The birth of a child — even in the most difficult circumstances — represents a kind of investment in the future, a reason to survive that is external to one’s own survival instinct.

The death of that child would have removed a powerful motivation at the same time that it added to the accumulated weight of loss.

After all three companions died, Marguerite was alone in a way that most human beings in the modern world have no frame of reference for.

Not temporarily alone, not choosing to be alone, not connected to others by phone or internet or any form of communication.

Absolutely alone, in a physical environment that was hostile, in a situation that offered no certainty of ever ending.