Clarissa inventories her abilities. "Her only gift was knowing people almost by instinct, she thought, walking on."
She window shops as she walks, evaluating herself. "Oh if she could have had her life over again! she thought, stepping on to the pavement, could have looked even differently! She would have been..."
Clarissa thinks of her daughter Elizabeth, and how different the two of them are. She also thinks of religious Miss Kilman and how much Clarissa does not care for her.
From the Miss Pym the florist she choses flowers. They are startled by a backfiring car and attention turns to the car.