quickly +towards Mrs. Archibald, "I cannot express the pleasure I feel in meeting +you again. And as for you, sir," holding out his hand to Mr. Archibald, "I +have no words in which to convey my feelings. Look upon a man, sir, who +feels himself a man, and then remember from what you raised him. I can say +no more now, but I can never forget what you have done," and as he spoke +he pressed Mr. Archibald's hand with an honest fervor, which distorted for +a moment the features of that gentleman. + +From one to the other of the party the bishop glanced, as he said, "How +glad, how unutterably glad, I am to be again among you!" Turning his eyes +towards Miss Raybold, he stopped. That young lady had put down the letter +she was reading, and was gazing at him through her spectacles with calm +intensity. "This lady," said the bishop, turning towards Raybold, "is your +sister, I presume? May I have the honor?" + +Raybold looked at him without speaking. Here was an example of the silly +absurdity of throwing pearls before swine. He had never wanted to have +anything to do with the fellow when he was in the gutter, and he wanted +nothing to do with him now. + +With a little flush on her face Mrs. Archibald rose. + +"Miss Raybold," she said, "let me present to you"--and she hesitated for a +moment--"the gentleman we call the bishop. I think you have heard us speak +of him." + +"Yes," said Miss Raybold, rising, with a charming smile on her handsome +face, and extending her hand, "I have heard of him, and I am very glad to +meet him." + +"I have also heard of you," said the bishop, as he stood smiling beside +Corona's camp-chair, "and I have regretted that I have been the innocent +means of preventing you for a time from occupying your brother's camp." + +"Oh, do not mention that," said Corona, sweetly. "I walked over there +yesterday, and I think it is a great deal pleasanter here, so you have +really done me a favor. I am particularly glad to see you, because, from +the little I have heard said about you, I think you must agree with some +of my cherished opinions. For one thing, I am quite certain you favor the +assertion of individuality; your actions prove that." + +"Really," said the bishop, seating himself near her, "I have not given +much thought to the subject; but I suppose I have asserted my +individuality. If I have, however, I have done it indefinitely. Everybody +about me having some definite purpose in life, and I having none, I am, in +a negative way, a distinctive individual. It is a pity I am so different +from other people, but--" + +"No, it is not a pity," interrupted Corona, the color coming into her +cheeks and a brighter light into her eyes. "Our individuality is a sacred +responsibility. It is given to us for us to protect and encourage--I may +say, to revere. It is a trust for which we should be called to account by +ourselves, and we shall be false and disloyal to ourselves if we cannot +show that we have done everything in our power for the establishment and +recognition of our individuality." + +"It delights me to hear you speak in that way," exclaimed the bishop. "It +encourages and cheers me. We are what we are; and if we can be more fully +what we are than we have been, then we are more truly ourselves than +before." + +"And what can be nobler," cried Corona, "than to be, in the most +distinctive sense of the term, ourselves?" + +Mr. and Mrs. Archibald walked together towards their cabin. + +"I want to be neighborly and hospitable," said he, "but it seems to me +that, now that the way is clear for Miss Raybold to move her tent to her +own camp and set up house-keeping there, we should not be called upon to +entertain her, and, if we want to enjoy ourselves in our own way, we can +do it without thinking of her." + +"We shall certainly not do it," said his wife, "if we do think of her. I +am very much disappointed in her. She is not a companion at all for +Margery; she never speaks to her; and, on the other hand, I should think +you would wish she would never speak to you." + +"Well," said her husband, "that feeling did grow upon me somewhat this +afternoon. Up to a certain point she is amusing." + +Here he was interrupted by Mrs. Perkenpine, who planted herself before +him. + +"I s'pose you think I didn't do right," she said, "'cause, when that big +bundle came it had your name on it; but I knew it was clothes, and that +they was for that man in our camp, and so I took them to him myself. I +heard Phil say that the sooner that man was up and dressed, the better it +would be for all parties; and as Martin had gone off, and there wasn't +nobody to take his clothes to him, I took them to him, and that's the long +and short of it." + +"I wondered how he got them," said Mr. Archibald, "but I am glad you +carried them to him." Then, speaking to his wife, he added, "It may be a +good thing that I gave him a chance to assert his individuality." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +MRS. PERKENPINE ASSERTS HER INDIVIDUALITY + + +About half an hour after the beginning of the conversation between the +bishop and Miss Corona, Mrs. Perkenpine came to the latter and informed +her that supper was ready, and three times after that first announcement +did she repeat the information. At last the bishop rose and said he would +not keep Miss Raybold from her meal. + +"Will you not join us?" she asked. "I shall be glad to have you do so." + +The bishop hesitated for a moment, and then he accompanied Corona. + +As Mrs. Perkenpine turned from the camp cooking-stove, a long-handled pan, +well filled with slices of hot meat, in her hand, she stood for a moment +amazed. Slowly approaching the little table outside of the tent were the +bishop and Miss Raybold, and glancing beyond them towards the lake, she +saw Clyde and Raybold, to whom she had yelled that supper was ready, the +one with his arms folded, gazing out over the water, and the other +strolling backward and forward, as if he had thought of going to his +supper, but had not quite made up his mind to it. + +Mrs. Perkenpine's face grew red. "They are waitin' for a chance to speak +to that Archibald gal," she thought. "Well, let them wait. And she's +bringing him! She needn't s'pose I don't know him. I've seen him splittin' +wood at Sadler's, and I don't cook for sech." So saying, she strode to +some bushes a little back of the stove, and dashed the panful of meat +behind them. Then she returned, and seizing the steaming coffee-pot, she +poured its contents on the ground. Then she took up a smaller pan, +containing some fried potatoes, hot and savory, and these she threw after +the meat. + +The bishop and Corona now reached the table and seated themselves. Mrs. +Perkenpine, her face as hard and immovable as the trunk of an oak, +approached, and placed before them some slices of cold bread, some butter, +and two glasses of water. + +Still earnestly talking, her eyes sometimes dimmed with tears of +excitement as she descanted upon her favorite theories, Corona began to +eat what was before her. She buttered a slice of bread, and if the bishop +chanced to say anything she ate some of it. She drank some water, and she +talked and talked and talked. She did not know what she was eating. It +might have been a Lord Mayor's dinner or a beggar's crust; her mind took +no cognizance of such an unimportant matter. As for her companion, he knew +very well what he was eating, and as he gazed about him, and saw that +there were no signs of anything more, his heart sank lower and lower; but +he ate slice after slice of bread, for he was hungry, and he hoped that +when the two young men came to the table they would call for more +substantial food. + +But long before they arrived Corona finished her meal and rose. + +"Now that we have had our supper," she said, "let us go where we shall not +be annoyed by the smell of food, and continue our conversation." + +"Is it possible," thought the bishop, "that she can be annoyed by the +smell of hot meat, potatoes, and coffee? I suppose the delicious odor +comes from the other supper-table. Heavens! Why wasn't I asked there?" + +There was a dreadful storm when Raybold and Clyde came to the table; but +Mrs. Perkenpine remained hard and immovable through it all. + +"Your sister and that tramp has been here," said she, "and this is all +there is left. If you keep your hogs in your house, you can't expect to +count on your victuals." + +Some more coffee was made, and that, with bread, composed the young men's +supper. + +When Arthur Raybold had finished his meal, he walked to the spot where +Corona and the bishop were conversing, and stood there silently. He was +afraid to interrupt his sister by speaking to her, but he thought that his +presence might have an effect upon her companion. It did have an effect, +for the bishop seized the opportunity created by the arrival of a third +party, excused himself, and departed at the first break in Corona's flow +of words. + +"I wish, Arthur," she said, "that when you see I am engaged in a +conversation, you would wait at least a reasonable time before +interrupting it." + +"A reasonable time!" said Raybold, with a laugh. "I like that! But I came +here to interrupt your conversation. Do you know who that fellow is you +were talking to? He's a common, good-for-nothing tramp. He goes round +splitting wood for his meals. Clyde and I kept him here to cook our meals +because we had no servant, and he's been in bed for days because he had no +clothes to wear. Now you are treating him as if he were a gentleman, and +you actually brought him to our table, where, like the half-starved cur +that he is, he has eaten up everything fit to eat that we were to have for +our supper." + +"He did not eat all of it," said Corona, "for I ate some myself; and if he +is the good-for-nothing tramp and the other things you call him, I wish I +could meet with more such tramps. I tell you, Arthur, that if you were to +spend the next five years in reading and studying, you could not get into +your mind one-tenth of the serious information, the power to reason +intelligently upon your perceptions, the ability to collate, compare, and +refer to their individual causes the impressions--" + +"Oh, bosh!" said her brother. "What I want to know is, are you going to +make friends with that man and invite him to our table?" + +"I shall invite him if I see fit," said she. "He is an extremely +intelligent person." + +"Well," answered he, "if you do I shall have a separate table," and he +walked away. + +As soon as he had left Corona, the bishop repaired to the Archibalds' +cooking-tent, where he saw Matlack at work. + +"I have come," he said, with a pleasant smile, "to ask a very great favor. +Would it be convenient for you to give me something to eat? Anything in +the way of meat, hot or cold, and some tea or coffee, as I see there is a +pot still steaming on your stove. I have had an unlucky experience. You +know I have been preparing my own meals at the other camp, but to-day, +when Mrs. Perkenpine brought me my clothes, she carried away with her all +the provisions that had been left there. I supped, it is true, with Miss +Raybold, but her appetite is so delicate and her fare so extremely simple +that I confidentially acknowledge that I am half starved." + +During these remarks Matlack had stood quietly gazing at the bishop. "Do +you see that pile of logs and branches there?" said he; "that's the +firewood that's got to be cut for to-morrow, which is Sunday, when we +don't want to be cuttin' wood; and if you'll go to work and cut it into +pieces to fit this stove, I'll give you your supper. You can go to the +other camp and sleep where you have been sleepin', if you want to, and in +the mornin' I'll give you your breakfast. I 'ain't got no right to give +you Mr. Archibald's victuals, but what you eat I'll pay for out of my own +pocket, considerin' that you'll do my work. Then to-morrow I'll give you +just one hour after you've finished your breakfast to get out of this camp +altogether, entirely out of my sight. I tried to have you sent away +before, but other people took you up, and so I said no more; but now +things are different. When a man pulls up what I've drove down, and sets +loose what I've locked up, and the same as snaps his fingers in my face +when I'm attendin' to my business, then I don't let that man stay in my +camp." + +"Excuse me," said the bishop, "but in case I should not go away within the +time specified, what would be your course?" + +In a few brief remarks, inelegant but expressive, the guide outlined his +intentions of taking measures which would utterly eliminate the physical +energy of the other. + +"I haven't taken no advantage of you," he said, "I haven't come down on +you when you hadn't no clothes to go away in; and now that you've got good +clothes, I don't want to spile them if I can help it; but they're not +goin' to save you--mind my words. What I've said I'll stick to." + +"Mr. Matlack," said the bishop, "I consider that you are entirely correct +in all your positions. As to that unfortunate affair of the boat, I had +intended coming to you and apologizing most sincerely for my share in it. +It was an act of great foolishness, but that does not in the least excuse +me. I apologize now, and beg that you will believe that I truly regret +having interfered with your arrangements." + +"That won't do!" exclaimed the guide. "When a man as much as snaps his +fingers in my face, it's no use for him to come and apologize. That's not +what I want." + +"Nevertheless," said the bishop, "you will pardon me if I insist upon +expressing my regrets. I do that for my own sake as well as yours; but we +will drop that subject. When you ask me to cut wood to pay for my meals, +you are entirely right, and I honor your sound opinion upon this subject. +I will cut the wood and earn my meals, but there is one amendment to your +plan which I would like to propose. To-morrow is Sunday; for that reason +we should endeavor to make the day as quiet and peaceable as possible, and +we should avoid everything which may be difficult of explanation or +calculated to bring about an unpleasant difference of opinion among other +members of the party. Therefore, will you postpone the time at which you +will definitely urge my departure until Monday morning?" + +"Well," said Matlack, "now I come to think of it, it might be well not to +kick up a row on Sunday, and I will put it off until Monday morning; but +mind, there's no nonsense about me. What I say I mean, and on Monday +morning you march of your own accord, or I'll attend to the matter +myself." + +"Very good," said the bishop; "thank you very much. To-morrow I will +consider your invitation to leave this place, and if you will come to Camp +Roy about half-past six on Monday morning I will then give you my +decision. Will that hour suit you?" + +"All right," said Matlack, "you might as well make it a business matter. +It's going to be business on my side, I'd have you know." + +"Good--very good," said the bishop, "and now let me get at that wood." + +So saying, he put down his cane, took off his hat, his coat, his +waistcoat, his collar, and his cravat and his cuffs; he rolled up his +sleeves, he turned up the bottoms of his trousers, and then taking an axe, +he set to work. + +In a few minutes Martin arrived on the scene. "What's up now?" said he. + +"He's cuttin' wood for his meals," replied Matlack. + +"I thought you were going to bounce him as soon as he got up?" + +"That's put off until Monday morning," said Matlack. "Then he marches. +I've settled that." + +"Did he agree?" asked Martin. + +"'Tain't necessary for him to agree; he'll find that out Monday morning." + +Martin stood and looked at the bishop as he worked. + +"I wish you would get him to cut wood every day," said he. "By George, how +he makes that axe fly!" + +When the bishop finished his work he drove his axe-head deep into a stump, +washed his hands and his face, resumed the clothing he had laid aside, and +then sat down to supper. There was nothing stingy about Matlack, and the +wood-chopper made a meal which amply compensated him for the deficiencies +of the Perkenpine repast. + +When he had finished he hurried to the spot where the party was in the +habit of assembling around the camp-fire. He found there some feebly +burning logs, and Mr. Clyde, who sat alone, smoking his pipe. + +"What is the matter?" asked the bishop. "Where are all our friends?" + +[Illustration: "'WHERE ARE ALL OUR FRIENDS?'"] + +"I suppose they are all in bed," said Clyde, "with the bedclothes pulled +over their heads--that is, except one, and I suspect she is talking in her +sleep. They were all here as usual, and Mr. Archibald thought he would +break the spell by telling a fishing story. He told me he was going to try +to speak against time; but it wasn't of any use. She just slid into the +middle of his remarks as a duck slides into the water, and then she began +an oration. I really believe she did not know that any one else was +talking." + +"That may have been the case," said the bishop; "she has a wonderful power +of self-concentration." + +"Very true," said Clyde, "and this time she concentrated herself so much +upon herself that the rest of us got away, one by one, and when all the +others had gone she went. Then, when I found she really had gone, I came +back. By-the-way, bishop," he continued, "there is something I would like +to do, and I want you to help me." + +"Name it," said the other. + +"I am getting tired of the way the Raybolds are trespassing on the +good-nature of the Archibalds, and, whatever they do, I don't intend to +let them make me trespass any longer. I haven't anything to do with Miss +Raybold, but the other tent belongs as much to me as it does to her +brother, and I am going to take it back to our own camp. And what is more, +I am going to have my meals there. I don't want that wooden-headed Mrs. +Perkenpine to cook for me." + +"How would you like me to do it?" asked the bishop, quickly. + +"That would be fine," said Clyde. "I will help, and we will set up +house-keeping there again, and if Raybold doesn't choose to come and live +in his own camp he can go wherever he pleases. I am not going to have him +manage things for me. Don't you think that you and I can carry that tent +over?" + +"With ease!" exclaimed the bishop. "When do you want to move--Monday +morning?" + +"Yes," said Clyde, "after breakfast." