Didn't Fear for Herself

1910

Mme. Reynolds, at Eighty-Six, Had No Thought of Dying Within Next Two Years

At the age of 86 Mme. Reynolds still found much zest in life and having retained all her faculties she felt that a few of the physical disabilities of her age were of small account and portended nothing. Her nephew Thomas was a man of much worth but of a certain tactlessness of speech which always roused the ire of his aunt.

A few weeks before the old lady's eighty-seventh birthday Thomas, who had been overweighted with business cares for years, started on a trip round the world which was to consume two years.

"I've come to say good-by," he announced when he appeared at his aunt's house, in a town 50 miles distant from his home. "I'm starting round the world next week and as I'm to be gone two years and perhaps longer I thought I might not ever — well, you understand, I wanted to be sure to see you once more."

The old lady leaned forward, fixing him with her beadlike eyes.

"Thomas," she said imperatively, "do you mean to tell me the doctor doesn't think you'll live to get back?" — Youth's Companion.