I mean what else is there for a woman to do if she doesn't want to go from the parental to the marital home with nothing in between? 'An educated woman,'Millie amended. 'An educated woman,' Ursula agreed.

Her chances of a decent marriage were about to be dashed-and all because of a ferret.

Of course, these were only dreams. How could a sensible woman leave a happy marriage? All the same, a seductive voice from afar kept breaking into her conjugal peace: it was the voice of solitude.

...but now, driving past the billboard I realized that losing everything is death. A death that I crave and I don't want anyone to save me

You have got a sharp tongue, haven't you honey? You'll have to watch it or you'll go to a lonely spinster's grave.

Isn't that how falling in love so often works? Some stranger appears out of nowhere and becomes a fixed star in your universe.

If I was an eccentric old spinster in a Merchant Ivory movie, I'd want to share my lovely cottage with Holly and that's the truth. I'd do the cooking and leave the decorating to her, and we'd be inseparable.