"'I don't know,' he said. 'George doesn't know. Nobody knows. A doctor once tried to tell me, but he didn't know either.'
"'But what sort of a thing?' I said. 'What does it do?'
"'It makes me younger,' he said. 'I'm years and years older than I look. I'm not young at all.'
"'But I don't understand,' I said. 'If it makes you young then you are young, aren't you?'
"And then he smiled. I was so glad to see him smile. He'd been fearfully mopey up to then.
"'That's so,' he said. 'And anyway it's all over now. If it wasn't I shouldn't be telling you. If it wasn't over I shouldn't be here, Jennie.'
"He called me Jennie for the first time. He hadn't called me anything up to then, ever.
"'Then if it's all over what are you bothering about it for?' I said. 'Was it your fault?'
"'No,' he said.
"'Then,' I said, 'if a thing isn't a person's fault I think we ought to be sorry for them, and it doesn't matter if it's all over. And,' I said, 'if Uncle George calls you Derry I'm going to call you Derry too. It really is all over, Derry dear?'