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE HERMITS ASSOCIATE + + +During the next day no one in camp had reason to complain of Corona +Raybold. She did not seem inclined to talk to anybody, but spent the most +of her time alone. She wrote a little and reflected a great deal, +sometimes walking, sometimes seated in the shade, gazing far beyond the +sky. + +When the evening fire was lighted, her mood changed so that one might have +supposed that another fire had been lighted somewhere in the interior of +her mental organism. Her fine eyes glistened, her cheeks gently reddened, +and her whole body became animated with an energy created by warm +emotions. + +"I have something I wish to say to you all," she exclaimed, as she reached +the fire. "Where is Arthur? Will somebody please call him? And I would +like to see both the guides. It is something very important that I have to +say. Mrs. Perkenpine will be here in a moment; I asked her to come. If Mr. +Matlack is not quite ready, can he not postpone what he is doing? I am +sure you will all be interested in what I have to say, and I do not want +to begin until every one is here." + +Mr. Archibald saw that she was very much in earnest, and so he sent for +the guides, and Clyde went to call Raybold. + +In a few minutes Clyde returned and told Corona that her brother had said +he did not care to attend services that evening. + +"Where is he?" asked Miss Raybold. + +"He is sitting over there looking out upon the lake," replied Clyde. + +"I will be back almost immediately," said she to Mr. Archibald, "and in +the mean time please let everybody assemble." + +Arthur Raybold was in no mood to attend services of any sort. He had spent +nearly the whole day trying to get a chance to speak to Margery, but never +could he find her alone. + +"If I can once put the matter plainly to her," he said to himself, "she +will quickly perceive what it is that I offer her; and when she clearly +sees that, I will undertake to make her accept it. She is only a woman, +and can no more withstand me than a mound of sand built by a baby's hand +could withstand the rolling wave." + +At this moment Corona arrived and told him that she wanted him at the +camp-fire. He was only a man, and could no more withstand her than a mound +of sand built by a baby's hand could withstand the rolling wave. + +When everybody in the camp had gathered around the fire, Corona, her +eye-glasses illumined by the light of her soul, gazed around the circle +and began to speak. + +"My dear friends," she said, "I have been thinking a great deal to-day +upon a very important subject, and I have come to the conclusion that we +who form this little company have before us one of the grandest +opportunities ever afforded a group of human beings. We are here, apart +from our ordinary circumstances and avocations, free from all the trammels +and demands of society, alone with nature and ourselves. In our ordinary +lives, surrounded by our ordinary circumstances, we cannot be truly +ourselves; each of us is but part of a whole, and very often an entirely +unharmonious part. It is very seldom that we are able to do the things we +wish to do in the manner and at times and places when it would best suit +our natures. Try as we may to be true to ourselves, it is seldom possible; +we are swept away in a current of conventionality. It may be one kind of +conventionality for some of us and another kind for others, but we are +borne on by it all the same. Sometimes a person like myself or Mr. +Archibald clings to some rock or point upon the bank, and for a little +while is free from the coercion of circumstances, but this cannot be for +long, and we are soon swept with the rest into the ocean of conglomerate +commonplace." + +"That's when we die!" remarked Mrs. Perkenpine, who sat reverently +listening. + +"No," said the speaker, "it happens while we are alive. But now," she +continued, "we have a chance, as I said before, to shake ourselves free +from our enthralment. For a little while each one of us may assert his or +her individuality. We are a varied and representative party; we come from +different walks of life; we are men, women, and--" looking at Margery, she +was about to say children, but she changed her expression to "young +people." "I think you will all understand what I mean. When we are at our +homes we do things because other people want us to do them, and not +because we want to do them. A family sits down to a meal, and some of them +like what is on the table, some do not; some of them would have preferred +to eat an hour before, some of them would prefer to eat an hour later; but +they all take their meals at the same time and eat the same things because +it is the custom to do so. + +"I mention a meal simply as an instance, but the slavery of custom extends +into every branch of our lives. We get up, we go to bed, we read, we work, +we play, just as other people do these things, and not as we ourselves +would do them if we planned our own lives. Now we have a chance, all of +us, to be ourselves! Each of us may say, 'I am myself, one!' Think of +that, my friends, each one! Each of us a unit, responsible only to his or +her unity, if I may so express it." + +"Do you mean that I am that?" inquired Mrs. Perkenpine. + +"Oh yes," replied Corona. + +"Is Phil Matlack one?" + +"Yes." + +"All right," said the female guide; "if he is one, I don't mind." + +"Now what I propose is this," said Corona: "I understand that the stay in +this camp will continue for about a week longer, and I earnestly urge upon +you that for this time we shall each one of us assert our individuality. +Let us be what we are, show ourselves what we are, and let each other see +what we are." + +"It would not be safe nor pleasant to allow everybody to do that," said +Mr. Archibald. He was more interested in Miss Raybold's present discourse +than he had been in any other he had heard her deliver. + +"Of course," said she, "it would not do to propose such a thing to the +criminal classes or to people of evil inclinations, but I have carefully +considered the whole subject as it relates to us, and I think we are a +party singularly well calculated to become the exponent of the +distinctiveness of our several existences." + +"That gits me," said Matlack. + +"I am afraid," said the speaker, gazing kindly at him, "that I do not +always express myself plainly to the general comprehension, but what I +mean is this: that during the time we stay here, let each one of us do +exactly what he or she wants to do, without considering other people at +all, except, of course, that we must not do anything which would interfere +with any of the others doing what they please. For instance--and I assure +you I have thought over this matter in all its details--if any of us were +inclined to swear or behave disorderly, which I am sure could not be the +case, he or she would not do so because he or she would feel that, being +responsible to himself or herself, that responsibility would prevent him +or her from doing that which would interfere with the pleasure or comfort +of his or her associates." + +"I think," said Mrs. Archibald, somewhat severely, "that our duty to our +fellow-beings is far more important than our selfish consideration of +ourselves." + +"But reflect," cried Corona, "how much consideration we give to our +fellow-beings, and how little to ourselves as ourselves, each one. Can we +not, for the sake of knowing ourselves and honoring ourselves, give +ourselves to ourselves for a little while? The rest of our lives may then +be given to others and the world." + +"I hardly believe," said Mr. Archibald, "that all of us clearly understand +your meaning, but it seems to me that you would like each one of us to +become, for a time, a hermit. I do not know of any other class of persons +who so thoroughly assert their individuality." + +"You are right!" exclaimed Corona. "A hermit does it. A hermit is more +truly himself than any other man. He may dwell in a cave and eat +water-cresses, he may live on top of a tall pillar, or he may make his +habitation in a barrel! If a hermit should so choose, he might furnish a +cave with Eastern rugs and bric-a-brac. If he liked that sort of thing, he +would be himself. Yes, I would have all of us, in the truest sense of the +word, hermits, each a hermit; but we need not dwell apart. Some of us +would certainly wish to assert our individuality by not dwelling apart +from others." + +"We might, then," said Mr. Archibald, "become a company of associate +hermits." + +"Exactly!" cried Corona, stretching out her hands. "That is the very +word--associate hermits. My dear friends, from to-morrow morning, until we +leave here, let us be associate hermits. Let us live for ourselves, be +true to ourselves. After all, if we think of it seriously, ourselves are +all that we have in this world. Everything else may be taken from us, but +no one can take from me, myself, or from any one of you, yourself." + +The bishop now rose. He as well as the others had listened attentively to +everything that had been said; even Arthur Raybold had shown a great deal +of interest in his sister's remarks. + +"You mean," said the bishop, "that while we stay here each one of us shall +act exactly as we think we ought to act if we were not influenced by the +opinions and examples of others around us, and thus we shall have an +opportunity to find out for ourselves and show others exactly what we +are." + +"That is it," said Corona, "you have stated it very well." + +"Well, then," said the bishop, "I move that for the time stated we +individually assert our individuality." + +"Second the motion," said Mr. Archibald. + +"All in favor of this motion please say 'Aye,'" said Corona. "Now let +everybody vote, and I hope you will all say 'Aye,' and if any one does not +understand, I will be happy to explain." + +"I want to know," said Phil Matlack, rising, "if one man asserts what you +call his individ'ality in such a way that it runs up agin another man's, +and that second man ain't inclined to stand it, if that--" + +"Oh, I assure you," interrupted the bishop, "that that will be all right. +I understand you perfectly, and the individualities will all run along +together without interfering with each other, and if one happens to get in +the way of another it will be gently moved aside." + +"Gently!" said Matlack, somewhat satirically. "Well, all right, it will be +moved aside. I am satisfied, if the rest are." + +"Now all in favor say 'Aye,'" said Corona. + +They all said "Aye," except Mrs. Perkenpine, who said "Me." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MARGERY'S BREAKFAST + + +Very early the next morning Margery pushed wide open the window of her +studio chamber. The sash was a large one, and opened outward on hinges. +She looked out upon the dewy foliage, she inhaled the fragrance of the +moist morning air, she listened to the song of some early birds, and then, +being dressed for the day, she got on a chair, stepped on the window-sill, +and jumped out. She walked quietly round the cabin and went out towards +the lake. She had never seen the woods so early in the day. All the space +between the earth and the sky seemed filled with an intoxicating coolness. +She took off her hat and carried it in her hand; the sun was not yet high +enough to make it necessary to put anything between him and her. + +"This is what I am," said Margery to herself as she stepped blithely on. +"I never knew before what I am. I am really a dryad under difficulties." + +Presently, to her amazement and his amazement, she saw Martin. She went +towards him. + +"Oh, Martin," she said, "are you up so early?" + +He smiled. "This is not early for me," he answered. + +"And Mr. Matlack, is he up?" + +"Oh yes, he is up, and gone off to attend to some business." + +"Well, really!" exclaimed Margery. "I thought I was the first one out in +the world to-day. And now, Martin, don't you want to do something for me? +I did not think it would happen, but I am really dreadfully hungry, and +couldn't you give me my breakfast now, by myself, before anybody else? I +am not particular what I have--anything that is easy to get ready will +do--and I would like it down at the very edge of the lake." + +"You shall have it!" exclaimed Martin, eagerly. "I will get it ready for +you very soon, and will bring it to you. I know you like bread and butter +and jam, and there is some cold meat, and I will boil you an egg and make +some coffee." + +"That will be lovely," said Margery, "and I will go down by the lake and +wait. I do believe," she said to herself as she hurried away, "that this +hermit business is the only sensible thing that ever came into the head of +that classic statue with the glass fronts." + +Very soon Martin appeared with a rug, which he said she would want if she +were going to sit on the ground; and then he ran away, but soon came back +with the breakfast. Margery was surprised to see how tastefully it was +served. + +"You could not have done it better," she said, "if you had been a"--she +was about to say waiter, but as she gazed at the bright, handsome face of +the young man she felt that it would hurt his feelings to use such a word, +so she suddenly changed it to woman. + +"If it is done well," he said, "it is not because I am like a woman, but +because you are one." + +"What does that mean?" thought Margery; but she did not stop to consider. +"Thank you very much," she said. "Here is where I am going to eat, and +nobody will disturb me." + +"Do you wish anything else?" he asked. + +"No," said she. "I have everything I want; you know I take only one cup of +coffee." + +He did know it; he knew everything she took, and as he felt that there was +no excuse for him to stay there any longer, he slowly walked away. + +The place Margery had chosen was a nice little nook for a nice little +hermit. It was a bit of low beach, very narrow, and flanked on the shore +side by a row of bushes, which soon turned and grew down to the water's +edge, thus completely cutting off one end of the beach. At the other end +the distance between the shrubbery and the water was but a few feet, so +that Margery could eat her breakfast without being disturbed by the rest +of the world. + +Reclining on the rug with the little tray on the ground before her, and +some green leaves and a few pale wild flowers peeping over the edge of it +to see what she had for breakfast, Margery gave herself up to the +enjoyment of life. + +"Each, one," she said aloud; "I am one, and beautiful nature is another. +Just two of us, and each, one. Go away, sir," she said to a big buzzing +creature with transparent wings, "you are another, but you don't count." + +Arthur Raybold was perhaps the member of the party who was the best +satisfied to be himself. He had vowed, as he left the camp-fire the night +before, that his sister had at last evolved an idea which had some value. +Be himself? He should think so! He firmly believed that he was the only +person in the camp capable of truly acting his own part in life. + +Clyde had told him that on this morning he was going to move the tent over +to their own camp, and though he had objected very forcibly, he found that +Clyde was not to be moved, and that the tent would be. In an angry mood he +had been the first one of the Associated Hermits to assert his +individuality. He made up his mind that he would not leave the immediate +atmosphere of Margery. He would revolve about her in his waking hours and +in his dreams, and in the latter case he would revolve in a hammock hung +between two trees not far from his sister's tent; and as he was not one +who delayed the execution of his plans, he had put up the hammock that +night, although his tent was still in Camp Rob. He had not slept very +well, because he was not used to repose in a hammock; and he had risen +early, for, though wrapped in a blanket, he had found himself a little +chilly. + +Starting out for a brisk walk to warm himself, he had not gone far before +he thought he heard something which sounded like the clicking of knife and +fork and dish. He stopped, listened, and then approached the source of the +sounds, and soon stood at the open end of Margery's little beach. For a +few moments she did not know he was there, so engrossed was her mind with +the far-away shadows on the lake, and with the piece of bread and jam she +held in her hand. + +"Oh, happy Fates!" he exclaimed. "How have ye befriended me! Could I have +believed such rare fortune was in store for me?" + +At the sound of his voice Margery turned her head and started, and in the +same instant she was on her feet. + +"Margery," he said, without approaching her, but extending his arms so +that one hand touched the bushes and the other reached over the water, "I +have you a gentle prisoner. I consider this the most fortunate hour of my +whole existence. All I ask of you is to listen to me for ten minutes, and +then I will cease to stand guard at the entrance to your little haven, and +although you will be free to go where you please, I know you will not go +away from me." + +Margery's face was on fire. She was so angry she could scarcely speak, but +she managed to bring some words to her lips to express her condition of +mind. + +"Mr. Raybold," she cried, "if I ever hear any more of that horrid trash +from you I will speak to Mr. Archibald, and have him drive you out of this +camp. I haven't spoken to him before because I thought it would make +trouble and interfere with people who have not done anything but what is +perfectly right, but this is the last time I am going to let you off, and +I would like you to remember that. Now go away this instant, or else step +aside and let me pass." + +Raybold did not change his position, but with a smile of indulgent +condescension he remarked: + +"Now, then, you are angry; but I don't mind that, and I am quite sure you +do not mean it. You see, you have never heard all that I have to say to +you. When I have fully spoken to you, then I have no fear--" + +He had not finished his sentence, when Margery dashed into the water, +utterly regardless of her clothes, and before the astonished intruder +could advance towards her she had rushed past him, and had run up on dry +land a yard or two behind him. The water on the shelving beach was not +more than a foot deep, but her mad bounds made a splashing and a +spattering of spray as if a live shark bad been dropped into the shallow +water. In a moment she had left the beach and was face to face with +Martin, pale with fright. + +"I thought you had tumbled in!" he cried. "What on earth is the matter?" + +She had no breath to answer, but she turned her head towards the lake, and +as Martin looked that way he saw Raybold advancing from behind the bushes. +It required no appreciable time for the young guide to understand the +situation. His whole form quivered, his hands involuntarily clinched, his +brows knitted, and he made one quick step forward; but only one, for +Margery seized him by the wrist. Without knowing what he was doing, he +struggled to free himself from her, but she was strong and held him fast. + +"I must go to my tent," she gasped. "I am all wet. Now promise me that you +will not say a thing or do a thing until I see you again. Promise!" + +For a moment he seemed undecided, and then he ceased his efforts to get +away, and said, "I promise." + +Margery dropped his arm and hurried towards the cabin, hoping earnestly +that the Archibalds were not yet up. + +"This is a gay and lively beginning for a hermit," she thought, as she +made her way around the house, "and I don't see how on earth I am ever +going to get through that window again. There is nothing to stand on. I +did not expect to go back until they were all up." + +But when she reached the window there was a stout wooden stool placed +below it. + +"Martin did that," she thought, "while I was at my breakfast. He knew I +must have come through the window, and might want to go back that way. Oh +dear!" she sighed. "But I am sure I can't help it." And so, mounting from +the stool to the window-sill, she entered her room. + +Having given his promise, Martin turned his back upon the sombre young +man, who, with folded arms and clouded brow, was stalking towards the +tents at the other end of the camp. + +"If I look at him," said Martin, "it may be that I could not keep my +promise." + +It was about half an hour afterwards, when Martin, still excited and still +pale, was getting ready for the general breakfast, forgetting entirely +that he was a hermit, and that some of the other hermits might have +peculiar ideas about their morning meal, that Phil Matlack arrived on the +scene. Martin was very much engrossed in his own thoughts, but he could +not repress an inquiring interest in his companion. + +"Well," said he, "did you bounce him?" + +Matlack made no answer, but began to cut out the top of a tin can. + +"I say," repeated Martin, "did you bounce him, or did he go without it?" + +Without turning towards the younger man, Matlack remarked: "I was +mistaken. That ain't fat; it's muscle." + +"You don't mean to say," exclaimed Martin, in astonishment, "that he +bounced you out of that camp!" + +"I don't mean to say nothin'," was the reply, "except what I do say; and +what I say is that that ain't fat; it's muscle. When I make a mistake I +don't mind standin' up and sayin' so." + +Martin could not understand the situation. He knew Matlack to be a man of +great courage and strength, and one who, if he should engage in a personal +conflict, would not give up until he had done his very best. But the +guide's appearance gave no signs of any struggle. His clothes were in +their usual order, and his countenance was quiet and composed. + +"Look here," cried Martin, "how did you find out all that about the +bishop?" + +Matlack turned on him with a grim smile. "Didn't you tell me that day you +was talkin' to me about the boat that he was a tough sort of a fellow?" + +"Yes, I did," said the other. + +"Well," said Matlack, "how did you find that out?" + +Martin laughed. "I shouldn't wonder," he said, "if we were about square. +Well, if you will tell me how you found it out, I will tell you how I +did." + +"Go ahead," said the other. + +"The long and short of my business with him," said Martin, "was this: I +went with him down to the lake, and there I gave him a piece of my mind; +and when I had finished, he turned on me and grabbed me with his two hands +and chucked me out into the water, just as if I had been a bag of bad meal +that he wanted to get rid of. When I got out I was going to fight him, but +he advised me not to, and when I took a look at him and remembered the +feel of the swing he gave me, I took his advice. Now what did he do to +you?" + +"He didn't do nothin'," said Matlack. "When I got to the little tent he +sleeps in, there he was sittin' in front of it, as smilin' as a basket of +chips, and he bade me good-mornin' as if I had been a tenant comin' to pay +him his rent; and then he said that before we went on with the business +between us, there was some things he would like to show me, and he had 'em +all ready. So he steps off to a place a little behind the tent, and there +was three great bowlders, whopping big stones, which he said he had +brought out of the woods. I could hardly believe him, but there they was. +'You don't mean,' says I, 'that you are goin' to fight with stones; +because, if you are, you ought to give me a chance to get some,' and I +thought to myself that I would pick up rocks that could be heaved. 