I begin to love this little creature, and to anticipate his birth as a fresh twist to a knot which I do not wish to untie.

In this intimate line Wollstonecraft registers the dawning attachment of an expectant mother to the unborn child—“this little creature”—while also revealing ambivalence about the binding force of family ties. The “knot” suggests a relationship or commitment already complicated, and the baby’s birth would add a “fresh twist,” tightening bonds rather than loosening them. The sentence captures a tension characteristic of Wollstonecraft’s life and thought: the pull between personal affection and the fear of being constrained by social and emotional obligations. It is tender, but not sentimental; love arrives alongside clear-eyed recognition that new life can deepen entanglements one may not fully control.