Half a dozen words were sufficient to wake Katharine's attention, and put flight and further silence beyond her power.

But although the words came to her lips, her throat closed upon them and drove them back.

After all, she considered, why should she speak?
Because it is right, her instinct told her; right to expose oneself without reservations to other human beings.

She flinched from the thought.

It asked too much of one already stripped bare.