At least up here in these meadows, she was no longer a war widow or an old maid; here she felt herself and nothing else, without anyone to stare at her or condemn her. She discovered how rare and wonderful it was to exist just for herself and not to have anyone looking at her. In the hut, she slept well and was at peace. There were strange noises at night but they were never worrying. Of course, she heard all sorts of things going on outside; sometimes she even felt a field mouse scrabbling under her bed, and whereas down below the tiniest spider would have sent her leaping from her bed, here in the middle of the vast meadows in the middle of nowhere, she was afraid of nothing and nothing attacked her.