Chapter I: Front Matter

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THE ASSOCIATE HERMITS

By Frank R. Stockton

Author of "The Great Stone of Sardis"

With Illustrations by A. B. Frost

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