Into the Wilderness

Elizabeth Middleton, twenty-nine years old and unmarried, overly educated and excessively rational, knowing right from wrong and fancy from fact, woke in a nest of marten and fox pelts to the sight of an eagle circling overhead, and saw at once that it could not be far to Paradise.

She wore her determination like war paint.

subject for discussion. What terrible messes we get ourselves into when we are silly enough to fall in love,

Very slowly Elizabeth leaned forward until her forehead rested on his shoulder, shuddering with pleasure and relief at the feel of him, at his smell.

Little girls are kept away from the things that would make them strong, in the name of protection and propriety.

The thrill of telling her true feelings without considering good manners or the propriety of what she had to say was intoxicating.