"Why queer?"
"I'm what they call 'scrub' stock—and you——"
"So'm I—scrub. That's the kind worth being. The common clay, Nettie. The other kind is shoddy and false and——"
"Oh, Angel, I think you're so sweet and good."
"I'm not sweet and good," said Angella stoutly, "and there's nothing heroic about me."
"I don't care what you are," said Nettie, "I'll always love you. Sometimes when I get thinkin' of how hard everything's been for me in this life, I think of you and Mrs. Langdon, and I say to myself: You're a lucky girl, Nettie. Not everybody in the world has got a friend! Have they, Angel?"
"No—very few of us have," said Angella sadly. "Nettie, did you hear that!"
"What?"
"It sounded like—like a moan. Listen!"
In the dark silence of the night, the long-drawn moaning sound was repeated.