And because he stood
thus between the two races of men, his exact social status a
subject always open to argument, not even the fact that he was
looked upon by the Harts as one of the family, with his own bed
always ready for him in a corner of the big room set apart for
the boys, and with a certain place at the table which was called
his--not even his assured position there could keep him from
sometimes feeling quite alone, and perhaps a trifle bitter over
his loneliness.
Phoebe Hart had mothered him from the time when his father had
sickened and died in her house, leaving Grant there with twelve
years behind him, in his hands a dirty canvas bag of gold coin so
heavy he could scarce lift it, which stood for the mining claim
the old man had just sold, and the command to invest every one of
the gold coins in schooling.
Old John Imsen was steeped in knowledge of the open; nothing of
the great outdoors had ever slipped past him and remained
mysterious. Put when he sold his last claim--others he had
which promised little and so did not count--he had signed his
name with an X.
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