'Oh +no,' says he, with one of them smiles of his--'oh no; I just want to open +our conference with a little gymnastic exhibition.' And so sayin', he +rolled up his shirt-sleeves--he hadn't no coat on--and he picked up one of +them rocks with both hands, and then he gave it a swing with one hand, +like you swing a ten-pin ball, and he sent that rock about thirty feet. + +"It nearly took my breath away, for if I had to move such a stone I'd want +a wheelbarrow. Then he took another of the rocks and hurled it right on +top of the first one, and it came down so hard that it split itself in +half. And then he took up the third one, which was the biggest, and threw +it nearly as far, but it didn't hit the others. 'Now, Mr. Matlack,' says +he, 'this is the first part of my little programme. I have only one or two +more things, and I don't want to keep you long.' Then he went and got a +hickory sapling that he'd cut down. It was just the trunk part of it, and +must have been at least three inches thick. He put the middle of it at the +back of his neck, and then he took hold of the two ends with his hands and +pulled forward, and, by George! he broke that stick right in half! + +"Then says he, 'Would you mind steppin' down to the lake?' I didn't mind, +and went with him, and when we got down to the water there was their boat +drawed up on the shore and pretty nigh full of water. 'Mr. Clyde brought +this boat back the other day,' says he, 'from a place where he left it +some distance down the lake, and I wonder he didn't sink before he got +here. We must try and calk up some of the open seams; but first we've got +to get the water out of her.' So sayin', he squatted down on the ground in +front of the boat and took hold of it, one hand on one side of the bow and +one on the other, and then he gave a big twist, and just turned the boat +clean over, water and all, so that it lay with its bottom up, and the +water running down into the lake like a little deluge. + +"'That ought to have been done long ago,' says he, 'and I'll come down +after a while and calk it before the sun gets on it.' Then he walked back +to camp as spry as a robin, and then says he, 'Mr. Matlack, my little +exhibition is over, and so we'll go ahead with the business you proposed.' +I looked around, and says I: 'Do you find that little tent you sleep in +comfortable? It seems to me as if your feet must stick out of it.' 'They +do,' says he, 'and I sometimes throw a blanket over them to keep them dry. +But we are goin' to make different arrangements here. Mr. Clyde and I will +bring down his tent after breakfast, and if Mr. Raybold doesn't choose to +occupy it, Mr. Clyde says I may share it with him. At any rate, I've +engaged to attend to the cookin' and to things in general in this camp +durin' the rest of the time we stay here.' + +"'And so Mr. Clyde is tired of trespassin', is he?' says I. 'Yes, he is,' +says he; 'he's a high-minded young fellow, and doesn't fancy that sort of +thing. Mr. Raybold slept last night in a hammock, and if that suits him, +he may keep it up.' 'If I was you,' says I, 'if he does come back to the +camp, I'd make him sleep in that little tent. It would fit him better than +it does you.' 'Oh no,' says he, 'I don't want to make no trouble. I'm +willin' to sleep anywhere. I'm used to roughin' it, and I could make +myself comfortable in any tent I ever saw.' 'Well,' says I, 'that was a +very pretty exhibition you gave me, and I am much obliged to you, but I +must be goin' over to my camp to help get breakfast.' 'If you see Mr. +Clyde,' says he, 'will you kindly tell him that I will come over and help +him with his tent in about an hour?' To which I said I would, and I left. +Now then, hurry up. Them hermits will want their breakfasts." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +MARTIN ASSERTS HIS INDIVIDUALITY + + +"Good-morning," said Mr. Clyde, as he approached Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, +seated opposite each other at their breakfast-table. "So you still eat +together? Don't ask me to join you; I have had my breakfast." + +"Yes," said Mr. Archibald, "we did think that, as we were hermits, we +ought to eat in some separate, out-of-the-way fashion; but we could not +think of any, and as we were both hungry and liked the same things, we +concluded to postpone the assertion of our individualities." + +"And Miss Dearborn?" asked Clyde. + +"Oh, she had her breakfast long ago, so she told us," said Mrs. Archibald. +"I suppose she took some bread and jam, for I do not know what else she +could have had." + +"As for me," said Clyde, "I thought I would do something of the sort. I +like an early breakfast, and so I turned out, more than an hour ago and +went to look up Mrs. Perkenpine; and I might as well say, sir, that I am +now looking for the bishop to come and help me carry our tent back to our +own camp, where he is going to cook for us. I never wanted to be a +trespasser on your premises, and I don't intend to be such any longer." + +"That's the right feeling," said Mr. Archibald; "although, in fact, it +doesn't make any difference to us whether your party camps here or not. At +first I thought it would, but I find it does not." + +"By which he means," said Mrs. Archibald, "that if you want to go away he +is perfectly willing to have you stay, but if you don't want to go away he +doesn't like it, and would have you move." + +Clyde laughed. "I haven't anything to say for the others," he answered, +"but as long as I have a camp of my own I think I ought to live there." + +"But how about Mrs. Perkenpine?" asked Mrs. Archibald. "Did you find her +willing to wait on you, one at a time?" + +"Not exactly," said Clyde. "I discovered her, by her kitchen tent, hard at +work eating her own breakfast. I must have looked surprised, for she lost +no time in telling me that she was a hermit, and was living for one person +at a time--herself first--and that she was mighty glad to get a chance to +have her breakfast before anybody else, for she was always hungry and +hated waiting. I looked at the table, and saw that she had the breakfast +ready for the whole party; so I said, 'I am a hermit too, and I am living +for myself, and so I am going to sit down and eat.' 'Squat,' said she, and +down I sat; and I had the best meal of her cooking that I have yet tasted. +I told her so, and she said she shouldn't wonder. 'Because,' said she, 'I +cooked this breakfast for myself--me, one--and as I wasn't thinkin' what +other people 'd like, I got things a little more tasty than common, I +guess.'" + +"And what does she expect Miss Raybold and her brother to do?" asked Mrs. +Archibald. + +"When she had finished she got up," Clyde answered, "and went away, merely +remarking that the victuals were there, and when the others were ready for +them they might come and get them." + +"I hope," said Mr. Archibald, "that Matlack will not fancy that sort of a +hermit life. But as for me, I am greatly taken with the scheme. I think I +shall like it. Is Miss Raybold about yet?" + +"I see nothing of her," said Clyde, looking over towards her tent. + +"Good," said Mr. Archibald, rising. "Harriet, if you want me, I shall be +in my cave." + +"And where is that?" she asked. + +"Oh, I can't say exactly where it will be," he answered, "but if you will +go down to the shore of the lake and blow four times on the dinner-horn +I'll come to you, cave and all. I can easily pull it over the water." + +"You forget," said Mrs. Archibald, with a smile, "that we are associate +hermits." + +"No, I do not," said her husband, "I remember it, and that is the reason I +am off before Miss Raybold emerges upon the scene." + +"I do not know," said Mrs. Archibald to Clyde, "exactly how I am going to +assert myself to-day, but I shall do it one way or the other; I am not +going to be left out in the cold." + +Clyde smiled, but he had no suggestion to offer; his mind was filled with +the conjecture as to what sort of a hermit life Margery was going to lead, +and if she had already begun it. But just then the bishop came up, and +together they went to carry the tent back to Camp Roy. + +It was at least an hour afterwards, and Mrs. Archibald was comfortably +seated in the shade darning stockings, with an open book in her lap. +Sometimes she would read a little in the book and then she would make some +long and careful stitches in the stocking, and then she would look about +her as if she greatly enjoyed combining her work and her recreation in +such a lovely place on such a lovely summer morning. During one of these +periods of observation she perceived Corona Raybold approaching. + +"Good-morning," said the elder lady. "Is this your first appearance?" + +"Yes," said Corona, with a gentle smile. "When I woke this morning I found +myself to be an individual who liked to lie in bed and gaze out through an +open fold in my tent upon the world beyond, and so I lay and dozed and +gazed, until I felt like getting up, and then I got up, and you cannot +imagine how bright and happy I felt as I thought of what I had been doing. +For one morning at least I had been true to myself, without regard to +other people or what they might think about it. To-morrow, if I feel like +it, I shall rise at dawn, and go out and look at the stars struggling with +Aurora. Whatever my personal instincts happen to be, I shall be loyal to +them. Now how do you propose to assert your individuality?" + +"Unfortunately," said Mrs. Archibald, "I cannot do that exactly as I would +like to. If we had not promised my daughter and her husband that we would +stay away for a month, I should go directly home and superintend my +jelly-making and fruit-preserving; but as I cannot do that, I have +determined to act out my own self here. I shall darn stockings and sew or +read, and try to make myself comfortable and happy, just as I would if I +were sitting on my broad piazza, at home." + +"Good!" said Corona. "I think it likely that you will be more true to +yourself than any of us. Doubtless you were born to be the head of a +domestic household, and if you followed your own inclination you would be +that if you were adrift with your family on a raft in the middle of the +ocean. Now I am going away to see what further suggestions my nature has +to offer me. What is Mr. Archibald doing?" + +Mrs. Archibald smiled. She knew what Corona's nature would suggest if she +met a man who could talk, or rather, listen. "Oh, his nature has prompted +him to hie away to the haunts of game, and to stay there until he is half +starved." + +Miss Raybold heaved a little sigh. "I see very few persons about here," +she said--"only the two guides, in fact." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Archibald, "the bishop has gone to help Mr. Clyde with +his tent." + +Corona moved slowly away, and as she walked her nature suggested that she +would better eat something, so she repaired to the scene of Mrs. +Perkenpine's ordinary operations. There she found that good woman +stretched flat on her back on the ground, fast asleep. Her face and body +were shaded by some overhanging branches, but her great feet were +illumined and gilded by the blazing sun. On a camp table near by were the +remains of the breakfast. It had been there for two or three hours. Arthur +Raybold had taken what he wanted and had gone, and before composing +herself for her nap Mrs. Perkenpine had thrown over it a piece of +mosquito-netting. + +Corona smiled. "Their natures are coming out beautifully," she said. "It +really does me good to see how admirably the scheme is unfolding itself." +She sat down and ate what she could find to her taste, but it was not +much. "I shall send for some fruit and some biscuit and some other little +things," she thought, "that I can keep in my tent and eat when I please. +That will suit me much better than the ordinary meals." Then, without +awakening Mrs. Perkenpine, she strolled away, directing her steps towards +Camp Roy. + +When Margery had gone to her room, and had changed her wet clothes, she +was thoroughly miserable. For some time she sat on the side of her little +cot, unwilling to go out, on account of a nervous fear that she might meet +Mr. Raybold. Of course, if he should again speak to her as he had done, +she would immediately appeal to Mr. Archibald, but she did not want to do +this, for she had a very strong desire not to make any trouble or +divisions in the camp; so she lay down to think over the matter, and in +less than two minutes she was asleep. Mrs. Archibald had come to call her +to breakfast, but upon being told that she had been up ever so long, and +had had her breakfast, she left the girl to her nap. + +"I shall sleep here," thought Margery, "until they have all gone to do +whatever it is they want to do, and then perhaps I may have a little +peace." + +When she awoke it was nearly eleven o'clock, and she went immediately to +her little side window, from which she could see the lake and a good deal +of the camp-ground. The first thing which met her reconnoitering gaze was +a small boat some distance out on the lake. Its oars were revolving +slowly, something like a pair of wheels with one paddle each, and it was +occupied by one person. This person was Arthur Raybold, who had found the +bishop calking the boat, and as soon as this work was finished, had +moodily declared that he would take a row in her. He had not yet had a +chance to row a boat which was in a decent condition. He wanted to be +alone with his aspirations. He thought it would be scarcely wise to +attempt to speak to Margery again that morning; he would give her time for +her anger to cool. She was only a woman, and he knew women! + +"It's that Raybold," said Margery. "He knows no more about rowing than a +cat, and he's floating sideways down the lake. Good! Now I can go out and +hope to be let alone. I don't know when he will ever get that boat back +again. Perhaps never." + +She was not a wicked girl, and she did not desire that the awkward rower +might never get back; but still she did not have that dread of an accident +which might have come over her had the occupant of the boat been a brother +or any one she cared very much about. She took a novel, of which, during +her whole stay in camp, she had read perhaps ten pages, and left the +cabin, this time by the door. + +"How does your individuality treat you?" asked Mrs. Archibald, as Margery +approached her. + +"Oh, horribly, so far," was the answer; "but I think it is going to do +better. I shall find some nice place where I can read and be undisturbed. +I can think of nothing pleasanter such a morning as this." + +"I am very much mistaken in your nature," thought Mrs. Archibald, "if that +is the sort of thing that suits you." + +"Martin," said Margery, not in the least surprised that she should meet +the young guide within the next three minutes, "do you know of some really +nice secluded spot where I can sit and read, and not be bothered? I don't +mean that place where you hung the hammock. I don't want to go there +again." + +Martin was pale, and his voice trembled as he spoke. "Miss Dearborn," said +he, "I think it is a wicked and a burning shame that you should be forced +to look for a hiding-place where you may hope to rest undisturbed if that +scoundrel in the boat out there should happen to fancy to come ashore. But +you needn't do it. There is no necessity for it. Go where you please, sit +where you please, and do what you please, and I will see to it that you +are not disturbed." + +"Oh, no, no!" exclaimed Margery. "That would never do. I know very well +that you could keep him away from me, and I am quite sure that you would +be glad to do it, but there mustn't be anything of that kind. He is Miss +Raybold's brother and--and in a way one of our camping party, and I don't +want any disturbances or quarrels." + +Martin's breast heaved, and he breathed heavily. "I have no doubt you are +right," he said--"of course you are. But I can tell you this: if I see +that fellow troubling you again I'll kill him, or--" + +"Martin! Martin!" exclaimed Margery. "What do you mean? What makes you +talk in this way?" + +"What makes me?" he exclaimed, as if it were impossible to restrain his +words. "My heart makes me, my soul makes me. I--" + +"Your heart? Your soul?" interrupted Margery. "I don't understand." + +For a moment he looked at the astonished girl in silence, and then he +said: "Miss Dearborn, it's of no use for me to try to hide what I feel. If +I hadn't got so angry I might have been able to keep quiet, but I can't do +it now. If that man thinks he loves you, his love is like a grain of sand +compared to mine." + +"Yours?" cried Margery. + +"Yes," said Martin, his face pallid and his eyes sparkling, "mine. You may +think it is an insult for me to talk this way, but love is love, and it +will spring up where it pleases; and besides, I am not the common sort of +a fellow you may think I am. After saying what I have said, I am bound to +say more. I belong to a good family, and am college bred. I am poor, and I +love nature. I am working to make money to travel and become a naturalist. +I prefer this sort of work because it takes me into the heart of nature. I +am not ashamed of what I am, I am not ashamed of my work, and my object in +life is a nobler one, I think, than the practice of the law, or a great +many other things like it." + +Margery stood and looked at him with wide-open eyes. "Do you mean to say," +she said, "that you want to marry me? It would take years and years for +you to become naturalist enough to support a wife." + +"I have made no plans," he said, quickly, "I have no purpose. I did not +intend to tell you now that I love you, but since I have said that, I will +say also that with you to fight for there could be no doubt about my +success. I should be bound to succeed. It would be impossible for me to +fail. As for the years, I would wait, no matter how many they should be." + +He spoke with such hot earnestness that Margery involuntarily drew herself +a little away from him. At this the flush went out of his face. + +"Oh, Miss Dearborn," he exclaimed, "don't think that I am like that man +out there! Don't think that I will persecute you if you don't wish to hear +me; that I will follow you about and make your life miserable. If you say +to me that you do not wish to see me again, you will never see me again. +Say what you please, and you will find that I am a gentleman." + +She could see that now. She felt sure that if she told him she did not +wish ever to see him again he would never appear before her. But what +would he do? She was not in the least afraid of him, but his fierce +earnestness frightened her, not for herself, but for him. Suddenly a +thought struck her. + +"Martin," said she, "I don't doubt in the least that what you have said to +me about yourself is true. You are as good as other people, although you +do happen now to be a guide, and perhaps after a while you may be very +well off; but for all that you are a guide, and you are in Mr. Sadler's +employment, and Mr. Sadler's rights and powers are just like gas escaping +from a pipe: they are everywhere from cellar to garret, so to speak, and +you couldn't escape them. It would be a bad, bad thing for you, Martin, if +he were to hear that you make propositions of the kind you have made to +the ladies that he pays you to take out into the woods to guide and to +protect." + +Martin was on the point of a violent expostulation, but she stopped him. + +"Now I know what you are going to say," she exclaimed, "but it isn't of +any use. You are in his employment, and you are bound to honor and to +respect him; that is the way a guide can show himself to be a gentleman." + +"But suppose," said Martin, quickly, "that he, knowing my family as he +does, should think I had done wisely in speaking to you." + +A cloud came over her brow. It annoyed her that he should thus parry her +thrust. + +"Well, you can ask him," she said, abruptly; "and if he doesn't object, +you can go to see my mother, when she gets home, and ask her. And here +comes Mr. Matlack. I think he has been calling you. Now don't say another +word, unless it is about fish." + +But Matlack did not come; he stopped and called, and Martin went to him. + +Margery walked languidly towards the woods and sat down on the projecting +root of a large tree. Then leaning back against the trunk, she sighed. + +"It is a perfectly dreadful thing to be a girl," she said; "but I am glad +I did not speak to him as I did to Mr. Raybold. I believe he would have +jumped into the lake." