Though one has to admit, I think, that Eveline’s decision to not allow herself to go away with Frank, and to not take that step into the unknown, cannot be attributed to timidity alone, or indifference, or some lack of moral courage, for the reader is made aware, early in the story, of her dutiful and loyal nature, which is evidenced by a promise she made to her mother, when her mother was dying, that she would “keep the home together as long as she could” after her mother would pass on. So that the situation itself, while having a resolution, does not reach that resolution without the character experiencing a great deal of conflict. And not only that, but the reader is left to wonder, I think, had Eveline made the choice to leave home, rather than stay, would she not be troubled by a regret and sadness in proportion to what she feels now, though for opposite reasons? For it is in the nature of reality to suggest to a person’s conscience those avenues of life that the person, through the choices they have made, has resolved to turn away from, or to reject, as if to force on them the opportunity to question or second guess themselves, by leading them to imagine the circumstances they now have lost, or forsaken.