"Wrong again," answered Mark. "I am buying the medicines for old Anthony."
"Then he is sick? That accounts for his not having appeared in the village for several days."
Thereupon Mark described his chance visit to the cabin, and the condition in which he had found the hermit.
"These remedies will do him good," said the druggist, "if he is otherwise kept comfortable. A strange man is old Anthony!" he continued musingly.
Mark produced a gold piece, from which he requested the druggist to take pay for the articles purchased.
"Did the hermit give you this?" asked the druggist.
Mark answered in the affirmative.
"Then it is evident he is not without means. However, I might have known that. During the years that he has lived in the wood, he has always been prompt in his payments for all articles purchased in the village. His expenditures are small, to be sure, but in five years they have amounted to considerable."
"What could have induced him to settle in such a lonely spot?"
"That is more than any one hereabouts can tell. He is very secretive, and never says anything about himself."