"Are you lonely, Eve?"
"As you are. You see I know what the outside world is. I miss it."
"You were in boarding school and college."
"Yes."
"It must be hard for you here at Star Pond."
The girl sighed, unconsciously:
"There are days when I — can scarcely — stand it. … The wilderness would be more endurable if dad and I were all alone. … Bu even then——"
"You need young people of your own age, — educated companions——"
"I need the city, Mr. Stormont. I need all it can give: I'm starving for it. That's all."
She turned on her pillow, and he saw that she was smiling faintly. Her face bore no trace of the tragic truth she had uttered. But the tragedy was plain enough to him, even without her passionless words of revolt. The situation of this young, educated girl, aglow with youth, bettered, body and mind, to the squalor of Clinch's dump, was perfectly plain to anybody.