already acquainted.
Corporal Van Spitter thus fortunately found out how matters stood
previous to his introduction to the widow. 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! Alas! how short-sighted are
mortals; little did the corporal imagine that the most untoward event in
his life would be the cause of his being possessed of ease and
competence. The widow received him most graciously, spoke in no
measured terms against Vanslyperken, at which the corporal raised his
huge shoulders, as much as to say, "He is even worse than you think
him," was very violent against Snarleyyow, whom the corporal, aware that
it was no mutiny, made no ceremony in "damning in heaps," as the saying
is.

The widow begged that he would feel no uneasiness, as he should remain
with her till the cutter returned; and an hour after the first
introduction, Corporal Van Spitter had breakfasted with, and was
actually sitting, by her request, on the little fubsy sofa, in the very
place of Vanslyperken, with Frau Vandersloosh by his side.

We must pass over the few days during which the cutter was away. Widows
have not that maiden modesty to thwart their wishes, which so often
prevents a true love-tale from being told. And all that the widow could
not tell, Babette, duly instructed, told for her; and