“She had the consciousness of being nine-and-twenty to give her some regrets and some apprehensions; she was fully satisfied of being still quite as handsome as ever, but she felt her approach to the years of danger, and would have rejoiced to be certain of being properly solicited by baronet-blood within the next twelvemonth or two.”
Of Elizabeth Elliot
Persuasion, volume 1, chapter 1
The Jane Austen Guide to Life: Thoughtful Lessons for the Modern Woman (May, 2012)