Read the excerpt. Mrs. Carter often explained to visitors how fortunate she had been to find the Wilkes family. They had stayed on her land longer than anyone before them, nearly five years now, and she considered that a rare blessing. Before their arrival, families came and went with each passing season, never settling long enough to be dependable. Since her husband had left years ago, Mrs. Carter depended on someone to help her walk the property lines and check the distant fences. When her daughter, Ellen, was asked to help instead, she would trudge along reluctantly, her expression sour and her replies clipped. “If you don’t want my help, just say so,” she would mutter. Mrs. Carter would sigh and wish, not for the first time, that someone else could share the burden of such a large and lonely stretch of land. Based on the excerpt, what inferences can be made about the story’s setting?