“She will want things to stay just as they are. She will never have the fun of hoping something wonderful and exiting may be just around the corner.”

“What I'd really hate would be the settled feeling, with nothing but happiness to look forward to. Of course no life is perfectly happy- Rose's children will probably get ill, the servants may be difficult, perhaps dear Mrs. Cotton will prove to be the teeniest fly in the ointment. (I should like to know what fly was originally in what ointment.) There are hundreds of worries and even sorrows that may come along, but- I think what I really mean is that Rose won't be wanting things to happen. She will want things to stay just as they are. She will never have the fun of hoping something wonderful and exciting may be just round the corner.”

“But even in her laughter there was something missing. She never seemed to be truly happy; she just seemed to be passing time while she waited for something else. She was tired of just existing; she wanted to live.”

“Maybe she wanted too many things. To get closer to Nate - but to just stay friends. To make love with him - but keep her heart uninvolved. To stay with him forever - but never commit.”

“Alongside the practical thought something else struggled and, like an escaped butterfly, took wing: the assurance of something wonderful awaiting her. Just around the corner......”

“Hope and fear are two sides of the same coin... She didn't want to give up hope, so she was just going to have to live with the fear.”