What had she made of it?
Many women asked for riches, for position, for influence and authority and admiration.

She had only asked to be able to work.

It seemed little enough to ask.

That she asked so little placed her, so she thought, apart from the common herd of eager askers.

To be cut off from active life and earnest work was a possibility which never occurred to her.
It never crossed her mind that in asking for the one thing for which she longed, she was really asking for the greatest thing.