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE INDIVIDUALITY OF PETER SADLER + + +"Martin," said Matlack, sharply, before the young man had reached him, "it +seems to me that you think that you have been engaged here as lady's-maid, +but there's other things to do besides teaching young women about trees +and fishes. If you think," continued Matlack, when the two had reached the +woodland kitchen, "that your bein' a hermit is goin' to let you throw all +the work on me, you're mistaken. There's a lot of potatoes that's got to +be peeled for dinner." + +Without a word Martin sat down on the ground with a pan of potatoes in +front of him and began to work. Had he been a proud crusader setting forth +to fight the Saracens his blood could not have coursed with greater warmth +and force, his soul could not have more truly spurned the earth and all +the common things upon it. What he had said to Margery had made him feel +ennobled. If Raybold had that instant appeared before him with some +jeering insult, Martin would have pardoned him with lofty scorn; and yet +he peeled potatoes, and did it well. But his thoughts were not upon his +work; they were upon the future which, if he proved himself to be the man +he thought himself to be, might open before him. When he had finished the +potatoes he put the pan upon a table and stood near by, deep in thought. + +"Yes," said he to himself, "I should go now. After what I have said to her +I cannot stay here and live this life before her. I would wait on her with +bended knee at every step, but with love for her in my soul I cannot wash +dishes for other people. I have spoken, and now I must act; and the +quicker the better. If all goes well I may be here again, but I shall not +come back as a guide." Then a thought of Raybold crossed his mind, but he +put it aside. Even if he stayed here he could not protect her, for she had +shown that she did not wish him to do it in the only way he could do it, +and he felt sure, too, that any further annoyance would result in an +appeal to Mr. Archibald. + +"Well," said Matlack, sharply, "what's the matter with you? Don't you +intend to move?" + +"Yes," said Martin, turning quickly, "I do intend to move. I am going to +leave this camp just as soon as I can pack my things." + +"And where in the name of thunder are you goin' to?" + +"I'm going to Sadler's," said Martin. + +"What for?" + +"On my own business," was the reply. + +Matlack looked at him for a moment suspiciously. "Have you got any +complaints to make of me?" he said. + +"No," said Martin, promptly, "not one; but I have affairs on hand which +will take me off immediately." + +"Before dinner?" asked Matlack. + +"Yes," said the other, "before dinner; now." + +"Go ahead then," said Matlack, putting some sticks of wood into the stove; +"and tell Sadler that if he don't send me somebody before supper-time to +help about this camp, he'll see me. I'll be hanged," he said to himself, +as he closed the door of the stove, "if this isn't hermitism with a +vengeance. I wonder who'll be the next one to cut and run; most likely it +will be Mrs. Perkenpine." + +Early in the afternoon, warm and dusty, Martin presented himself before +Peter Sadler, who was smoking his pipe on the little shaded piazza at the +back of the house. + +"Oh, ho!" said Peter. "How in the name of common-sense did you happen to +turn up at this minute? This is about as queer a thing as I've known of +lately. What did you come for? Sit down." + +"Mr. Sadler," said Martin, "I have come here on most important business." + +"Lake dry?" asked Peter. + +"It is a matter," said Martin, "which concerns myself; and if all the +lakes in the world were dry, I would not be able to think about them, so +full is my soul of one thing." + +"By the Lord Harry," said Peter, "let's have it, quick!" + +In a straightforward manner, but with an ardent vehemence which he could +not repress, Martin stated his business with Peter Sadler. He told him how +he loved Margery, what he had said to her, and what she had said to him. + +"And now," said the young man, "I have come to ask your permission to +address her; but whether you give it or not I shall go to her mother and +speak to her. I know her address, and I intend to do everything in an +honorable way." + +Peter Sadler put down his pipe and looked steadfastly at the young man. "I +wish to Heaven," said he, "that there was a war goin' on! I'd write a +letter to the commander-in-chief and let you take it to him, and I'd tell +him you was the bravest man between Hudson Bay and Patagonia. By George! I +can't understand it! I can't understand how you could have the cheek, the +unutterable brass, to come here and ask me--me, Peter Sadler--to let you +court one of the ladies in a campin'-party of mine. And, what's more, I +can't understand how I can sit here and hear you tell me that tale without +picking up a chair and knocking you down with it." + +"Mr. Sadler," said Martin, rising, "I have spoken to you fairly and +squarely, and if that's all you've got to say, I will go." + +"Sit down!" roared Peter, bringing his hand upon the table as if he would +drive it's legs through the floor. "Sit down, and listen to what I have to +say to you. It's the strangest thing that ever happened to me that I am +not more angry with you than I am; but I can't understand it, and I pass +it by. Now that you are seated again, I will make some remarks on my side. +Do you see that?" said he, picking up a letter on the table. "Do you see +who it is addressed to?" + +"To me!" exclaimed Martin, in surprise. + +"Yes, it's to you," said Peter, "and I wrote it, and I intended to send it +by Bill Hammond this afternoon. That's the reason I was surprised when I +saw you here. But I'm not goin' to give it to you; I'd rather tell you +what's in it, now you are here. Before I knew you were the abject +ninnyhammer that you have just told me you are I had a good opinion of +you, and thought that you were cut out to make a first-class traveller and +explorer--the sort of a fellow who could lead a surveying expedition +through the wilderness, or work up new countries and find out what they +are made of and what's in them. Only yesterday I heard of a chance that +ought to make you jump, and this morning I wrote to you about it. A friend +of mine, who's roughed it with me for many a day, is goin' to take an +expedition down into New Mexico in the interests of a railroad and minin' +company. They want to know everything about the country--the game, fish, +trees, and plants, as well as the minerals--and it struck me that if you +are not just the kind of man they want you could make yourself so in a +very short time. They'd pay you well enough, and you'd have a chance to +dip into natural history, and all that sort of thing, that you had no +reason to expect for a dozen years to come, if it ever came. If such a +chance had been offered to me at your age I wouldn't have changed lots +with a king. All you've got to do is to pack up and be off. The party +starts from New York in just three days; I'll give you a letter to Joe +Hendricks, and that'll be all you want. He knows me well enough to take +you without a word. If you haven't got money enough saved to fit yourself +out for the trip I'll lend you some, and you can pay me back when they pay +you. You can take the train this afternoon and maybe you can see Hendricks +to-night. So pack up what you want and leave what you don't want, and I'll +take care of it. I'll write to Hendricks now." + +Many times did the face of Martin flush and pale as he listened. A vision +of Paradise had been opened before him, but he felt that he must shut his +eyes. + +"Mr. Sadler," he said, "you are very kind. You offer me a great thing--a +thing which two weeks ago I should have accepted in the twinkling of an +eye, and would have thanked you for all the rest of my life; but I cannot +take it now. With all my heart I love a woman; I have told her so, and I +am now going on the path she told me to take. I cannot turn aside from +that for any prospects in the world." + +Peter Sadler's face grew red, and then it grew black, and then it turned +red again, and finally resumed its ordinary brown. + +"Martin Sanders," said he, speaking quietly, but with one hand fastened +upon the arm of his chair with a grasp which a horse could not have +loosened, "if you are cowardly enough and small enough and paltry enough +to go to a girl who is living in peace and comfort and ask her to marry +you, when you know perfectly well that for years to come you could not +give her a decent roof over her head, and that if her family wanted her to +live like a Christian they would have to give her the money to do it with; +and if you are fool enough not to know that when she sent you first to me +and then to her mother she was tryin' to get rid of you without hurtin' +your feelin's, why, then, I want you to get out of my sight, and the +quicker the better. But if you are not so low down as that, go to your +room and pack up your bag. The coach will start for the train at three +o'clock, and it is now nearly half-past two; that will just give me time +to write to Hendricks. Go!" + +Martin rose. Whatever happened afterwards, he must go now. It seemed to +him as if the whole world had suddenly grown colder; as if he had been +floating in a fog and had neared an iceberg. Could it be possible that she +had spoken, as she had spoken, simply to get rid of him? He could not +believe it. No one with such honest eyes could speak in that way; and yet +he did not know what to believe. + +In any case, he would go away in the coach. He had spoken to Sadler, and +now, whether he spoke to any one else or not, the sooner he left the +better. + +When he came to take the coach, Peter Sadler, who had rolled himself to +the front of the house, handed him the letter he had written. + +"I believe you are made of the right kind of stuff," he said, "although +you've got a little mouldy by bein' lazy out there in the woods, but +you're all right now; and what you've got to do is to go ahead with a +will, and, take my word for it, you'll come out on top. Do you want any +money? No? Very well, then, goodbye. You needn't trouble yourself to write +to me, I'll hear about you from Hendricks; and I'd rather know what he +thinks about you than what you think about yourself." + +"How little you know," thought Martin, as he entered the coach, "what I am +or what I think about myself. As if my purpose could be changed by words +of yours!" And he smiled a smile which would have done justice to Arthur +Raybold. The chill had gone out of him; he was warm again. + +On the train he read the letter to Hendricks which Peter Sadler had given +to him unsealed. It was a long letter, and he read it twice. Then he sat +and gazed out of the window at the flying scenery for nearly half an hour, +after which he read the letter again. Then he folded it up and put it into +his pocket. + +"If she had given me the slightest reason to hope," he said to himself, +"how easy it would be to tear this letter into scraps." + +Now an idea came into his mind. If he could see her mother quickly, and if +she should ignore his honorable intentions and refuse to give him the +opportunity to prove that he was worthy of a thought from her and her +daughter, then it might not be too late to fall back on Peter Sadler's +letter. But he shook his head; that would be dishonorable and unworthy of +him. + +He shut his eyes; he could not bear to look at the brightness of the world +outside the window of the car. Under his closed lids there came to him +visions, sometimes of Margery and sometimes of the forests of New Mexico. +Sometimes the visions were wavering, uncertain, and transitory, and again +they were strong and vivid--so plain to him that he could almost hear the +leaves rustle as some wild creature turned a startled look upon him. + +That night he delivered his letter to Mr. Hendricks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +A TRANQUILLIZING BREEZE AND A HOT WIND + + +After Martin had left her, Margery sat on the root of the tree until Mr. +Clyde came up and said he had been wondering what had become of her. + +"I have been wondering that, myself," she said. "At least, I have been +wondering what is going to become of me." + +"Don't you intend to be a hermit?" said he. + +She shook her head. "I don't think it is possible," she answered. "There +is no one who is better satisfied to be alone, and who can make herself +happier all by herself, and who, in all sorts of ways, can get along +better without other people than I can, and yet other people are +continually interfering with me, and I cannot get away from them." + +Clyde smiled. "That is a pretty plain hint," he said. "I suppose I might +as well take it, and go off to some hermitage of my own." + +"Oh, nonsense!" said Margery. "Don't be so awfully quick in coming to +conclusions. I do feel worried and troubled and bothered, and I want some +one to talk to; not about things which worry me, of course, but about +common, ordinary things, that will make me forget." + +A slight shade came over the face of Mr. Clyde, and he seated himself on +the ground near Margery. "It is a shame," said he, "that you should be +worried. What is it in this peaceable, beautiful forest troubles you?" + +"Did you ever hear of a paradise without snakes?" she asked. "The very +beauty of it makes them come here." + +"I have never yet known any paradise at all," he replied. "But can't you +tell me what it is that troubles you?" + +Margery looked at him with her clear, large eyes. "I'll tell you," she +said, "if you will promise not to do a single thing without my +permission." + +"I promise that," said Clyde, eagerly. + +"I am troubled by people making love to me." + +"People!" exclaimed Clyde, with a puzzled air. + +"Yes," said she. "Your cousin is one of them." + +"I might have supposed that; but who on earth can be the other one?" + +"That is Martin," said Margery. + +For a moment Mr. Clyde did not seem to understand, and then he exclaimed: +"You don't mean the young man who cuts wood and helps Matlack?" + +"Yes, I do," she answered. "And you need not shut your jaw hard and grit +your teeth that way. That is exactly what he did when he found out about +Mr. Raybold. It is of no use to get angry, for you can't do anything +without my permission; and, besides, I tell you that if I were condemned +by a court to be made love to, I would much rather have Martin make it +than Mr. Raybold. Martin is a good deal more than a guide; he has a good +education, and would not be here if it were not for his love of nature. He +is going to make nature his object in life, and there is something noble +in that; a great deal better than trying to strut about on the stage." + +"And those two have really been making love to you?" asked Clyde. + +"Yes, really," she answered. "You never saw people more in earnest in all +your life. As for Mr. Raybold, he was as earnest as a cat after a bird. He +made me furiously angry. Martin was different. He is just as earnest, but +he is more of a gentleman; and when I told him what I wanted him to do, he +said he would do it. But there is no use in telling your cousin what I +want him to do. He is determined to persecute me and make me miserable, +and there is no way of stopping it, except by making a quarrel between him +and Uncle Archibald. It is a shame!" she went on, "Who could have thought +that two people would have turned up to disturb me in this way." + +"Margery," said Mr. Clyde, and although he called her by her Christian +name she took no notice of it, "you think you have too many lovers: but +you are mistaken. You have not enough; you ought to have three." + +She looked at him inquiringly. + +"Yes," he said, quickly, "and I want to be the third." + +"And so make matters three times as bad as they were at first?" she +asked. + +"Not at all," said he. "When you have chosen one of them, he could easily +keep away the two others." + +"Do you mean," said Margery, "that if I were to agree to have three, and +then, if I were to ask you to do it, you would go away quietly with one of +the others and leave me in peace with the third one?" + +Mr. Clyde half smiled, but instantly grew serious again, and a flush came +on his face. "Margery," said he, "I cannot bear trifling any more about +this. No matter what anybody has said to you, whether it is any one in +this camp or any one out of it, there is not a man in this world who--" + +"Oh, Mr. Clyde," interrupted Margery, "you must not sit there and speak to +me in such an excited way. If any one should see us they would think we +were quarrelling. Let us go down to the lake; the air from the water is +cool and soothing." + +Together they walked from under the shade of the tree, and so wended their +way that it brought them to a mass of shrubbery which edged the water a +little distance down the lake. On the other side of this shrubbery was a +pretty bank, which they had seen before. + +"It always tranquillizes me," said Margery, as they stood side by side on +the bank, "to look out over the water. Doesn't it have that effect on +you?" + +"No!" exclaimed Clyde. "It does not tranquillize me a bit. Nothing could +tranquillize me at a moment like this. Margery, I want you to know that I +love you. I did not intend to tell you so soon, but what you have said +makes it necessary. I have loved you ever since I met you at Peter +Sadler's, and, no matter what you say about it, I shall love you to the +end of my life." + +"Even if I should send you away with one of the others?" + +"Yes; no matter what you did." + +"That would be wrong," she said. + +"It doesn't matter. Right or wrong, I'd do it." + +Margery gave him a glance from which it would have been impossible to +eliminate all signs of admiration. "And if I were to arrange it +otherwise," she said, "would you undertake to keep the others away?" + +There was no answer to this question, but in a minute afterwards Clyde +exclaimed: "Do you think any one would dare to come near you if they saw +you now?" + +"Hardly," said Margery, raising her head from his shoulder and looking up +into his sparkling eyes. "Really, Harrison, you ought not to speak in such +a loud voice. If Aunt Harriet were to hear you she might dare to come." + +Margery was late to dinner, although the horn was blown three times. + +Much to the surprise of his wife, Mr. Archibald returned to camp about an +hour before dinner. + +"How is this?" she exclaimed. "Wasn't the fishing good?" + +"I have had a disagreeable experience," he said, "and I will tell you +about it. I was fishing in a little cove some distance down the lake and +having good sport, when I heard a thumping, and looking around I saw +Raybold in a boat rowing towards me. I suppose he thought he was rowing, +but he was really floating with the current; but as he neared me he +suddenly pulled his boat towards me with such recklessness that I was +afraid he would run into me. I considered his rowing into the cove to be a +piece of bad manners, for of course it would spoil my fishing, but I had +no idea he actually intended to lay alongside of me. This he did, however, +and so awkwardly that his boat struck mine with such force that it half +tipped it over. Then he lay hold of my gunwale, and said he had something +to say to me. + +"I was as angry as if a man in the street had knocked my hat down over my +eyes and said that he did so in order to call my attention to a +subscription paper. But this indignation was nothing to what I felt when +the fellow began to speak. I cannot repeat his words, but he stated his +object at once, and said that as this was a good opportunity to speak to +me alone, he wished to ask me to remove what he called the utterly useless +embargo which I had placed upon him in regard to Margery. He said it was +useless