Her figure was well-rounded, plump, and what the French call _nette_.

To complete all, her instep and ankle were unexceptional; and lastly, her jointure was seven hundred pounds per annum, with a trifle of eight thousand more that the late lamented Boggs bequeathed, when, after four months of uninterrupted bliss, he left Derry for another world.
"When chance first threw me in the way of the fair widow, some casual coincidence of opinion happened to raise me in her estimation, and I soon afterwards received an invitation to a small evening party at her house, to which I alone of the regiment was asked.
"I shall not weary you with the details of my intimacy; it is enough that I tell you I fell desperately in love.

I began by visiting twice or thrice a week, and in less than two months, spent every morning at her house, and rarely left it till the 'Roast beef' announced mess.
"I soon discovered the widow's cue; she was serious.

Now, I had conducted all manner of flirtatious in my previous life; timid young ladies, manly young ladies, musical, artistical, poetical, and hysterical,--bless you, I knew them all by heart; but never before had I to deal with a serious one, and a widow to boot.

The case was a trying one.