“The bishop?” said he. “Don’t you know where he went to?”
“He left me,” she answered, “because he was obliged to go to prepare dinner for my brother and Mr. Clyde; but he is not in Camp Roy now, for I went there to look for Mrs. Perkenpine.”
“Well,” said the wicked Matlack, pointing to the spot where, not long before, Margery had found a tranquillizing breeze, “I saw him going along with a book a little while ago, and I think he went down to the shore, just beyond that clump of bushes over there. He seems to be a man who likes readin’, which isn’t a bad thing for a hermit.”
“Thank you,” said Miss Raybold, rising. “I do not care for anything more. You are very kind, and I am quite sure I shall not have to trouble you again. To-morrow everything will be running smoothly.”
Matlack looked at her as she quietly walked away. “She’s a pretty sort of a hermit,” he said to himself. “If she really had to live by herself she’d cut out a wooden man and talk to it all day. It won’t be long before she accidentally stumbles over that big fellow with his book.”
CHAPTER XXIII
MRS. PERKENPINE FINDS OUT THINGS ABOUT HERSELF
The mind of the guide was comforted and relieved that he had got the better of the bishop in one way, although he could not do it in another. But he did not relinquish his purpose of putting an end to the nonsense which made him do the work of other people, and as soon as he had set his kitchen in order he started out to find Mrs. Perkenpine. A certain amount of nonsense from the people in camp might have to be endured, but nonsense from Mrs. Perkenpine was something about which Peter Sadler would have a word to say.