‘Do come in,’ she beckoned to the people passing her gate.

They veered away from the old crone. When she was younger they had come more easily, enticed by her warm, youthful face.

Back then the community had been poorer. Beggars who lived on the streets and cripples returning from the war had gladly accepted her charity. She wanted to do some good, to end some of the suffering and misery she saw among the less well off.

Now the town was affluent, the poor cared for by society, it was harder to find anyone who would accept her invitation.

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