Isolation can make a person dangerous and desperate for ordinary kindness.

Evidence

The second time that I was left alone Mr. Nugent came in looking very black, and asked me to ride with him to see the beaver dams on the Black Canyon. No more whistling or singing, or talking to his beautiful mare, or sparkling repartee. His mood was as dark as the sky overhead, which was black with an impending snowstorm. … He was quite silent, struck his horse often, started off on a furious gallop, and then throwing his mare on her haunches close to me, said, “You’re the first man or woman who’s treated me like a human being for many a year.” — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 223

Categorization

• FICTION: A solitary mountain desperado breaking his silence mid-gallop to confess he has been treated like a human being only once in years — a ready-made character entrance.
• SHARE: The image of a man riding in black silence before wheeling his mare around to confess his ruin is a detail only a lover of frontier tales would savor.