[PatrickHenry]

Here's the true Lady Hope story. Darwin didn't recant; it was all a misunderstanding. Lady Hope was with Darwin in that summerhouse she later spoke of, hoping to seduce the great man and add him to her long list of conquests. She whipped out a bottle of cheap, rotgut wine she had brought with her. Then, trying to impress Darwin, she called for a decanter. Darwin looked at the label, was horrified, and suffered a heart attack. With his final words, he exclaimed: "Oh Jesus! I ... we can't decant everything!"

[VadeRetro]

Lady Hope was the old maid in the joke: "What's the difference between an old maid and a woman taking a bath? The old maid has hope in her soul."