"Then you were brought up here by the nuns ?" "Not exactly.

It was a sort of refuge for me when I was almost a child.
I was left here alone, until I was thought old enough to take care of myself." There was a little bitterness in her tone, intentional, but masterly in its truth to nature.
"Left by your parents ?" Beatrice asked.

The question seemed almost inevitable.
"I had none.

I never knew a father or a mother." Unorna's voice grew sad with each syllable.
They had entered the great corridor in which their apartments were situated, and were approaching Beatrice's door.

They walked more and more slowly, in silence during the last few moments, after Unorna had spoken.