relapse into a stolidity that seemed incapable of the energy and fire
shown scarcely a moment before. His life in the mountains had
made him as shaggy as some wild animal. He was coatless, and his
trousers of jeans were upheld by a single home-made suspender.
His beard was yet scarcely touched with gray, and his black,
lustreless hair fell from under a round hat of felt with ragged tdges
and uncertain color. The mountaineer did not speak again until, with great deliberation and care, he had filled a cob pipe. Then he bent his sharp eyes upon Clayton so fixedly that the latter let his own fall.

"Mebbe ye don't know that I'm ag'in' fur-riners," he said, abruptly, "
all o' ye; 'n' ef the Lord hisself hed 'a' tol' me thet my gal would be
a-marryin' one, I wouldn't 'a' believed him. But Sherd hev told me
ye air all right, 'n' ef Sherd says ye air, why, ye air, I reckon, 'n' I
hevn't got nothin' to say; though I hev got a heap ag'in ye-all o' ye."

His voice had a hint of growing anger under the momentary sense
of his wrongs, and, not wishing to incense him further, Clayton
said nothing.

Ye air back a little sooner than ye expected, ain't ye? " he asked,
presently, with an awkward effort at good-humor. "I reckon ye air
gittin' anxious. Well, we hev been gittin' ready fer ye, 'n' you 'n'
Easter kin hitch ez soon ez ye please. Sherd Raines air gum' to do
the marryin'. He air the best friend I got. Sherd was a-courtin' the
gal, too, but he hevn't got no gredge ag'in ye, 'n' he hev promised to
tie ye. Sherd air a preacher now. He hev just got his license. He
didn't want to do it, but I told him he had to. We'll hev the biggest
weddin' ever seed in these mountains, I tell ye. Any o' yo' folks be on hand?"

No," answered Clayton, soberly, "I think not."