Roberto, when I rise I am very stiff: I think, indeed, I have some rheumatism." "That is not unlikely; and also Maria, you have now some years." "Let that be confessed; but the good God knows that I lost all my youth in that awful flight of 'thirty-six." "Maria, we all left or lost something on that dark journey.

To-day, we shall recover its full value." "To be sure--that is what is said--we shall see.

Will you now send Dolores to me?
I must arrange my toilet with some haste; and tell me, Roberto, what dress is your preference; it is your eyes, beloved, I wish to please." Robert Worth was not too old to feel charmed and touched by the compliment.

And he was not a thoughtless or churlish husband; he knew how to repay such a wifely compliment, and it was a pleasant sight to see the aged companions standing hand in hand before the handsome suits which Dolores had spread out for her mistress to examine.
He looked at the purple and the black and the white robes, and then he looked at the face beside him.

It was faded, and had lost its oval shape; but its coloring was yet beautiful, and the large, dark eyes tender and bright below the snow-white hair.