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
of the one from the vices of the other, and training it after more
breadth and refinement. But Raines and Easter did not lend
themselves to the picture so readily, and gradually it grew vague
and shadowy, and the figure of the mountaineer was blurred.
Clayton did not bring harmony to the two. At first he saw nothing
of the mountaineer, and when they met at the cabin Raines
remained only a short time. If Easter cared for him at all, she did
not show it. How he was regarded by the mother, Clayton had
learned long ago, when, in answer to one of his questions, she had
said, with a look at Easter, that " Raines was the likeliest young
feller in them mountains "; that "he knew morn'n anybody round
thar"; that " he had spent a year in the settlemints, was mighty
religious, and would one day be a circuit-rider.
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