Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE MASTER OF THE INN THE MASTER OF THE INN BY Robert Herrick * * * * * NEW YORK Charles Scribner's Sons 1910 _Copyright, 1908, by Charles Scribner's Sons_ _Published April, 1908_ _Second Impression, July, 1908_ _Third Impression, September, 1908_ _Fourth Impression, December, 1908_ _Fifth Impression, December, 1908_ _Sixth Impression, July, 1909_ _Seventh Impression, October, 1909_ _Eighth Impression, January, 1910_ _Ninth Impression, July, 1910_ [Illustration] _The author of "The Master of the Inn" having received many inquiries as to what foundation in fact this tale has wishes to state explicitly that both incidents and persons are purely imaginary, and that so far as he is aware there is neither Master nor Inn in existence._ _Chicago, Ills., 12 May, 1909._ THE MASTER OF THE INN THE MASTER OF THE INN I It was a plain brick house, three full stories, with four broad chimneys, and overhanging eaves. The tradition was that it had been a colonial tavern--a dot among the fir-covered northern hills on the climbing post-road into Canada. The village scattered along the road below the inn was called Albany--and soon forgotten when the railroad sought an opening through a valley less rugged, eight miles to the west.