in the settlemints." She even made feeble attempts to model her
own speech after his.

In a conscious glow that he imagined was philanthropy, Clayton
began his task of elevation. She was not so ignorant as he had
supposed. Apparently she had been taught by somebody, but when
asked by whom, she hesitated answering; and he had taken it for
granted that what she knew she had puzzled out alone. He was
astonished by her quickness, her docility, and the passionate
energy with which she worked. Her instant obedience to every
suggestion, her trust in every word he uttered, made him acutely
and at times uncomfortably conscious of his responsibility. At the
same time there was in the task something of the pleasure that a
young sculptor feels when, for the first time, the clay begins to
yield obedience to his fingers, and something of the delight that
must have thrilled Pygmalion when he saw his statue tremulous
with conscious life.

VI

THE possibility of lifting the girl above her own people, and of
creating a spirit of discontent that might embitter her whole life,
had occurred to Clayton; but at such moments the figure of Raines
came into the philanthropic picture forming slowly in his mind,
and his conscience was quieted. He could see them together; the
gradual change that Easter would bring about in him, the influence
of the two on their fellows. The mining-camp grew into a town
with a modest church on the outskirts, and a cottage where Raines
and Easter were installed. They stood between the old civilization
and the new, understanding both, and protecting the native strength