



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