He was probably too indifferent to comment on it, merely nodding as she ended.
Then, without reason, through and through her shot a shiver of loneliness--utter loneliness and isolation.

Without reason, because from him she expected nothing, required nothing, except what he offered--the emotionless reticence of indifference, the composure of perfect formality.

What did she want, then--companions?
She had them.

Friends?
She could scarcely escape from them.

Intimates?
She had only to choose one or a hundred attuned responsive to her every mood, every caprice.
Lonely?
With the men of New York crowding, shouldering, crushing their way to her feet?
Lonely?
With the women of New York struggling already for precedence in her favour ?--omen significant of the days to come, of those future years diamond-linked in one unbroken, triumphant glitter.
Lonely! The rain was falling out of the hanging mist, something more than a drizzle now.