He expatiated upon his
sufferings, upon the indifference of his lieutenant in sailing as to
what had become of him, and fully persuaded Babette not only that he was
inimical, which now certainly he was, but that he always had been so,
to Mr Vanslyperken. Babette, who was always ready to retail news, went
up to the widow, and amused her, as she dressed her, with the corporal's
adventures, and the widow felt an interest in, before she had seen,
Corporal Van Spitter, from the account of his "moving accidents by flood
and field."
But if prepossessed in his favour before she saw him, what did she feel
when she first beheld the substantial proportions of Corporal Van
Spitter! There she beheld the beau ideal of her imagination--the very
object of her widow's dreams--the antipodes of Vanslyperken, and as
superior as "Hyperion to a Satyr." He had all the personal advantages,
with none of the defects of her late husband; he was quite as fleshy,
but had at least six inches more in height, and, in the eyes of the
widow, the Corporal Van Spitter was the finest man she ever had beheld,
and she mentally exclaimed, "There is the man for my money;" and, at the
same time, resolved that she would win him.
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