Jane Austen's The Office

She looked out at me from beneath her lace-trimmed bonnet, caught my eye for but a heartbeat, then blushed with ladylike regret. I smiled wanly, bracing my shoulders straight as if I were an officer of Her Majesty's Navy. Here it was at last, the love I had heard tell of, had seen in the picture-books of my youth in sleepy Dorsetshire. On my honour, the birds sang more sweetly and the sun shone more truly that day than e'er before.

We met later at the water pump, quite by chance. What ecstasy! Her petticoats were heavenly. The Lord and St. Agnes forgive me, but how I longed for a glimpse of her ankle. She pumped the water self-consciously, the suggestive motion of her arm almost too much for either of us to bear. I felt my girdle tighten, and blushed. I resolved to ask her father for her hand in marriage - anything else would have been a slight on her reputation, and I couldn't bear to see her condemned to spinsterhood at the age of sixteen. M'Lady Harriet, how I love thee!