The Revenue Agent

Summary

The girl, on guard at the mountain defile, sees a strange man with all the accouterments of a painter. She hails him and he explains he is a landscape artist. Tom, coming along a moment later, also challenges him and is reassured of the stranger's calling when the stranger paints his picture. As the days go by, the painter and the girl meet frequently and Tom's attentions to the girl begin to be unwelcome, Tom is consumed with jealousy, but he likes the painter and he is a good loser. Then comes the denouement. The moonshiners learn that the painter is a revenue agent. Tom is about to kill him, but the girl buys his life at the price of her happiness. She tells Tom she will marry him if the spy goes free.