Mountain Jim’s violent mood yielded to a confession of moral ruin.

Evidence

His mood was as dark as the sky overhead, which was black with an impending snowstorm. He was quite silent, struck his horse often, started off on a furious gallop, and then throwing his mare on her haunches close to me, said, “You’re the first man or woman who’s treated me like a human being for many a year.” So he said in this dark mood, but Mr. and Mrs. Dewy, who took a very deep interest in his welfare, always treated him as a rational, intelligent gentleman, and in his better moments he spoke of them with the warmest appreciation. “If you want to know,” he continued, ”how nearly a man can become a devil, I’ll tell you now.” There was no choice, and we rode up the canyon, and I listened to one of the darkest tales of ruin I have ever heard or read. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 473

Categorization

• XREF: Jim’s claim that she is ‘the first man or woman who’s treated me like a human being’ extends the book’s running theme of the lady’s unconventional courtesy toward outcasts.

Related

• Mountain Jim greeted her warmly in the dark despite his brutal reputation. (similarity 0.85)
• Mountain Jim spoke with cultured elegance and lost his eye to a grizzly. (similarity 0.81)