Someone here might remember/be able to identify this story! I'm pretty sure, though not 100%, that it's 19th century. A retired military man buys a house in a small seaside town, and a widow who lives there mercilessly mocks his pretensions by drawing caricatures of him! Does anyone remember this story? Unusual, I think, particularly for the time period (if I'm right about that) in that it features a clever, witty, funny older woman.