"It is always empty on the Sabbath, I suppose?"
"Why?" said the lady, innocently.
"They are all off to Seville on broomsticks, no doubt."
"Bah! do not make game of the poor old things," said she, laughing. "You and I are old folks, too."
"Very true, very true," replied the banker, affecting serious melancholy. "We are a pair of old puppets, and one fine day, when we least expect it, we shall find ourselves removed to other quarters."
He had discovered an opening for the subject he wished to discuss, and had seized on it at once.
"No," said his wife, "you are strong and hearty enough. You will live to fight many a battle yet; but I, my dear, have but one foot in the stirrup."
"Nay, nay, we are both in the same plight. Once over the sixties there is no knowing."
"If such reflections did anything to bring you nearer God, and make you labour in His service, I should be glad indeed."
"Do you think I do nothing in His service, when I spend above five thousand dollars in masses every year?"