Once finished crying, she decides to excuse herself to go to her room alone. Mrs. Mallard's growing sense of independence begins to emerge at this point and becomes increasingly evident as Chopin writes "She would have no one follow her" (54). Many women do not want to be alone mere moments after receiving such tragic news. Most women feel the need to be comforted and surrounded by loved ones.
While alone in her bedroom and physically exhausted, Mrs. Mallard sinks down into a comfortable armchair that faces a large open window in her bedroom. Here the remnants of her grief slowly fade away as another emotion she finds unfamiliar emerges. The narrator observes that "there was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully" (Chopin 54). This new emotion seems to creep in through the open window out of the sky towards her. As she sits a little longer reflecting on her feelings and what it is that is coming toward her, "she [is] beginning to recognize this thing that [is] approaching to possess her, and she [strives] to beat it back with her will" (Chopin 54). Mrs. Mallard is suggesting that she knows what the thing is that is coming to her, and she tries to wave it off and push it away unsuccessfully. Mrs. Mallard feels guilty for even considering the thought so soon after learning of her husband's death.
Moments pass, and Mrs. Mallard resigns herself to this new emotion. "When she [abandons] herself a little whispered word [escapes] her slightly parted lips," as she says, "free, free, free" (Chopin 54). As she repeats this word over and over, her pulse quickens, her blood warms, and her body begins to relax. For the first time in her life, Mrs. Mallard begins to realize that she can have a life outside of her husband's. She can create a life of her own where "there [will] be no one to live for during [these] coming years; she [will] live for herself" (Chopin 55).