"But why should you be?" he asked. "Have your grandparents any other children beside your father?"
"No."
"Why shouldn't they be glad that you should come and take the place of the son they have lost? You don't know what it is to be alone in the world."
"Yes, I do ... I know only too well what it is," replied Perrine.
"Youth who has a future ahead is not like old age, which has nothing before it but Death."
She looked at him. She did not take her eyes from his face, for he could not see her. What did his words mean? From the expression of his face little Perrine tried to read the inmost thoughts that stirred this old man's heart.
"Well," he said, after waiting a moment, "what do you think you will do?"
"I hesitate because I feel so bad about it," she said. "If I could only believe that they would be glad to have me and would not turn me away...."
"You know nothing of life, poor little girl," said the old gentleman. "Age should not be alone any more than youth."
"Do you think all old people feel like that?" asked Perrine.