The Waking of Helen Robert Reeves looked somewhat curiously at the girl who was waiting on him at his solitary breakfast . He had not seen her before , arriving at his summer boarding house only the preceding night . It was a shabby farmhouse on the inland shore of a large bay that was noted for its tides , and had wonderful possibilities of light and shade for an impressionist . Reeves was an enthusiastic artist . It mattered little to him that the boarding accommodations were most primitive , the people uncultured and dull , the place itself utterly isolated , as long as he could revel in those transcendent sunsets and sunrises , those marvellous moonlights , those wonderful purple shores and sweeps of shimmering blue water . The owner of the farm was Angus Fraser , and he and his wife seemed to be a reserved , uncouth pair , with no apparent interest in life save to scratch a bare living out of their few stony acres . He had an impression that they were childless and was at a loss to place this girl who poured his tea and brought in his toast . She did not resemble either Fraser or his wife . She was certainly not beautiful , being very tall and rather awkward , and dressed in a particularly unbecoming dark print wrapper . Her luxuriant hair was thick and black , and was coiled in a heavy knot at the nape of her neck . Her features were delicate but irregular , and her skin was very brown . Her eyes attracted Reeves 's notice especially ; they were large and dark and full of a half-unconscious , wistful longing , as if a prisoned soul behind them were vainly trying to reveal itself . Reeves could find out nothing of her from herself , for she responded to his tentative questions about the place in the briefest fashion . Afterwards he interviewed Mrs. Fraser cautiously , and ascertained that the girl 's name was Helen Fraser , and that she was Angus 's niece . `` Her father and mother are dead and we 've brought her up . Helen 's a good girl in most ways -- a little obstinate and sulky now and then -- but generally she 's steady enough , and as for work , there ai n't a girl in Bay Beach can come up to her in house or field . Angus calculates she saves him a man 's wages clear . No , I ai n't got nothing to say against Helen . '' Nevertheless , Reeves felt somehow that Mrs. Fraser did not like her husband 's niece . He often heard her scolding or nagging Helen at her work , and noticed that the latter never answered back .
But once , after Mrs. Angus 's tongue had been especially bitter , he met the girl hurrying along the hall from the kitchen XXXXX her eyes full of tears .
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