An advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force

The Dowager Duchess, indeed, was there – she had promptly hastened to her son’s side and was living heroically in furnished lodgings, but the younger Duchess thought her mother-in-law more energetic than dignified. There was no knowing what she might do if left to herself. She might even give an interview to a newspaper reporter.

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‘It’s no good, Murbles,’ he said. ‘Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.’

D.L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness (1926), 83 and 267