“Why only for a moment?” said Barbara.
“Because I remind myself that it must be best for them and us—best for the friendship between us, best for us every way. But indeed I have more to be thankful for in the relation than most people of my acquaintance, for I sometimes drive a pony yet that is over forty!”
“Forty years of age!”
“Yes.”
“I should like to see that pony!”
“You shall see her, any day you will come to the parsonage. I will gladly introduce her to you, but it is getting rather late to desire her acquaintance: she does not see very well, and is not so good-tempered as she once was. But she will soon be better.”
“How do you mean?”
“She has a process to go through out of which she will come ever so much the better.”
“Good gracious! you're not going to have an operation performed on her—at her age?”
“She is going to have her body stript off her!”