have to
teach me the fine points. Sit down."

"Just between ourselves, I'm not a regular hermit," said the plump
bewhiskered one, sitting gingerly on the edge of a frail chair. "Not one
of these 'all for love of a woman' hermits you read about in books. Of
course, I have to pretend I am, in summer, in order to sell the cards
and do my whole duty by the inn management. A lot of the women ask me in
soft tones about the great disappointment that drove me to old Baldpate,
and I give 'em various answers, according to how I feel. Speaking to you
as a friend, and considering the fact that it's the dead of winter, I
may say there was little or no romance in my life. I married early, and
stayed married a long time. I came up here for peace and quiet, and
because I felt a man ought to read something besides time-tables and
tradesmen's bills, and have something over his head besides a first and
second mortgage."

"Back to nature, in other words," remarked Mr. Magee.

"Yes, sir--back with a rush. I was down to the village this morning for
a few groceries, and I stopped off at Quimby's, as I often do. He told
me about you. I help him a lot around the inn, and we arranged I was to
stop in and start your fire, and do any other little errands you might
want done. I thought we ought to get acquainted, you and me, being as
we're both literary men, after a manner of speaking."

"No?" cried Mr. Magee.

"Yes," said the Hermit of Baldpate. "I dip into that work a little now
and then. Some of my verses on the joys of solitude have appeared in
print--on the post-cards I sell to the guests in the summer. But my
life-work, as you might call it, is a book I've had under way for some
time. It's called simply _Woman_. Just that one word--but, oh, the
meaning in it! That book is going to prove that all the trouble in the
world, from the beginning of time, was caused by females. Not just say
so, mind you. Prove it!"

"A difficult task, I'm afraid," smiled Magee.

"Not difficult--long," corrected the hermit. "When I started out, four
years ago, I thought it would just be a case of a chapter on Eve, and
honorable mention for Cleopatra and Helen of Troy, and a few more like
that, and the thing would be done. But as I got into the subject, I was
fairly buried under new evidence. Then Mr. Carnegie came along and gave
Upper Asquewan Falls a library. It's wonderful to think the great works
that man will be responsible for. I've dedicated _Woman_ to