She did not know if she was pleased or disappointed to find the meal served as well as before, but her thoughts were not cheerful while she ate.

She remembered her ambitions and her resolve to leave the dreary plains and make her mark in Toronto or Montreal.

Now her dreams had vanished and she must grapple with dull realities that jarred her worse than they had done.
The dining-room was clean, but unattractive, with its varnished board walls, bare floor, and wire-mesh filling the skeleton door, which a spring banged to before the mosquitoes could get in.

There were no curtains or ventilator-fans, the room was very hot, and the glaring sunshine emphasized its ugliness.

Then it was full of flies that fell upon boards and tables from the poisonous papers, and a big gramophone made a discordant noise.