feebleness and sticks and spectacles and rheumatism and
forgetfulness!
It is so silly! Old age has nothing whatever to do with all that. The
right old age means strength and beauty and mirth and courage and
clear
eyes and strong painless limbs. I am older than you are able to think,
and--"
"And look at you, grandmother!" cried Irene, jumping up, and flinging
her arms about her neck. "I won't be so silly again, I promise you. At
least--I'm rather afraid to promise--but if I am, I promise to be sorry
for it--I do. I wish I were as old as you, grandmother. I don't think
you are ever afraid of anything."
"Not for long, at least, my child. Perhaps by the time I am two
thousand
years of age, I shall, indeed, never be afraid of anything. But I must
confess that I have sometimes been afraid about my children-sometimes
about you, Irene."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, grandmother!--To-night, I suppose, you mean."
Madhuri Noah
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