"
"Oh fie, Uncle Keith," laughed Zoe, "to insinuate that a lady is so very
ancient!"
"But, my dear child, people often come, toward the close of life, to be
proud of their age, and perhaps sometimes are tempted to make it appear
greater than it is."
"When they get up in the hundreds, for instance?" Edward said half
inquiringly.
"Yes," said Mr. Keith, with an amused smile; "though I must not be
understood as acknowledging that either my wife or myself has yet arrived
at that stage."
"But we hope you will live to reach it," Elsie said, with an affectionate
glance from one to the other.
"Would you keep us so long from home, my sweet cousin?" Mrs. Keith asked,
something in her placid face seeming to tell of longing desire to be near
and like her Lord."
"Only for the sake of those to whom you are so dear, Aunt Marcia," Elsie
answered, her eyes glistening.
"I shall keep them as long as ever I can," said Annis.
There was a moment's silence; then Edward asked, "Now what about Isa's
request?"
"What do you say, Elsie?" Mr. Dinsmore queried, looking at his daughter.
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