She has never been sheltered.

She has had to take care of herself, and a young girl can't take care of herself and keep her eyes soft and gentle like--like yours, for example." "I think you are right," Ruth said in a low voice.

"And it is too bad.
She is such a pretty girl." He looked at her and saw her eyes luminous with pity.

And then he remembered that he loved her and was lost in amazement at his fortune that permitted him to love her and to take her on his arm to a lecture.
Who are you, Martin Eden?
he demanded of himself in the looking-glass, that night when he got back to his room.

He gazed at himself long and curiously.