She strove to keep her mind on the sights, the faces of people afoot and in cars, the adorable things in shop windows.

And she chatted busily to herself in order to keep on admiring.

This old habit of hers, of soliloquy, had grown upon her unawares, as a refuge from her loneliness.

Sometimes she even talked aloud.

Sturdily she told herself: "You've only begun.