furriners, 'n' whut he would do ef he happened to run across this
furriner atter he has been drinkin'. I'm a-meddlin' because I hev
told him that I am goin' to take keer o' ye, 'n' I mean to do it-ef ye
hates me fer it. I'm a-watchin' ye, Easter," he continued, " 'n' I want
ye to know it. I knowed the furriner begun comm' here cause ye
air not like gals in the settlemints. Y'u air as cur'us to him as one o'
them bugs an' sich-like that he's always a-pickin' up in the woods.
I hevn't said nuthin' to yer dad, fer fear o' his harmin' the furriner;
but I hev seed that ye like him, an' hit's time now fer me to meddle.
Ef he was in love with ye, do ye think he would marry ye? I hev
been in the settle-mints. Folks thar air not as we citizens air. They
air bigoted 'n' high-heeled, 'n' they look down on us. I tell ye, too-
'n' hit air fer yer own good-he air in love with somebody in the
settlemints. I hev heerd it, 'n' I hev seed him a-lookin' at a picter in
his room ez a man don't look at his sister. They say hit's her.

"Thar's one thing more, Easter," he concluded, as he stepped from
the porch. "He is a-goin' away. I heard him say it yestiddy. What
will ye do when he's gone ef ye lets yerself git to thinkin' so much
of him now? I've warned ye now, Easter, fer yer own good, though
ye mought think I'm a-workin' fer myself. But I know I hev done
whut I ought. I've warned ye, 'n' ye kin do whut ye please, but I'm
a-watchin' ye."

The girl said nothing, but stood rigid, with eyes wide open and
face tense, as the mountaineer's steps died away. She was
bewildered by the confused emotions that swayed her. Why had
she not indignantly denied that she was in love with the "furriner"?
Raines had not hinted it as a suspicion. He had spoken it outright
as a fact, and he must have thought that her silence confirmed it.