He would have liked to know about various things to which she had made no reference.  Did she live in a frowsy lodging-house near the great works?  What kind of food did she get?  What did she do with her evenings and her Sundays?  Was she bored?  Was she miserable or exultant?  Had she acquaintances, external interests; or did she immerse herself completely, inclusively, in the huge, smoking, whirring, foul, perilous hell which she had described?  The contemplation of the horror of the hell gave him—­and her, too, he thought—­a curious feeling which was not unpleasurable.  It had savour.  He would not, however, inquire from her concerning details.  He preferred, on reflection, to keep the details mysterious, as mysterious as her individuality and as the impression of her worn eyes.  The setting of mystery in his mind suited her.

He said:  “But of course your relations with those girls were artificial, after all.”

“No, they weren’t.  I tell you the girls were perfectly open; there wasn’t the slightest artificiality.”

“Yes, but were you open, to them?  Did you ever tell them anything about yourself, for instance?”

“Oh, no!”

“Did they ever ask you to?”

“No!  They wouldn’t have thought of doing so.”

“That’s what I call artificiality.  By the way, how have you been ruined?  Who ruined you?  Was it the hated works-manager?” There had been no change in his tone; he spoke with the utmost detachment.

“I was coming to that,” answered Concepcion, apparently with a detachment equal to his.  “Last week but one in one of the shops there was a girl standing in front of a machine, with her back to it.  About twenty-two—­you must see her in your mind—­about twenty-two, nice chestnut hair.  Cap over it, of course—­that’s the rule.  Khaki overalls and trousers.  Rather high-heeled patent-leather boots—­they fancy themselves, thank God!—­and a bit of lace showing out of the khaki at the neck.  Red cheeks; she was fairly new to the works.  Do you see her?  She meant to be one of the devils.  Earning two pounds a week nearly, and eagerly spending it all.  Fully awake to all the possibilities of her body.  I was in the shop.  I said something to her, and she didn’t hear at first—­the noise of some of the shops is shattering.  I went close to her and repeated it.  She laughed out of mere vivacity, and threw back her head as people do when they laugh.  The machine behind her must have caught some hair that wasn’t under her cap.  All her hair was dragged from under the cap, and in no time all her hair was torn out and the whole of her scalp ripped clean off.  In a second or two I got her on to a trolley—­I did it—­and threw an overall over her and ran her to the dressing-station, close to the main office entrance.  There was a car there.  One of the directors was just driving off.  I stopped him.  It wasn’t a case for our dressing-station.  In three minutes I had her at the hospital—­three minutes.