"Poor thing!" murmured Emily.
"She could do nothing with him," continued Gertrude, "and had given up in despair."
"She ought to have a strong woman or a man to take care of him."
"That is what she dreads worse than anything. She says it would kill her to see him unkindly treated, as he would be sure to be by a stranger; and, besides, she shrinks from the idea of having anyone in the house to whom she is unaccustomed. She is very neat and particular in all her arrangements, has always done her work herself; and declares she would sooner admit a wild beast into her family than an Irish girl."
"Her new house has not been a source of much pleasure to her yet, has it?"
"Oh, no. She was saying to-day how strange it seemed when she had been looking forward so long to the comfort of a new tenement, that, just as she had moved in and got everything furnished to her mind, she should have this great trial."
"It seems strange to me," said Emily, "that she did not sooner perceive its approach. I noticed when I went with you the failure in the old man's intellect."
"I had observed it for a long time," remarked Gertrude, "but never spoke of it to her; and I do not think she was in the least aware of it, until about their removal, when the breaking-up of old associations affected his mind."
"Sad thing!" said Emily. "How old is he?"
"I believe he is very old; I remember Mrs. Sullivan's telling me some time ago that he was near eighty."