The street was changed, she thought, for a new generation had arrived, scorning the old traditions.

The terrace opposite, sinking in decay, had become a den of thieves, the scum of a city rookery.

She felt a stranger in her own street, and saw that her money had spoilt her relations with her neighbours.

Once she could read them like a book, but these people came to her with lies and many inventions for the sake of a few miserable shillings.

She wondered what the world was coming to.