because he could not be expected to give up his hopes and his +plans simply because I objected to them; and he went on to say that if I +understood him fully, and if Margery understood him, he did not believe +that either of us would object. And then he actually asked me to use my +influence with her to make her listen to him. From what he said, I am sure +he has been speaking to her. I did not let him finish, but turned and +blazed at him in words as strong as would come to me. I ordered him never +to speak to me again or show himself in my camp, and told him that if he +did either of these things he would do them at his peril; and then, for +fear he might say something which would make me lose control of myself, I +jerked up my anchor and rowed away from him. I didn't feel like fishing +any more, and so I came back." + +"His behavior is shameful," said Mrs. Archibald. "And what is more, it is +ridiculous, for Margery would not look at him. What sort of a man does he +think you are, to suppose that you would give your permission to any one, +no matter who he might be, to offer marriage to a young lady in your +charge? But what are you going to do about it? I think it very likely he +will come to this camp, and he may speak to you." + +"In that case I shall have him driven out," said Mr. Archibald, "as if he +were a drunken vagabond. Personally I shall have nothing to do with him, +but I shall order my guides to eject him." + +"I hope that may not be necessary," said his wife. "It would make bad +feeling, and deeply wound his sister, for it would be the same thing as +putting her out. She talks too much, to be sure, but she is a lady, and +has treated us all very courteously. I wish we could get through the rest +of our stay here without any disturbance or bad feeling." + +"I wish so too, with all my heart," said her husband. "And the only thing +necessary to that end is that that ass Raybold shall keep out of my +sight." + +It was about two o'clock that afternoon, and Mrs. Archibald, under her +tree, her basket of stockings all darned and her novel at its culminating +point of interest, was the only visible occupant of Camp Rob, when Corona +Raybold came walking towards her, an obvious purpose in her handsome face, +which was somewhat flushed by exercise. + +"I do not think," she said, as soon as she was near enough for Mrs. +Archibald to hear her, "that the true purpose and intention of our plan is +properly understood by all of the party. I think, after some explanation, +everything will go well, but I have been endeavoring for the last +half-hour to find Mrs. Perkenpine, and have utterly failed. I am very +hungry, but I can discover nothing to eat. All our stores appear to be +absolutely raw, or in some intermediate state of crudity. I intend to +order some provisions in cans or boxes which will be at all times +available, but I have not done so yet, and so I have come over to speak to +you about the matter. Did your guides prepare your dinner as usual?" + +"Oh yes," said Mrs. Archibald. "A hermit life seems to make no difference +with Mr. Matlack. We become associates at meal-times, but, as you see, we +have separated again." + +"I must instil into Mrs. Perkenpine's mind," said Corona, "that, in order +thoroughly to act out her own nature, she must cook and do other things of +a domestic character. Of course she will do those things in her own way; +that is to be expected; but she must do them. It is impossible to imagine +a woman of her class whose soul is not set more or less upon domestic +affairs. I will instance Mr. Matlack. His nature belongs to the woods and +the out-of-door world, and that nature prompts him to cook what he +shoots." + +Mrs. Archibald laughed. "I think his nature is a very good one," she said, +"and I will go with you to find him and see if he cannot give you a +luncheon, if not a dinner." + +"Thank you very much," said Corona; "but indeed I do not wish to trouble +you. I will go to him myself. You are very kind, but it is not in the +least degree necessary for you to accompany me. A cup of tea and some +little trifle is all I shall ask him for." + +For a moment Mrs. Archibald hesitated, and then she said, "As we are +hermits, I suppose we must not keep together any more than we can help, +and so I will let you go alone." + +Corona found Phil Matlack by his kitchen tent, busily engaged in rubbing +the inside of a large kettle. He was not in a good humor. The departure of +Martin had thrown all the work of his camp upon him, and now the +appearance of a person from another camp requesting to be fed aroused him +to absolute anger. He did not scold, for it would have been impossible to +look at that beautiful and imperturbable face and say hard words to it. He +did not refuse the cup of tea or the bread-and-butter for which he was +asked, and he even added some cold meat; but he indignantly made up his +mind that he would stand no more of this nonsense, and that if necessary +he would go to Sadler and throw up the job. He had not engaged to cook for +three camps. + +[Illustration: "'HAVEN'T TRIED IT'"] + +Miss Raybold did not appear to notice his state of mind, and ate heartily. +She thought it was fortunate that he happened to have the kettle on the +stove, and she asked him how he liked the hermit life--the living for +himself alone. + +"Haven't tried it," he answered, curtly. + +"I understand," said Corona, "you have had to live too much for other +people; but it is too soon to expect our plan to run smoothly. In a short +time, however, we shall be better able to know our own natures and show +them to others." + +"Oh, I can do that," said he; "and I am goin' to, precious soon." + +"I have no doubt of it," she answered. "And now can you tell me where Mr. +Archibald has gone? I did not see him this morning, and there are some +matters I wish to speak to him about." + +"No, miss," said Matlack, promptly, "I don't know where he is. He's a real +hermit. He's off by himself, most likely miles away." + +Corona reflected. "Mr.--the bishop? Have you seen him? He may be able +to--" + +The guide grinned grimly. He had seen the man of muscle--not +fat--conversing that morning with Corona, and an hour afterwards he had +seen him, not in the same place, but in the same companionship, and it +gave him a certain pleasure to know that the man who could heave rocks and +break young trees could not relieve himself from the thralls of the lady +of the flowing speech. + +"The bishop?" said he. "Don't you know where he went to?" + +"He left me," she answered, "because he was obliged to go to prepare +dinner for my brother and Mr. Clyde; but he is not in Camp Roy now, for I +went there to look for Mrs. Perkenpine." + +"Well," said the wicked Matlack, pointing to the spot where, not long +before, Margery had found a tranquillizing breeze, "I saw him going along +with a book a little while ago, and I think he went down to the shore, +just beyond that clump of bushes over there. He seems to be a man who +likes readin', which isn't a bad thing for a hermit." + +"Thank you," said Miss Raybold, rising. "I do not care for anything more. +You are very kind, and I am quite sure I shall not have to trouble you +again. To-morrow everything will be running smoothly." + +Matlack looked at her as she quietly walked away. "She's a pretty sort of +a hermit," he said to himself. "If she really had to live by herself she'd +cut out a wooden man and talk to it all day. It won't be long before she +accidentally stumbles over that big fellow with his book." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +MRS. PERKENPINE FINDS OUT THINGS ABOUT HERSELF + + +The mind of the guide was comforted and relieved that he had got the +better of the bishop in one way, although he could not do it in another. +But he did not relinquish his purpose of putting an end to the nonsense +which made him do the work of other people, and as soon as he had set his +kitchen in order he started out to find Mrs. Perkenpine. A certain amount +of nonsense from the people in camp might have to be endured, but nonsense +from Mrs. Perkenpine was something about which Peter Sadler would have a +word to say. + +Matlack was a good hunter. He could follow all sorts of tracks--rabbit +tracks, bird tracks, deer tracks, and the tracks of big ungainly +shoes--and in less than half an hour he had reached a cluster of +moss-covered rocks lying some distance back in the woods, and approached +by the bed of a now dry stream. Sitting on one of these rocks, her back +against a tree, her straw hat lying beside her, and her dishevelled hair +hanging about her shoulders, was Mrs. Perkenpine, reading a newspaper. At +the sound of his footsteps she looked up. + +"Well, I'll be bound!" she said. "If I'd crawl into a fox-hole I expect +you'd come and sniff in after me." + +Matlack stood and looked at her for a moment. He could not help smiling at +the uncomfortable manner in which she was trying to make herself +comfortable on those rough rocks. + +"I'll tell you what it is, Mrs. Perkenpine," he said, "you'll get yourself +into the worst kind of a hole if you go off this way, leavin' everything +at sixes and sevens behind you." + +"It's my nater," said she. "I'm findin' it out and gittin' it ready to +show to other people. You're the fust one that's seed it. How do you like +it?" + +"I don't like it at all," said the guide, "and I have just come to tell +you that if you don't go back to your tent and cook supper to-night and +attend to your business, I'll walk over to Sadler's, and tell Peter to +send some one in your place. I'm goin' over there anyway, if he don't send +a man to take Martin's place." + +"Peter Sadler!" ejaculated Mrs. Perkenpine, letting her tumbled newspaper +fall into her lap. "He's a man that knows his own nater, and lets other +people see it. He lives his own life, if anybody does. He's individdle +down to the heels, and just look at him! He's the same as a king. I tell +you, Phil Matlack, that the more I knows myself, just me, the more I'm +tickled. It seems like scootin' round in the woods, findin' all sorts of +funny hoppin' things and flowers that you never seed before. Why, it +'ain't been a whole day since I begun knowin' myself, and I've found out +lots. I used to think that I liked to cook and clean up, but I don't; I +hate it." + +Matlack smiled, and taking out his pipe, he lighted it and sat down on a +rock. + +"I do believe," he said, "that you are the most out and out hermit of the +whole lot; but it won't do, and if you don't get over your objections to +cookin' you'll have to walk out of these woods to-morrow." + +Mrs. Perkenpine sat and looked at her companion a few moments without +giving any apparent heed to his remarks. + +"Of course," said she, "it isn't only findin' out what you be yourself, +but it's lettin' other people see what you be. If you didn't do that it +would be like a pot a-b'ilin' out in the middle of a prairie, with nobody +nearer nor a hundred miles." + +"It would be the same as if it hadn't b'iled," remarked Matlack. + +"That's jest it," said she, "and so I ain't sorry you come along, Phil, +so's I can tell you some things I've found out about myself. One of them +is that I like to lie flat on my back and look up at the leaves of the +trees and think about them." + +"What do you think?" asked Matlack. + +"I don't think nothin'," said she. "Just as soon as I begin to look at +them wrigglin' in the wind, and I am beginnin' to wonder what it is I +think about them, I go slam bang to sleep, and when I wake up and try to +think again what it is I think, off I go again. But I like it. If I don't +know what it is I think, I ought to know that I don't know it. That's what +I call bein' really and truly a hermick." + +"What else did you find out?" inquired Matlack. + +"I found out," she answered, with animation, "that I admire to read +anecdotes. I didn't know I cared a pin for anecdotes until I took to +hermickin'. Now here's this paper; it came 'round the cheese, and it's got +a good many anecdotes scattered about in it. Let me read one of them to +you. It's about a man who made his will and afterwards was a-drivin' a +horse along a road, and the horse got skeered and ran over his executor, +who was takin' a walk. Then he sung out, 'Oh, bless my soul!' says he. But +I'll read you the rest if I can find it." + +"Never mind about the anecdote," said Matlack, who knew very well that it +would take Mrs. Perkenpine half an hour to spell out twenty lines in a +newspaper. "What I want to know is if you found out anything about +yourself that's likely to give you a boost in the direction of that +cookin'-stove of yourn." + +Mrs. Perkenpine was a woman whose remarks did not depend upon the remarks +of others. "Phil Matlack," said she, gazing fixedly at his pipe, "if I had +a man I'd let him smoke just as much as he pleased and just where he +pleased. He could smoke afore he got up, and he could smoke at his meals, +and he could smoke after he went to bed, and, if he fancied that sort of +thing, he could smoke at family prayers; it wouldn't make no difference to +me, and I wouldn't say a word to him agin' it. If that was his +individdlety, I'd say viddle." + +"And how about everything else?" asked Matlack. "Would you tell him to +cook his own victuals and mend his clothes accordin' to his own nater?" + +"No, sir," said she, striking with her expansive hand the newspaper in her +lap--"no, sir. I'd get up early in the mornin', and cook and wash and bake +and scour. I'd skin the things he shot, and clean his fish, and dig bait +if he wanted it. I'd tramp into the woods after him, and carry the gun and +the victuals and fishin'-poles, and I'd set traps and row a boat and build +fires, and let him go along and work out his own nater smokin' or in any +other way he was born to. That's the biggest thing I've found out about +myself. I never knowed, until I began, this mornin', explorin' of my own +nater, what a powerful hard thing it is, when I'm thinkin' of my own +individdlety, to keep somebody else's individdlety from poppin' up in +front of it, and so says I to myself, 'If I can think of both them +individdleties at the same time it will suit me fust-rate.' And when you +come along I thought I'd let you know what sort of a nater I've got, for +it ain't likely you'd ever find it out for yourself. And now that we're in +that business--" + +"Hello!" cried Matlack, springing to his feet. "There is somebody callin' +me. Who's there?" he shouted, stepping out into the bed of the stream. + +A call was now heard, and in a few moments the bishop appeared some +distance below. + +"Mr. Matlack," he said, "there's a man at your camp inquiring for you. He +came from Sadler's, and I've been looking high and low for you." + +"A man from Sadler's," said Matlack, turning to Mrs. Perkenpine, "and I +must be off to see him. Remember what I told you about the supper." And so +saying, he walked rapidly away. + +Out in the open Matlack found the bishop. "Obliged to you for lookin' me +up," he said, "it's a pity to give you so much trouble." + +"Oh, don't mention it!" exclaimed the bishop. "You cannot understand, +perhaps, not knowing the circumstances, but I assure you I never was more +obliged to any one than to that man who wants to see you and couldn't find +you. There was no one else to look for you, and I simply had to go." + +"You are not goin' to walk back to camp?" inquired Matlack. + +"No," replied the bishop, "now that I am here, I think I will go up the +lake and try to find a very secluded spot in the shade and take a nap." + +The guide smiled as he walked away. "Don't understand!" said he. "You've +got the boot on the wrong leg." + +Arrived at his tent, Matlack found Bill Hammond, a young man in Sadler's +service, who informed him that that burly individual had sent Martin away +in the stage-coach, and had ordered him to come and take his place. + +"All right," said Matlack. "I guess you're as good as he was, and so you +can settle down to work. By-the-way, do you know that we are all hermits +here?" + +"Hermits?" said the other. "What's that?" + +"Why, hermits," said Matlack, "is individ'als who get up early in the +mornin' and attend to their own business just as hard as they can, without +lookin' to the right or left, until it's time to go to bed." + +The young man looked at him in some surprise. "There's nothing so very +uncommon in that," said he. + +"No," replied the guide, "perhaps there ain't. But as you might hear them +talkin' about hermits here, I thought I'd tell you just what sort of +things they are." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A DISSOLVING AUDIENCE + + +When a strange young man assisted Matlack at the supper-table that +evening, Mr. Archibald asked what had become of Martin. + +"Peter Sadler has sent him away," answered the guide. "I don't know where +he sent him or what he sent him for. But he's a young man who's above this +sort of business, and so I suppose he's gone off to take up something +that's more elevated." + +"I am sorry," said Mrs. Archibald, "for I liked him." + +Mr. Archibald smiled. "This business of insisting upon our own +individualities," he said, "seems to have worked very promptly in his +case. I suppose he found out he was fitted for something better than a +guide, and immediately went off to get that better thing." + +"That's about the size of it," said Matlack. + +Margery said nothing. Her heart sank. She could not help feeling that what +she had said to the young man had been the cause of his sudden departure. +Could he have done such a thing, she thought, as really to go and ask Mr. +Sadler, and, having found he did not mind, could he have gone to see her +mother? Her appetite for her supper departed, and she soon rose and +strolled away, and as she strolled the thought came again to her that it +was a truly dreadful thing to be a girl. + +Having received no orders to the contrary, Matlack, with his new +assistant, built and lighted the camp-fire. Some of the hermits took this +as a matter of course, and some were a little surprised, but one by one +they approached; the evening air was beginning to be cool, and the +vicinity of the fire was undoubtedly the pleasantest place in camp. Soon +they were all assembled but one, and Mrs. Archibald breathed freer when +she found that Arthur Raybold was not there. + +"I am delighted," said Corona, as soon as she took her usual seat, which +was a camp-chair, "to see you all gather about the fire. I was afraid that +some of you might think that because we are hermits we must keep away from +each other all the time. But we must remember that we are associate +hermits, and so should come together occasionally. I was going to say +something to the effect that some of us may have misunderstood the true +manner and intent of the assertions of our individualities, but I do not +now believe that this is necessary." + +"Do you mean by all that," said Mrs. Perkenpine, "that I cooked the +supper?" + +"Yes," said Miss Raybold, turning upon her guide with a pleasant smile, +"that is what I referred to." + +"Well," said Mrs. Perkenpine, "I was told that if I didn't cook I'd be +bounced. It isn't my individdlety to cook for outsiders, but it isn't my +individdlety to be bounced, nuther, so I cooked. Is that bein' a +hermick?" + +"You have it," cried Mr. Archibald, "you've not only found out what you +are, but what you have to be. Your knowledge of yourself is perfect. And +now," he continued, "isn't there somebody who can tell us a story? When we +are sitting around a camp-fire, there is nothing better than stories. +Bishop, I dare say you have heard a good many in the course of your life. +Don't you feel like giving us one?" + +"I think," said Corona, "that by the aid of stories it is possible to +get a very good idea of ourselves. For instance, if some one were to +tell a good historical story, and any one of us should find himself or +herself greatly interested in it, then that person might discover, on +subsequent reflection, some phase of his or her intellect which he or she +might not have before noticed. On the other hand, if it should be a +love story, and some of us could not bear to hear it, then we might +also find out something about ourselves of which we had been ignorant. +But I really think that, before making any tests of this sort, we +should continue the discussion of what is at present the main object +of our lives--self-knowledge and self-assertion. In other words, the +emancipation of the individual. As I have said before, and as we all +know, there never was a better opportunity offered a group of people +of mature minds to subject themselves, free of outside influences, to a +thorough mental inquisition, and then to exhibit the results of their +self-examinations to appreciative companions. This last is very important. +If we do not announce to others what we are, it is of scarcely any use to +be anything. I mean this, of course, in a limited sense." + +"Harriet," said Mr. Archibald, abruptly, "do you remember where I left my +pipe? I do not like this cigar." + +"On the shelf by the door of the cabin," she replied. "I saw it as I came +out." + +Her husband immediately rose and left the fire. Corona paused in her +discourse to wait until Mr. Archibald came back; but then, as if she did +not wish to lose the floor, she turned towards the bishop, who sat at a +little distance from her, and addressed herself to him, with the idea of +making some collateral remarks on what she had already said, in order to +fill up the time until Mr. Archibald should return. + +Mrs. Archibald thought that her husband had been a little uncivil; but +almost immediately after he had gone, she, too, jumped up, and, without +making any excuse whatever, hurried after him. + +The reason for this sudden movement was that Mrs. Archibald had seen some +one approaching from the direction of Camp Roy. She instantly recognized +this person as Arthur Raybold, and felt sure that, unwilling to stay +longer by himself, he was coming to the camp-fire, and if her husband +should see him, she knew there would be trouble. What sort of trouble or +how far it might extend she did not try to imagine. + +"Hector," she said, as soon as she was near enough for him to hear her, +"don't go after the pipe; let us take a moonlight walk along the shore. I +believe it is full moon to-night, and we have not had a walk of that sort +for ever so long." + +"Very good," said her husband, turning to her. "I shall be delighted. I +don't care for the pipe, and the cigar would have been good enough if it +had not been for the sermon. That would spoil any pleasure. I can't stand +that young woman, Harriet; I positively cannot." + +"Well, then, let us walk away and forget her," said his wife. "I don't +wonder she annoys you." + +"If it were only the young woman," thought Mrs. Archibald, as the two +strolled away beneath the light of the moon, "we might manage it. But her +brother!" + +At the next indication of a pause in Corona's discourse the bishop +suddenly stood on his feet. "I wonder," he said, "if there is anything the +matter with Mrs. Archibald? I will step over to her cabin to see." + +"Indeed!" said Corona, rising with great promptness, "I hope it is nothing +serious. I will go with you." + +Margery was not a rude girl, but she could not help a little laugh, which +she subdued as much as possible; Mr. Clyde, who was sitting near her, +laughed also. + +"There is nothing on earth the matter with Aunt Harriet," said Margery. +"They didn't go into the cabin; I saw them walking away down the shore." + +"How would you like to walk that way?" he asked. "I think their example is +a very good one." + +"It is capital," said Margery, jumping up, "and let's get away quickly +before she comes back." + +They hurried away, but they did not extend their walk down the lake shore +even as far as Mr. and Mrs. Archibald had already gone. When they came to +the bit of beach behind the clump of trees where the bishop had retired +that afternoon to read, they stopped and sat down to watch the moonlight +on the water. + +Matlack and Mrs. Perkenpine were now the only persons at the camp-fire, +for Bill Hammond, as was his custom, had promptly gone to bed as soon as +his work was done. If Arthur Raybold had intended to come to the +camp-fire, he had changed his mind, for he now stood near his sister's +tent, apparently awaiting the approach of Corona and the bishop, who had +not found the Archibalds, and who were now walking together in what might +have been supposed, by people who did not know the lady, to be an earnest +dialogue. + +Mr. Matlack was seated on his log, and he smoked, while Mrs. Perkenpine +sat on the ground, her head thrown back and her arms hugging her knees. + +"Phil," said she, "that there moon looks to me like an oyster with a +candle behind it, and as smooth and slippery as if I could jest swallow it +down. You may think it is queer for me to think such things as that, Phil, +but since I've come to know myself jest as I am, me, I've found out +feelin's--" + +"Mrs. Perkenpine," said Matlack, knocking the ashes out of his pipe, +"there's a good many things besides moons that I can't swallow, and if +it's all the same to you, I'll go to bed." + +"Well," she exclaimed, looking after him, "his individdlety is the +snapshortest I ever did see! I don't believe he wants to know hisself. If +he did, I'm dead sure I could help him. He never goes out to run a camp +without somebody to help him, and yet he's so everlastin' blind he can't +see the very best person there is to help him, and she a-plumpin' herself +square in front of him every time she gits a chance." With that reflection +she rose and walked away. + +"I tell you, Harriet," said Mr. Archibald, when he and his wife had +returned from their walk and were about to enter the cabin, "something +must be done to enable us to spend the rest of our time here in peace. +This is our camp, and we want it for ourselves. If a good companionable +fellow like the bishop or that young Clyde happens along, it is all very +well, but we do not want all sorts of people forcing themselves upon us, +and I will not submit to it." + +"Of course we ought not to do that," said she, "but I hope that whatever +you do, it will be something as pleasant as possible." + +"I will try to avoid any unpleasantness," said he, "and I hope I may do +so, but---- By-the-way, where is Margery?" + +"I think she must be in bed," said Mrs. Archibald; then stepping inside, +she called, "Margery, are you there?" + +"Yes, Aunt Harriet," replied Margery, "I am here." + +"She must have found it dreadfully stupid, poor girl!" said Mr. +Archibald. + +The lights were all out in the Archibalds' cabin, and still Miss Raybold +and the bishop walked up and down the open space at the farther end of the +camp. + +"Corona!" exclaimed her brother, suddenly appearing before them, "I have +told you over and over again that I wish to speak to you. Are you never +going to stop that everlasting preaching and give me a chance to talk to +you?" + +"Arthur!" she exclaimed, sharply, "I wish you would not interrupt me in +this way. I had just begun to say--" + +"Oh, my dear Miss Raybold," cried the bishop, "do not let me prevent you +from speaking to your brother. Indeed, it is growing late, and I will not +trespass longer on your time. Good-night," and with a bow he was gone. + +"Now just see what you have done!" said Corona, her eye-glasses brighter +than the moon. + +"Well, it is time he was going," said her brother. "I have something very +important to say to you. I want your good offices in an affair more worthy +of your thoughts than anything else at this moment." + +"Whatever it is," she said, turning away from him, "I do not want to hear +it now--not a word of it. You have displeased me, Arthur, and I am going +to my tent." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A MOONLIGHT INTERVIEW + + +Mrs. Archibald retired to her cabin, but she did not feel in the least +like going to bed. Her husband had long been asleep in his cot, and she +still sat by the side of the little window looking out upon the +moon-lighted scene; but the beauty of the night, if she noticed it at all, +gave her no pleasure. Her mind was harassed and troubled by many things, +chief among which was her husband's unfinished sentence in which he had +said that he would try to avoid any unpleasantness, but at the same time +had intimated that if the unpleasant thing were forced upon him he was +ready to meet it. + +Now, reason as she would, Mrs. Archibald could not banish from her mind +the belief that Arthur Raybold would come to their camp some time during +the next day. In fact, not having heard otherwise, she supposed he had +come to the camp-fire that night. She was filled with anger and contempt +for the young man who was determined to force himself on their party in +this outrageous manner, and considered it shameful that their peaceful +life in these woods had been so wickedly disturbed. No wonder she did not +want to sleep; no wonder she sat at the window thinking and thinking. + +Presently she saw some one walking over the open space towards the cabin, +and she could not fail to recognize the figure with the long stride, the +folded arms, and the bowed head. He passed the window and then he turned +and repassed it, then he turned and walked by again, this time a little +nearer than before. + +"This is too much!" said Mrs. Archibald. "The next thing he will be +tapping at her window. I will go out and speak my mind to him." + +Opening the door very softly, and without even stopping to throw a shawl +over her head and shoulders, Mrs. Archibald stepped outside into the +night. Raybold was now at a little distance from the cabin, in the +direction of Camp Roy, and was just about to turn when she hurried up to +him. + +"Mr. Raybold," she said, speaking low and rapidly, "if you possessed a +spark of gentlemanly feeling you would be ashamed to come into this camp +when you have been ordered out of it. My husband has told you he does not +want you here, and now I tell you that I do not want you here. It pains me +to be obliged to speak to any one in this manner, but it is plain that no +other sort of speech will affect you. Now, sir, I know your object, and I +will not have you wandering up and down here in front of our cabin. I wish +you to go to your own camp, and that immediately." + +Raybold stood and listened to her without a word until she had finished, +and then he said: + +"Madam, there has been a good deal of talk about knowing ourselves and +showing ourselves to others. Now I know myself very well indeed, and I +will show myself to you by saying that when my heart is interested I obey +no orders, I pay no attention to mandates of any sort. Until I can say +what I have to say I will watch and I will wait, but I shall not draw +back." + +For the first time in fifteen years Mrs. Archibald lost her temper. She +turned pale with anger. "You contemptible scoundrel! Go! Leave this camp +instantly!" + +He stood with arms folded and smiled at her, saying nothing. She trembled, +she was so angry. But what could she do? If she called Mr. Archibald, or +if he should be awakened by any outcry, she feared there would be +bloodshed, and if she went to call Matlack, Mr. Archibald would be sure to +be awakened. But at this moment some one stepped up quickly behind +Raybold, and with a hand upon his shoulder, partly turned him around. + +"I think," said the bishop, "that I heard this lady tell you to go. If so, +go." + +"I did say it," said Mrs. Archibald, hurriedly. "Please be as quiet as you +can, but make him go." + +"Do you hear what Mrs. Archibald says?" asked the bishop, sternly. +"Depart, or--" + +"Do you mean to threaten me?" asked Raybold. + +The bishop stepped close to him. "Will you go of your own accord," he +asked, "or do you wish me to take you away?" + +He spoke quietly, but with an earnestness that impressed itself upon +Raybold, who made a quick step backward. He felt a natural repugnance, +especially in the presence of a lady, to be taken away by this big man, +who, in the moonlight, seemed to be bigger than ever. + +"I will speak to you," said he, "when there are no ladies present." And +with this he retired. + +"I am so much obliged to you," said Mrs. Archibald. "It was a wonderful +piece of good fortune that you should have come at this minute." + +The bishop smiled. "I am delighted that I happened here," he said. "I +heard so much talking this evening that I thought I would tranquillize my +mind by a quiet walk by myself before I went to bed, and so I happened to +see you and Raybold. Of course I had no idea of intruding upon you, but +when I saw you stretch out your arm and say 'Go!' I thought it was time +for me to come." + +"I feel bound to say to you," said Mrs. Archibald, "that that impertinent +fellow is persisting in his attentions to Miss Dearborn, and that Mr. +Archibald and I will not have it." + +"I imagined that the discussion was on that subject," said the bishop, +"for Mr. Clyde has intimated to me that Raybold has been making himself +disagreeable to the young lady." + +"I do not know what we are going to do," said Mrs. Archibald, +reflectively; "there seems to be no way of making an impression upon him. +He is like his sister--he will have his own way." + +"Yes," said the bishop, with a sigh, "he is like his sister. But then, one +might thrash him, but what can be done with her? I tell you, Mrs. +Archibald," he said, turning to her, earnestly, "it is getting to be +unbearable. The whole evening, ever since you left the camp-fire, she has +been talking to me on the subject of mental assimilation--that is, the +treatment of our ideas and thoughts as if they were articles of +food--intellectual soda biscuit, or plum pudding, for instance--in order +to find out whether our minds can digest these things and produce from +them the mental chyme and chyle necessary to our intellectual development. +The discourse was fortunately broken off for to-night, but there is more +of it for to-morrow. I really cannot stand it." + +"I wouldn't stand it," said Mrs. Archibald. "Can't you simply go away and +leave her when she begins in that way?" + +The bishop shook his head. "No," he said, "that is impossible. When those +beautiful eyes are fixed upon me I cannot go away. They charm me and they +hold me. Unless there is an interruption, I must stay and listen. The only +safety for me is to fly from this camp. At last," he said, smiling a +little sadly, "I am going to go. I did not want to do this until your camp +broke up, but I must." + +"And you are really going to-morrow?" she asked. + +"Yes," he said. "I have positively decided upon that." + +"I am sorry to hear it," she said. "Good-night." + +When Mrs. Archibald entered her cabin she found her husband sleeping +soundly, and she again sat down by the window. There was no such thing as +sleep for her; her mind was more tossed and troubled than it had been +before she went out. The fact that the bishop was going away made the +matter worse, for just as she had found out that he was willing to help +her, and that he might be able to keep Raybold away from them without +actual violence--for she saw that the young boaster was afraid of him--he +had told her he must leave, and in her heart she did not blame him. With +great fear and anxiety she looked forward to the morrow. + +It was about two o'clock when Mrs. Archibald suddenly arose from her seat +by the window and lighted a candle. Then she pulled down the shades of the +windows, front and back, after which she went to her husband's cot and put +her hand upon his shoulder. + +"Hector," said she, "wake up." + +In a moment Mr. Archibald was staring at her. "What is the matter?" he +exclaimed. "Are you sick?" + +"No," said she, "but I have something very important to say to you. I want +you to get up and go away with me, and take Margery." + +Mr. Archibald sat up in bed. He was now in full possession of his senses. +"What!" said he, "elope? And where to?" + +"Yes," said she, "that is exactly what I mean, and we will go to Sadler's +first, and then home." + +"Do you mean now?" said he. + +"Yes--that is, as soon as it is light," she replied. + +"Are you positively sure you are awake, Harriet?" asked Mr. Archibald. + +"Awake!" she said. "I have not been asleep to-night. Don't you see I am +dressed?" And she drew a chair to the bedside and sat down. "I know more +about what is going on than you do, Hector," she said, "and I tell you if +we stay any longer in this camp, there is going to be great trouble. That +young Raybold pays no attention to what you said about keeping away from +us. He comes here, when he pleases, and he says he intends to come. I +asked you to take a walk with me this evening because I saw him coming to +the camp-fire and I knew that you would resent it. To-night I saw him +walking up and down in front of our cabin, and I believe he intended to +try to speak to Margery. I went out to him myself, and he was positively +insulting. If the bishop had not happened to come up, I believe he would +have stayed here and defied me. But he made him go. + +"Now that you know this, Hector, it is very certain that there will be +trouble between you and that young man, and I do not want that. And, +besides that, there is his sister; she is as determined to preach as he is +to speak to Margery. The bishop says he can't stand her any longer, and he +is going away to-morrow, and that will make it all the worse for +us--especially for you, Hector. I cannot endure this state of things; it +has made me so nervous I cannot get to sleep, and, besides, it is not +right for us to keep Margery where she must be continually guarded from +such a man. Now it may seem foolish to run away, but I have thought over +the matter for hours and hours, and it is the only thing to do; and what +is more, it is very easy to do. If we announce that we are going, we will +all go, and the chief cause of quarrels and danger will go with us. I know +you, Hector; you will not stand his impertinence. + +"It will be daylight between three and four o'clock, and we three can +start out quietly and have a pleasant walk to Sadler's. It is only four +miles, and we can take our time. We need not carry anything with us but +what we choose to put in our pockets. We can pack our bags and leave them +here, and Mr. Sadler will send for them. When we get there we can go to +bed if we like, and have time enough for a good sleep before breakfast, +and then we can take the morning stage and leave this place and everybody +in it. Now please don't be hasty and tell me all this is foolish. +Remember, if you stay here you have a quarrel on your hands, and I shall +have hours of misery until that quarrel is settled; and no matter how it +is settled, things will be disagreeable afterwards." + +"Harriet," said Mr. Archibald, suddenly twisting himself so that he sat on +the side of the bed, "your idea is a most admirable one. It suits me +exactly. Let us run away. It is impossible for us to do anything better +than that. Have you told Margery?" + +"No," she answered, "but I will go to her at once." + +"Be quick and quiet, then," said her husband, who had now entered fully +into the spirit of the adventure; "nobody must hear us. I will dress, and +then we will pack." + +"Margery," said Mrs. Archibald, after three times shaking the sleeping +girl, "you must get up. Your uncle and I are going away, and you must go +with us." + +Margery turned her great eyes on Mrs. Archibald, but asked no questions. