Commonplace Book

'...The spinster was spare, with a fine gaunt chest, plunging black eyes, and no nonsense discernible about the knees. These, on the contrary, jutted out (in a square manner) covered, with much decency, by black cashmere cut, as a skirt, not foolishly long below the ankles. These, however, were good to an incredible degree, and the resolute foot, small and slender, had something romantically aristocratic its sheer chaste elegance.'

from The Serious Wooing by John Oliver Hobbes (Chapter II)