"Poor Linda," she said, with feeling. "Poor little thing. But, Fanny, don't you think perhaps it's just as well? The lives of women like Linda and me are not so much fun when one begins to grow older."

I didn't want to hurt my mother's feelings by protesting that Linda was not that sort of woman.

"But I think she would have been happy with Fabrice," I said. "He was the great love of her life, you know."

"Oh, dulling," said my mother, sadly. "One always thinks that. Every, every time."

- The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford