One could pass half an hour at a cafe; but Mrs.Cartwright did not like her to go to a cafe; alone and Barbara frowned impatiently.

Her mother was horribly conventional and Barbara missed the freedom she had enjoyed in Canada.

In fact, it was very dull at home; Grace's correct serenity and cold disapproval made one savage; Mortimer's very proper friends were tiresome.
Barbara was restless and dissatisfied.

She wanted to play an active part and feel she was alive.

Moreover, since she came home she had felt she was being watched, and, so to speak, protected from herself.