Assuredly there was an almost immediate improvement in the aspect
of the party, not unlike what might have been produced by a glass of
generous wine, together with a sudden glow of cheerful sunshine
brightening over all their visages at once. There was a healthful
suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue that had made them
look so corpse-like. They gazed at one another, and fancied that
some magic power had really begun to smooth away the deep and sad
inscriptions which Father Time had been so long engraving on their
brows. The Widow Wycherly adjusted her cap, for she felt almost like a
woman again.
"Give us more of this wondrous water!" cried they, eagerly. "We are
younger- but we are still too old! Quick- give us more!"
"Patience, patience!" quoth Dr. Heidegger, who sat watching the
experiment with philosophic coolness. "You have been a long time
growing old. Surely, you might be content to grow young in half an
hour! But the water is at your service."
Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth, enough of
which still remained in the vase to turn half the old people in the
city to the age of their own grandchildren.
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