“We were awfully glad to hear you,” said Jack. “Because, do you know, we haven’t met a soul since we left the East Gate.”
“Have you come from the City, then?” asked the girl with much interest, rising to her feet. “Oh, you can’t imagine how lonely it is to live out here. What news is there? What does the City look like now? Oh, I’d give anything to live in the City with crowds of people and lights and shops and—and real pavement.”
“Haven’t you got any pavement then in the village where you live?” asked Jack.
“I don’t live in a village,” answered the girl. “Its right out here in all this lonely part that mother and I live.”
“Near here?” asked Molly.
“Yes. Just at the end of the Third Green Lane,” said the girl.
“In a house?” inquired Jack.
“Yes. Why not?” the girl smiled. “What did you think we’d live in?”
“I meant,” said Jack, “it’s not marked on our map; there’s no house marked until you get to the other side of the Goblin’s Heath, and I didn’t think there was one so close.”