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Archibald, "we cannot stay in this camp any longer, on +account of Mr. Raybold and various other things. Matters have come to a +crisis, and we must go, and more than that, we must slip away so that the +others may not go with us." + +"When?" asked Margery, now speaking for the first time. + +"As soon as it is daylight." + +"So soon as that?" said the girl, a shadow on her brow which was very +plain in the light of the candle which Mrs. Archibald had brought with +her. "Surely not before breakfast?" + +"Margery," said Mrs. Archibald, a little sharply, "you do not seem to +understand--you are not awake; we must start as soon as it is light. But +we cannot discuss it now. We are going, and you must go with us. You must +get up and pack your things in your bag, which we shall send for." + +Suddenly a light came into Margery's eyes and she sat up. "All right," +said she, "I will be ready as soon as you are. It will be jolly to run +away, especially so early in the morning," and with that she jumped out of +bed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +AN ELOPEMENT + + +A little more than an hour after Mrs. Archibald had made known her project +to her husband the three inhabitants of the cabin stole softly out into +the delicate light of the early dawn. + +Mr. Archibald had thought of leaving a note for Matlack, but his wife had +dissuaded him. She was afraid that the wrong person might get hold of it. + +"When we are safely at Sadler's," she said, "we can send for our bags, +with a note to Matlack. It will not matter then who knows." She had a firm +belief in the power of the burly keeper of the inn to prevent trouble on +his premises. + +With careful but rapid steps the little party passed along the open +portion of the camp, keeping as far as possible from the tent wherein +reposed Corona and Mrs. Perkenpine, and soon reached the entrance of the +wood road. Here it was not quite so light as in the open, but still they +could make their way without much trouble, and after a few minutes' +walking they felt perfectly safe from observation, and slackening their +pace, they sauntered along at their ease. + +The experience was a novel one to all of them; even Mr. Archibald had +never been in the woods so early in the morning. In fact, under these +great trees it could scarcely be said to be morning. The young light which +made its uncertain way through the foliage was barely strong enough to +cast a shadow, and although these woodland wanderers knew that it was a +roadway in which they were walking, that great trees stood on each side of +them, with branches reaching out over their heads, and that there were +bushes and vines and here and there a moss-covered rock or a fallen tree, +they saw these things not clearly and distinctly, but as through a veil. +But there was nothing uncertain about the air they breathed; full of the +moist aroma of the woods, it was altogether different from the noonday +odors of the forest. + +Stronger and stronger grew the morning light, and more and more clearly +perceptible became the greens, the browns, and the grays about them. Now +the birds began to chatter and chirp, and squirrels ran along the branches +of the trees, while a young rabbit bounced out from some bushes and went +bounding along the road. This early morning life was something they had +not seen in their camp, for it was all over before they began their day. +There was a spring by the roadside, which they had noticed when they had +come that way before, and when they reached it they sat down and ate some +biscuit which Mrs. Archibald had brought with her, and drank cool water +from Mr. Archibald's folding pocket-cup. + +The loveliness of the scene, the novelty of the experience, the feeling +that they were getting away from unpleasant circumstances, and in a +perfectly original and independent fashion, gave them all high spirits. +Even Mrs. Archibald, whose sleepless night might have been supposed to +interfere with this morning walk, declared herself as fresh as a lark, and +stated that she knew now why a lark or any other thing that got up early +in the morning should be fresh. + +They had not left the spring far behind them when they heard a rustling in +the woods to the right of the road, and the next moment there sprang out +into the open, not fifty feet in front of them, a full-grown red deer. +They were so startled by this apparition that they all stopped as if the +beautiful creature had been a lion in their path. For an instant it turned +its great brown eyes upon them, and then with two bounds it plunged into +the underbrush on the other side of the road. Mrs. Archibald and Margery +had never before seen a deer in the woods. + +The young girl clapped her hands. "It all reminds me of my first night at +the opera!" she cried. + +Two or three times they rested, and they never walked rapidly, so it was +after five o'clock when the little party emerged into the open country and +approached the inn. Not a soul was visible about the premises, but as they +knew that some one soon would be stirring, they seated themselves in three +arm-chairs on the wide piazza to rest and wait. + +Peter Sadler was an early riser, and when the front hall door was open he +appeared thereat, rolling his wheeled chair out upon the piazza with a +bump--though not with very much of a bump, for the house was built to suit +him and his chair. But he did not take his usual morning roll upon the +piazza, for, turning his head, he beheld a gentleman and two ladies fast +asleep in three great wicker chairs. + +"Upon my soul!" he exclaimed. "If they ain't the Camp Robbers!" At this +exclamation they all awoke. + +Ten minutes after that the tale had been told, and if the right arm of Mr. +Sadler's chair had not been strong and heavy it would have been shivered +into splinters. + +"As usual," cried the stalwart Peter, "the wrong people ran away. If I had +seen that bicycle man and his party come running out of the woods, I +should have been much better satisfied, and I should have thought you had +more spirit in you, sir, than I gave you credit for." + +"Oh, you mistake my husband altogether!" cried Mrs. Archibald. "The +trouble with him is that he has too much spirit, and that is the reason I +brought him away." + +"And there is another thing," exclaimed Margery. "You should not say Mr. +Raybold and his party. He was the only one of them who behaved badly." + +"That is true," said Mrs. Archibald. "His sister is somewhat obtrusive, +but she is a lady, gentle and polite, and it would have been very painful +to her and as painful to us had it been necessary forcibly to eject her +brother from our camp. It was to avoid all this that we--" + +"Eloped," interjected Mr. Archibald. + +[Illustration: "'IF THEY AIN'T THE CAMP ROBBERS!'"] + +The good Peter laughed. "Perhaps you are right," said he. "But I shall +have a word with that bicycle fellow when he comes this way. You are an +original party, if there ever was one. First you go on somebody else's +wedding-journey, and then you elope in the middle of the night, and now +the best thing you can do is to go to bed. You can have a good sleep and a +nine-o'clock breakfast, and I do not see why you should leave here for two +or three days." + +"Oh, we must go this morning," said Mrs. Archibald, quickly. "We must go. +We really cannot wait until any of those people come here. It makes me +nervous to think about it." + +"Very good, then," said Peter. "The coach starts for the train at +eleven." + +Mrs. Archibald was a systematic woman, and was in the habit of rising at +half-past seven, and when that hour arrived she awoke as if she had been +asleep all night. Going to the window to see what sort of a day it was, +which was also her custom, she looked out upon the lawn in front of the +house, and her jaw dropped and her eyes opened. There she beheld Margery +and Mr. Clyde strolling along in close converse. For a moment she was +utterly stupefied. + +"What can this mean?" she thought. "How could they have missed us so soon? +We are seldom out of our cabin before eight o'clock. I cannot comprehend +it!" And then a thought came to her which made her face grow pale. "Is it +possible," she said to herself, "that any of the others have come? I must +go immediately and find out." + +In ten minutes she had dressed and quietly left the room. + +When Margery saw Mrs. Archibald descending the piazza, steps, she left Mr. +Clyde and came running to meet her. + +"I expect you are surprised to see me here," she said, "but I intended to +tell you and Uncle Archibald as soon as you came down. You see, I did not +at all want to go away and not let Mr. Clyde know what had become of me, +and so, after I had packed my bag, I wrote a little note to him and put it +in a biscuit-box under a stone not far from my window, which we had +arranged for a post-office, just the day before." + +"A post-office!" cried Mrs. Archibald. + +"Yes," said Margery. "Of course there wasn't any need for one--at least we +did not suppose there would be--but we thought it would be nice; for, you +must know, we are engaged." + +"What!" cried Mrs. Archibald. "Engaged? Impossible! What are you talking +about?" + +"Yes," said Margery, "we are really engaged, and it was absolutely +necessary. Under ordinary circumstances this would not have happened so +soon, but as things were it could not be delayed. Mr. Clyde thought the +matter over very carefully, and he decided that the only way to keep me +from being annoyed and frightened by Mr. Raybold was for him to have the +right to defend me. If he told Mr. Raybold I was engaged to him, that of +course would put an end to the young man's attentions. We were engaged +only yesterday, so we haven't had any time to tell anybody, but we +intended to do it to-day, beginning with you and Uncle Archibald. Harrison +came over early to the post-office, hoping to find some sort of a note, +and he was wonderfully astonished when he read what was in the one I put +there. I told him not to say anything to anybody, and he didn't, but he +started off for Sadler's immediately, and came almost on a run, he says, +he was so afraid I might go away before he saw me." + +"Margery," exclaimed the elder lady, tears coming into her eyes as she +spoke, "I am grieved and shocked beyond expression. What can I say to my +husband? What can I say to your mother? From the bottom of my heart I wish +we had not brought you with us; but how could I dream that all this +trouble would come of it?" + +"It is indeed a very great pity," said Margery, "that Mr. Clyde and I +could not have been engaged before we went into camp; then Mr. Raybold +would have had no reason to bother me, and I should have had no trouble +with Martin." + +"Martin!" cried Mrs. Archibald. "What of him?" + +"Oh, he was in love with me too," replied the young girl, "and we had +talks about it, and I sent him away. He was really a young man far above +his station, and was doing the things he did simply because he wanted to +study nature; but of course I could not consider him at all." + +"And that was the reason he left us!" exclaimed Mrs. Archibald. "Upon my +word, it is amazing!" + +"Yes," said Margery; "and don't you see, Aunt Harriet, how many reasons +there were why Mr. Clyde and I should settle things definitely and become +engaged? Now there need be no further trouble with anybody." + +Distressed as she was, Mrs. Archibald could not refrain from smiling. "No +further trouble!" she said. "I think you would better wait until Mr. +Archibald and your mother have heard this story before you say that." + +Mr. Archibald was dressing for breakfast when his wife told him of +Margery's engagement, and the announcement caused him to twirl around so +suddenly that he came very near breaking a looking-glass with his +hair-brush. He made a dash for his coat. "I will see him," he said, and +his eyes sparkled in a way which indicated that they could discover a +malefactor without the aid of spectacles. + +"Stop!" said his wife, standing in his way. "Don't go to them when you are +angry. We have just got out of trouble, and don't let us jump into it +again. If they are really and truly engaged--and I am sure they are--we +have no authority to break it off, and the less you say the better. What +we must do is to take her immediately to her mother, and let her settle +the matter as best she can. If she knows her daughter as well as I do, I +am sure she will acquit us of all blame." + +Mr. Archibald was very indignant and said a great deal, but his wife was +firm in her counsel to avoid any hard words or bad feeling in a matter +over which they had now no control. + +"Well," said he, at last, "I will pass over the whole affair to Mrs. +Dearborn, but I hope I may eat my breakfast without seeing them. Whatever +happens, I need a good meal." + +When Mr. Archibald came out of the breakfast-room, his mind considerably +composed by hot rolls and coffee, he met Margery in the hall. + +"Dear Uncle Archibald," she exclaimed, "I have been waiting and waiting +for you. I hope you are not angry. Please be as kind to us as you can, and +remember, it was just the same with us as it was with you and Aunt +Harriet. You would not have run away from the camp in the middle of the +night if you could have helped it, and we should not have been engaged so +suddenly if we could have helped it. But we all had to do what we did on +account of the conduct of others, and as it is settled now, I think we +ought all to try to be as happy as we can, and forget our troubles. Here +is Harrison, and he and I both pray from the bottom of our hearts that you +will shake hands with him. I know you always liked him, for you have said +so. And now we are both going to mother to tell her all about it." + +"Both?" said Mr. Archibald. + +"Yes," said Margery; "we must go together, otherwise mother would know +nothing about him, and I should be talking to no purpose. But we are going +to do everything frankly and openly and go straight to her, and put our +happiness in her hands." + +Mr. Archibald looked at her steadfastly. "Such ingenuousness," he said, +presently, "is overpowering. Mr. Clyde, how do you do? Do you think it is +going to be a fine day?" + +The young man smiled. "I think it is going to be a fine lifetime," said +he. + +The party was gathered together on the piazza, ready to take the coach. +The baggage had arrived from the camp in a cart; but Phil Matlack had not +come with it, as he remained to take down his tent and settle affairs +generally. They were all sorry not to see him again, for he had proved +himself a good man and a good guide; but when grown-up married people +elope before daybreak something must be expected to go wrong. Hearty and +substantial remembrances were left for him, and kind words of farewell for +the bishop, and even for Miss Corona when she should appear. + +Peter Sadler was loath to part with his guests. "You are more interesting +now than ever you were," he said, "and I want to hear all about that +hermit business; you've just barely mentioned it." + +"My dear sir," said Mr. Archibald, with a solemn visage, "sooner or later +Miss Corona Raybold will present herself at this inn on her way home. If +you want to know anything about her plan to assist human beings to assert +their individualities, it will only be necessary to mention the fact to +her." + +"Good-bye, then," said Peter, shaking hands with Mr. and Mrs. Archibald. +"I don't know what out-of-the-way thing you two will do next, but, +whatever it is, I hope it will bring you here." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MRS. PERKENPINE DELIGHTS THE BISHOP + + +It was the bishop who first appreciated the fact that a certain air of +loneliness had descended upon the shore of the lake. He had prepared +breakfast at his camp, but as Mr. Clyde did not make his appearance he +went to Camp Rob to look for him. There he saw Matlack and his assistant +busy in their kitchen tent, and Mrs. Perkenpine was also engaged in +culinary matters. He had left Arthur Raybold asleep at Camp Roy, but of +the ladies and gentleman who were usually visible at the breakfast-hour at +Camp Rob he saw no signs, and he approached Mrs. Perkenpine to inquire for +Clyde. At his question the sturdy woman turned and smiled. It was a queer +smile, reminding the bishop of the opening and shutting of a farm gate. + +"He's a one-er," said she. "Do you suppose he could ketch a rabbit, no +matter how fast he ran?" + +"Come, now," said the bishop, "he wasn't trying to do that?" + +"He was either doin' that, or else he was runnin' away. I seed him early +this mornin'--I wasn't up, but I was lookin' round--and I thought from the +way he was actin' that he'd set a rabbit-trap and was goin' to see if he'd +caught anything, and pretty soon I seed him runnin' like Sam Hill, as if +his rabbit had got away from him. But perhaps it wasn't that, and maybe +somebody skeered him. Anyway, he's clean gone." + +The bishop stood and reflected; the affair looked serious. Clyde was a +practical, sensible fellow--and he was gone. Why did he go? + +"Have you seen any of the Archibalds yet?" he asked. + +"No," said she; "I guess they're not up yet, though it's late for them. My +young woman ain't up nuther, but it ain't late for her." + +The bishop walked slowly towards the cabin and regarded it earnestly. +After a few minutes inspection he stepped up to the door and knocked. Then +he knocked again and again, and hearing nothing from within he became +alarmed, and ran to Matlack. + +"Hello!" he cried. "Something has happened to your people, or they have +gone away. Come to the cabin, quick!" + +In less than a minute Matlack, the bishop, and Bill Hammond were at the +cabin, and the unfastened door was opened wide. No one was in the house, +that was plain enough, but on the floor were four bags packed for +transportation. + +Matlack looked about him, and then he laughed. "All right," said he; +"there ain't no need of worryin' ourselves. They haven't left a thing of +theirs about, everything's packed up and ready to be sent for. When people +do that, you may be sure nothing's happened to them. They've gone off, and +I bet it's to get rid of that young woman's preachin'. But I don't blame +them; I don't wonder they couldn't stand it." + +The bishop made no reply. Remembering his recent conversation with Mrs. +Archibald, he believed that, if they had quietly gone away, there was a +better reason for it than Miss Raybold's fluency of expression. It was +possible that something might have happened after he had retired from the +scene the night before, for when he went to sleep Raybold was still +walking up and down in the moonlight. + +His mind was greatly disturbed. They were gone, and he was left. "What are +you going to do?" he asked Matlack. + +"Nothin' just now," said the guide. "If they don't send for their things +pretty soon, I'll go over to Sadler's and find out what's the matter. But +they're all right. Look how careful them bags is strapped up!" + +The bishop left the cabin and walked thoughtfully away in the direction of +Camp Roy. In two minutes he had made up his mind: he would eat his +breakfast--he could not travel upon an empty stomach--and then he would +depart. That was imperative. + +When he reached the camp he found that Raybold had risen and was pouring +out for himself a bowl of coffee. Seeing the bishop approach, the young +man's face grew dark, as might have been expected from the events of the +night before, and he hurriedly placed some articles of food upon a plate, +and was about leaving the stove when the bishop reached him. Raybold +turned with a frown, and what was meant to be a glare. + +"I shall bide my time," said he, and with his coffee and his plate he +retired to a distance. + +The bishop smiled but made no answer, and sat down and ate his meal in +peace; then he prepared to depart. He had nothing but a little bag, and it +did not take long to put in order the simple culinary department of the +camp. When all was done he stood for some minutes thinking. There was a +path through the woods which led to the road, so that he might go on to +Sadler's without the knowledge of any one at Camp Rob, but he felt that he +ought to see Matlack and tell him that he was going. If anything went +wrong at Camp Roy he did not wish to be held responsible for it. Mr. +Archibald could afford to go away without saying anything about it, but he +could not, and, besides, if he should happen to see Miss Raybold it would +be far more gentlemanly to tell her that he was going and to bid her +goodbye, than to slip off through the woods like a tramp. He would go, +that he was determined upon; but he would go like a man. + +When he reached Camp Rob the first person he saw was Miss Raybold, +standing near her tent with a roll of paper in her hand. The moment she +perceived him she walked rapidly towards him. + +"Good-morning," she said. "Did you know that the Archibalds had gone? I +never was so amazed in all my life. I was eating my breakfast when a man +and a cart drove up to their cabin, and Mrs. Perkenpine, running to see +what this meant, soon came back and told me that the family of three had +departed in the night, and had sent this cart for their baggage. I think +this was a very uncivil proceeding, and I do not in the least understand +it. Can you imagine any reason for this extremely uncourteous action?" + +The bishop could imagine reasons, but he did not care to state them. + +"It may be," he said, with a smile, "that they discovered that their +natures demanded hotel beds instead of camp cots, and that they +immediately departed in obedience to the mandates of their +individualities." + +"But in so doing," said Miss Raybold, "they violated the principles of +association. Our scheme included mutual confidence as well as +self-investigation and assertion. I must admit that Mr. Archibald +disappointed me. I think he misunderstood my project. By holding one's +self entirely aloof from humanity one encourages self-ignorance. But +perhaps our party was somewhat too large--the elements too many and +inharmonious--and I see no reason why we who remain should relinquish our +purpose. I believe it will