The Old Maid

I’m twenty-five, and I’m an old woman. I’ve been written off—dear girl educated at home, spending her days in a ruined estate. Poverty, starving peasants, a house that has collapsed—three times pledged. A younger brother: a spendthrift and a womanizer, who squanders the last money on wild parties.
So is this my second chance? Is this the life I got after death? No. I’m forty-five, I’m strong and independent. I rose and fell, rose again. I don’t care what people think about me—my estate will rise from the ruins.