“Ah!” said the woman with a smile.

“Is that good lady your wife?” said I.

“She is.”

“She looks much older than yourself.”

“And no wonder. She is twenty-one years older.”

“How old are you?”

“Fifty-three.”

“Dear me,” said I, “what a difference in your ages! how came you to marry?”

“She was a widow, and I had lost my wife. We were lone in the world, so we thought we would marry.”

“Do you live happily together?”