Page:The perverse widow by Sir Richard Steele and The Widow by Washington Irving (1909).djvu/38

 THE WIDOW She is dainty in her living, and a little of an epicure, living on white meats and little lady-like dishes, though her servants have substantial old English fare, as their looks bear witness. Indeed they are so indulged that they are all spoiled, and when they lose their present place they will be fit for no other. Her ladyship is one of those easy-tempered beings that are always doomed to be much liked, but ill-served by their domestics, and cheated by all the world.

Much of her time is passed in reading novels, of which she has a most extensive library, and has a constant supply from the publishers in town. Her erudition in this line of literature is immense; she has kept pace with the press for half a century. Her mind is stuffed with love-tales of all kinds, from the stately amours of the old books of chivalry down to the last blue-covered romance reeking from the press; though she evidently gives the preference to those that came out in the days of her youth,

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