I was not tall, but my figure was rounded and my movements were as quick as my tongue.

Also I had brown hair that curled and brown eyes beneath it, and full red lips, which all the young men of that district--and there were six of them who can be counted--would have given their best horse to kiss, with the saddle and bridle thrown in.

But remember this, Suzanne, I never suffered them to do so, for in my time girls knew better what was right.
Well, among all these suitors I favoured Jan Botmar, the old cripple who sits yonder, though in those days he was no cripple but the properest man a girl could wish to see.

My father was against such a match, for he had the old French pride of race in him, and thought little of the Botmar family, as though we were not all the children of one God--except the black Kaffirs, who are the children of the devil.

But in the end he gave way, for Jan was well-to-do; so after we had "opsitted" together several times according to our customs, and burnt many very long candles,[*] we were married and went to live on a farm of our own at a distance.