"I want to say that I bear ye no gredge, 'n' thet I wish ye well. I
hope ye won't think hard on me," he continued; "I he had a hard
fight with the devil as long as I can ricolect. I hev turned back
time 'n' ag'in, but thar hain't nothin' ter keep me from goin' straight
ahead now."

As Clayton left the cabin, the mountaineer stopped him for a
moment on the threshold.

"Thar's another thing I reckon I ought to tell ye," he said; " Easter's
dad air powerfully sot ag'in ye. He thought ye was an officer at
fust, 'n' hit was hard to git him out o' the idee thet ye was spyin' fer
him; 'n' when he seed ye goin' to the house, he got it inter his head
that ye mought be meanin' harm to Easter, who air the only thing
alive thet he keers fer much. He promised not to tech ye, 'n' I
knowed he would keep his word as long as he was sober. It'll be
all right now, I reckon," he concluded, "when I tell him whut ye
aims to do, though he hev got a spite ag'in all furriners. Far'well! I
wish ye well; I wish ye well."

An hour later Clayton was in Jellico. It was midnight when the
train came in, and he went immediately to his berth. Striking the curtain accidentally, he loosed it from its fastenings, and, doubling the pillows, he lay looking out on the swiftly passing landscape. The moon was full and brilliant, and there was a strange, keen pleasure in being whirled in such comfort through the night. The mists almost hid the mountains. They seemed very, very far away. A red star trembled in the crest of Wolf Mountain. Easter's cabin must be almost under that Star. He wondered if she were asleep. Perhaps she was out on the porch, lonely, suffering, and thinking of him. He felt her kiss and her tears upon his hand. Did he not love her? Could there be any doubt about that? His thoughts turned toRaines, and he saw the mountaineer in his lonely cabin, sitting with his head bowed in his hands in front of the dying fire. He closed his eyes, and another picture rose before him-a scene at
home. He had taken Easter to New York. How brilliant the light!
what warmth and luxury! There stood his father, there his mother.
What gracious dignity they had! Here was his sister-what beauty
and elegance and grace of manner! But Easter! Wherever she was
placed the other figures needed readjustment. There was
something irritably incongruous-Ah! now he had it-his mind grew
hazy-he was asleep.