be easier for us to become truly ourselves than +when our number was greater, and so I propose that we make no change +whatever in our plans; that we live on, for the time agreed upon, exactly +as if the Archibalds were here. And now, if you have a few minutes to +spare, I would like to read you something I wrote this morning before I +left my tent. I was awake during the night, and thought for a long time +upon the subject of mental assimilation, the discussion of which we did +not finish last evening, and this morning, while my thoughts were fresh, I +put them upon paper, and now I would like to read them to you. Isn't there +some shady place where we might sit down? There are two camp-chairs; will +you kindly place them under this tree?" + +The bishop sighed, but he went for the chairs. It would be too hard for +him to tell her he was going to leave the camp, and he would not try to do +it. He would slip off as soon as he had a chance, and leave a note for +her. She would not perhaps like that, but it was the best he could do. + +The reading of the paper occupied at least half an hour, and when it was +finished, and Corona had begun to make some remarks on a portion of it +which she had not fully elaborated, Mrs. Perkenpine approached, and stood +before her. + +"Well, miss," said she, "I'm off." + +Miss Raybold fixed her eye-glasses upon her. "What do you mean?" she +asked. + +"I'm goin' back to Sadler's," she replied. "Phil's goin', and I'm goin'. +He's jest told me that the cart's comin' back for the kitchen fixin's and +his things, and him and Bill Hammond is goin' to Sadler's with it; and if +he goes, I goes." + +This speech had a very different effect upon its two hearers. Corona was +as nearly angry as her self-contained nature would permit; but, although +he did not allow his feelings to betray him, the bishop was delighted. Now +they must all go, and that suited him exactly. + +"It is a positive and absolute breach of contract!" exclaimed Miss +Raybold. "You agreed to remain in my service during my stay in camp, and +you have no right to go away now, no matter who else may depart." + +Mrs. Perkenpine grinned. "That sort of thing was all very well a week +ago," said she, "but it won't work now. I've been goin' to school to +myself pretty steady, and I've kept myself in a good deal, too, for not +knowin' my lessons, and I've drummed into me a pretty good idea of what I +be, and I can tell you I'm not a woman as stays here when Phil Matlack's +gone. I'm not a bit scary, but I never stayed in camp yet with all +greenhorns but me. When I find myself in that sort of a mess, it's my +nater to get out of it. Phil says he's goin' to start the fust thing this +afternoon, and that's the time I'm goin', and so, if you would like to go, +you can send word by that man in the cart to have you and your things sent +for, and we can all clear out together." + +"Positively," exclaimed Corona, turning to the bishop, "this is the most +high-handed proceeding I ever heard of!" + +"That's 'xactly what I think," said Mrs. Perkenpine; "it most takes my +breath away to think how high-handed I am. Before I knowed myself I +couldn't have been that way to save my skin. There didn't use to be any +individdlety about me. You might take a quart of huckleberries and ask +yourself what it was particular 'bout any one of them +huckleberries--'xceptin' it might be green, and it's a long time since I +was that way--and you'd know jest as much about that huckleberry as I +knowed about myself. Now it's different. It's just the same as if there +was only one huckleberry in a quart box, and it ain't no trouble to see +all around that." + +"I think, Miss Raybold," said the bishop, "that this good woman has +prosecuted her psychical researches with more effect than any of us." + +"Bosh!" exclaimed Miss Raybold. "Do you really think I must leave this +camp at the dictation of that person?" + +"'Scuse me," said Mrs. Perkenpine, "but I'm goin' to scratch things +together for movin'. We'll have dinner here, and then we'll pack up and be +off as soon as the carts come. That's what Phil says he's goin' to do." + +With a satisfied mind and internal gratitude to Mrs. Perkenpine, who had +made everything easy for him, the bishop endeavored to make Corona feel +that, as her departure from the camp was inevitable, it would be well not +to disturb her mind too much about it. But it was of no use trying to +console the lady. + +"It is too bad," she said; "it is humiliating. Here I believed that I was +truly myself; that I was an independent entity; that I was free to assert +my individual nature and to obey its impulses, and now I find that I am +nothing but the slave of a female guide. Actually I must obey her, and I +must conform to her!" + +"It is true," said the bishop, musingly, "that although we may discover +ourselves, and be greatly pleased with the prospect of what we see, we may +not be permitted to enter into its enjoyment, and must content ourselves +with looking over the fence and longing for what we see." + +Corona faintly smiled. "When we have climbed high enough to see over that +fence," she said, "it becomes our duty to break it down." + +"When I was in England," said the bishop, "I saw a fence--an oak +fence--which they told me had stood for four hundred years. It looked +awfully tough, and it now reminds me of some of the manners and customs of +civilization." + +"When you were in England," said Corona, "did you visit Newnham College?" + +He never had. But she told him that she had been there for two years. "And +now," she continued, "there may be time enough before I must pack up my +effects to finish what I was going to say to you about approximate +assimilations." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE HERMITS CONTINUE TO FAVOR ASSOCIATION + + +When the Archibald party reached the capital city of their State, the four +of them took a carriage and drove immediately to the Dearborn residence. +Margery had insisted that Mr. Clyde should go with them, so that he and +she should present themselves together before her parents. In no other way +did she believe that the subject could be properly presented. The +Archibalds did not object to this plan; in fact, under the circumstances, +they were in favor of it. During the journey young Clyde had produced a +very favorable impression upon them. They had always liked him well +enough, and now that they examined his character more critically, they +could not fail to see that he was a kind-hearted, gentlemanly young man, +intelligent and well educated, and, according to private information from +Margery, his family was of the best. + +Arrived at the Dearborn door, they found the house in the possession of +one female servant, who informed them that Mr. Dearborn was in Canada, on +a fishing expedition; that Mrs. Dearborn had gone to attend some sort of a +congress at Saratoga, and that she did not expect to be at home until the +following Friday, three days after, which was the day on which she had +expected her daughter to be brought back to her. This was disheartening, +and the four stood upon the steps irresolute. Margery ought to go to her +mother, but neither of the Archibalds wished to go to Saratoga, nor could +they despatch thither the prematurely betrothed couple. + +"I know what we must do," said Mrs. Archibald, "we must go home." + +"But, my dear," said her husband, "we agreed to stay away for a month, and +the month is not yet up." + +"It doesn't matter," said she. "Kate and her husband will take us in for +the few days left. When we explain all that we have gone through, she will +not be hard-hearted enough to make us go to a hotel until Friday; Margery +can come with us." + +Margery turned upon Mrs. Archibald a pair of eyes filled with earnest +inquiry. + +"I know what you want," said Mrs. Archibald. "No, he can go to a hotel in +the town; and I shall write to your mother to come to us as soon as she +returns; then you two can present yourselves together according to your +plans. There is no use talking about it, Hector; it is the only thing we +can do." + +"We shall break our word to the newly married," said her husband. "Isn't +there a State law against that?" + +"When we made that arrangement," said his wife, going down the steps, "we +did not know our individual selves; now we do, and the case is different. +Kate will understand all that when I explain it to her." + +They drove back to the station, and took a train for home. + +Mr. and Mrs. Bringhurst were sitting in the cool library about nine +o'clock that evening; he was reading while she was listening, and they +were greatly astonished when they heard a carriage drive up to the front +door. During their domestic honey-moon they had received no visitors, and +they looked at each other and wondered. + +"It is a mistake," said he; "but don't trouble yourself. Mary has not gone +to bed, and she will hear the bell." + +But there was no bell; the door was opened, and in came father and mother, +followed by a strange young couple. + +"It is wonderful!" exclaimed Kate, when at last everybody had been +embraced or introduced. "A dozen times during the last week have we talked +about the delight it would give us if our father and mother could be here +to be entertained a little while as our guests in our own house--for you +gave it to us for a month, you know. But we refrained from sending you an +invitation because we did not want to cut off your holiday. And now you +are here! The good fairies could not have arranged the matter better." + +When all the tales had been told; when the assertion of individuality and +the plans of hermit association had been described and discussed, and the +young Bringhursts had told how they, too, without knowing it, had been +associate hermits, devoting their time not to the discovery of their own +natures, but of the nature of each other, and how perfectly satisfied they +had been with the results, it was very late, and young Clyde was not +allowed to go out into the darkness to find a hotel. + +It was on Thursday afternoon that Mrs. Dearborn arrived at the Archibalds' +house. The letter she had received had made her feel that she could not +wait until the end of the congress. + +"Now, mother," said Margery, when the two were alone together, "you have +seen him and you have talked to him, and Uncle Hector has told you how he +went to the office of Glassborough & Clyde and found he was really their +nephew, and all about him and his family; and you have been told precisely +why it was necessary that we should engage ourselves so abruptly on +account of the violent nature of Mr. Raybold and the trouble he might +cause, not only to us, but to dear Aunt Harriet and Uncle Archibald. And +now we come just like two of your own children and put the whole matter +entirely into your hands and leave you to decide, out of your own heart, +exactly when and where we shall be married, and all about it. Then, when +father comes home, you can tell him just what you have decided to do. You +are our parents, and we leave it to you." + +"What in the world," said Mrs. Dearborn, an hour later, when she was +talking to the two married ladies of the household, "can one do with a +girl like that? I do not believe dynamite would blow them apart; and if I +thought it would I should not know how to manage it." + +"No," said Mrs. Archibald, "I am afraid the explosion would be as bad for +you as it would be for them." + +"Don't try it," said Mrs. Kate. "I take a great interest in that budding +bit of felicity; I consider it an outgrowth of our own marriage and +honey-moon. When we sent out that wild couple, my father and mother, on a +wedding-tour, we did not dream that they would bring back to us a pair of +lovers, who never would have been lovers if it had not been for us, and +who are now ready for a wedding-tour on their own account, as soon as +circumstances may permit. And so, feeling a little right and privilege in +the matter, I am going to ask you, Mrs. Dearborn, to let them be married +here whenever the wedding-day shall come, and let them start out from this +house on their marriage career. Now don't you think that would be a fine +plan? I am sure your daughter will like it, when she remembers what she +owes us; and if Mr. Clyde objects I will undertake to make him change his +mind." + +When the plan was proposed in full counsel, it was found that there would +be no need for the exercise of Mrs. Kate's powers of persuasion. + + * * * * * + +About ten days after Mrs. Dearborn and Margery had returned to their home, +and Clyde had followed, to move like a satellite in an orbit determined by +Mrs. Dearborn, Mr. Archibald was surprised, but also very much pleased, to +receive a visit from the bishop. + +"I could not refrain," said that expansive individual, "from coming to you +as soon as circumstances would allow, and, while expressing to you the +great obligations under which you have placed me, to confide to you my +plans and my prospects. You have been so good to me that I believe you +will be pleased to know of the life work to which I have determined to +devote myself." + +"I am glad to hear," said the other, "that you have made plans, but you +owe nothing to me." + +"Excuse me," said the bishop, "but I do. This suit of clothes, sir, is the +foundation of my fortunes." + +"And well earned," said Mr. Archibald. "But we will say no more about +that. Have you secured a position? Tell me about yourself." + +"I have a position," said the bishop. "But would you prefer that I tell +you of that first, or begin at the beginning and briefly relate to you +what has happened since I saw you last?" + +"Oh, begin at the beginning, by all means," said Mr. Archibald. "I was +sorry to be obliged to leave you all so unceremoniously, and I greatly +desire to know what happened after we left." + +"Very good, then," said the bishop, "I will give you our history in as few +words as I can. On the afternoon after your departure we all went to +Sadler's--that is, Miss Raybold and myself and the three guides; for +Raybold, when he heard that Miss Dearborn and Mr. Clyde had gone, +immediately left for Sadler's, hoping, I think, to find you all there. +From what I heard, I think he and Peter Sadler must have had words. At any +rate, he discovered that his case was hopeless, and he had himself driven +to the station in a carriage, not choosing to wait until our arrival. I +have since heard that he has determined to relinquish the law and devote +himself to the dramatic arts. + +"For some reason or other, Peter Sadler was very glad to see me, and +congratulated me heartily on the favorable change in my appearance. He +called me his favorite tramp, and invited me to stop at his hotel for a +time, but I consented to stay a few days only, for I felt I must go to see +the gentleman to whom I wished to engage myself as librarian before my new +clothes had lost their freshness. Miss Raybold arranged to stay at +Sadler's for a week. She liked the place, and as she had planned to remain +away from home for a fortnight, she did not wish to return before the time +fixed upon. There were a good many people at Sadler's, but none of them +seemed to interest her. She decidedly preferred to talk to Sadler or to +me; but although Peter is a jolly fellow, and had some lively +conversations with her, he does not seem to care for protracted mental +intercourse, and it became so plain to me that she depended upon me, in so +large a degree, for companionship and intellectual stimulus, that I did +not leave as soon as I intended. It was on Wednesday, in fact, that I +steeled my heart and told her that I must positively depart early the +following morning, or I could not expect to reach my destination before +the end of the week. It was that evening, however, that we became engaged +to be married." + +"What?" cried Mr. Archibald. "Did you dare to propose yourself to that +classic being?" + +"No," replied the other, "I cannot, with exactness, say that I did. It +would be difficult, indeed, for me to describe the manner in which we +arrived at this most satisfactory conclusion. Miss Raybold is a mistress +of expression, and, without moving a hair's-breadth beyond the lines of +maidenly reserve which always environ her, she made me aware, not only +that I desired to propose marriage to her, but that it would be well for +me to do so. There were objections to this course, which, as an honest +man, I could not refrain from laying before her, and with my proposition I +stated these objections, but they were overruled to my entire +satisfaction, and she consented to become Mrs. Bishop." + +"Mrs. Bishop?" said the other, inquiringly. + +"Oh yes; Bishop is my name--Henry C. Bishop. It was this name which +suggested the title which was playfully given to me. Before our compact +was made I had told Miss Raybold all about my family. She did not ask me +to do so, but I knew she desired the information, for I had learned to +read those beautiful eyes." + +"But," said Mr. Archibald, "how about your position? Did you get the place +as librarian?" + +"No," said the other, "I did not ask for it. The question of my vocation +has been settled most admirably. There never was a human being more frank, +more straightforward and pertinent than Miss Raybold. She knows what she +wants, and she makes her plans to get it. With regard to means she is +sufficiently endowed, but the life work to which she has devoted herself +is far more than she can ever accomplish alone. She needs the constant +assistance of a sympathetic and appreciative nature, and that, I am happy +to say, I am able to give to her; and were I to devote myself to any other +calling which would interfere with that assistance, I should be doing her +a positive wrong. Therefore, should I state it in definite words, I should +say that I am to become my wife's private secretary. That is my position, +and it suits me admirably; and I may add that Corona assures me that she +is thoroughly well pleased. We are to be married in the fall, and I hope +it will not be long before we shall have the pleasure of meeting again our +former companions of the hermit camp." + +"By-the-way," said Mr. Archibald, as his visitor was about to leave, "tell +me something of Matlack. I had a great liking for our guide." + +"All that I can tell you is this," said Mr. Bishop, smiling: "Not long +after we arrived at Sadler's, he went to Peter and asked him if he +intended to send out a camping party to any considerable distance. It so +happened that a couple of gentlemen were going to a point on the very +limits of Sadler's jurisdiction, and with them Matlack petitioned to go, +although another guide had been appointed. I made inquiries, and found +that, for some reason, probably connected with the persistencies of the +female sex, Matlack had become a sort of Daniel Boone and wanted to go +away as far as possible from his kind." + +"I hope," said Mr. Archibald, "that our example has not made a real hermit +of him. Good-bye. I am very sorry that Mrs. Archibald is not at home; but +in both our names I wish you and your future wife the best of good +fortunes." + +"Father," exclaimed Mrs. Kate, when she heard of this interview, "now you +must grant me one more favor! Here is another pair of lovers who owe +everything to our honey-moon and your wedding-tour. We ought to know them, +for we made them what they are. So let us invite them here, and let them +be married from this house. I do not believe Miss Raybold has a proper +home of her own; and, in any case, the only way they can pay us what they +owe us is to give us the pleasure of seeing them wedded here." + +Mr. Archibald rose to his feet. "No, madam!" said he. "I am willing, to a +certain extent, to make this house a source of hymeneal felicity, but I +draw the line at the bishop. I do not intend that my home shall become a +matrimonial factory!" + +THE END + + + + +By MARIA LOUISE POOL + +THE RED-BRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD. + Illustrated by Clifford Carleton. $1 50. + +IN THE FIRST PERSON. $1 25. + +MRS. GERALD. Illustrated. $1 50. + +AGAINST HUMAN NATURE. $1 25. + +OUT OF STEP. $1 25. + +THE TWO SALOMES. $1 25. + +KATHARINE NORTH. $1 25. + +MRS. KEATS BRADFORD. $1 25. + +ROWENY IN BOSTON. $1 25. + +DALLY. $1 25. + +Novels. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental. + +The author's narrative gift is as nearly perfect as one could +wish.--_Chicago Interior._ + +Miss Pool's novels have the characteristic qualities of American +life. They have an indigenous flavor. 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