Arthur Sherburne Hardy

“ We had abandoned butlers in town. It was trying to give them up, for a man-servant is unquestionably useful about a house, to say nothing of style. But it was less trying to give up the butler than to confront the problems constantly arising out of the propinquity of the sexes below-stairs. Why I should have thought it less dangerous to introduce a woman among men than a man among women I do not know.
So Maggie came to our camp on Faraway Lake.
She was a pretty girl, or rather woman, with eyes that looked straight into yours. Isaac's never did. ”

“ Isaac always reminded me of a wild animal. If you wish to understand a wild animal you must catch it alone, when unconscious of being under observation. I never should have obtained the least clue to Isaac if I had not now and then caught him alone. ”

“ They tumble over each other till they become exhausted. But did you ever see a small dog who wanted to have some fun with a big dog who wanted peace? Dignity then becomes a provocation. The little fellow cannot let the other alone. This was the case with Isaac and Maggie. Isaac simply went about his business. The coming of Maggie was no more to him than an earthquake on Jupiter.
Isaac was not only guide and cook—as cooks go in the woods—but also an expert with the needle. I once asked him why he did not marry. He replied, "A man what can cook and sew has no call to." ”

“ He spoke to Mary, but he was looking at Maggie. His look held her fast. She met it with one half of pleading, half of terror. What was he going to do with her? "You go in there," he said, motioning with his head toward his lean-to. She obeyed, mastered. Then he took trembling Mary "home." "Being alone," he said, calling one of the dogs, "ye can have Spot for company."
Returning to his own fireside, he sat down on the platform and took out his pipe. It occurred to him after a while that it was not lighted. ”