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.