I shall
manage, and God is good," was all I could get.

A brave, heroic soul, surely, dwells in that aged girl, for in her I
found no bitterness, no repining; nay, I found a sense of humour and
the capability of a hearty laugh as we talked on and on, for I was in
wonderland.

When I rose to leave, she offered to accompany us--for a friend was with
me--downstairs to the door; I said, "No, don't come down, we will find
our way; stop and earn half-a-crown, and please remember that you are
sixty-five." "Hush!" she said, "the landlady will hear you; don't tell
anybody, isn't it awful? and we were called the girls," and she burst
into a merry laugh. During our conversation the paralysed sister had
several times assured me that she "would like to have a ride in a
motor-car." This I am afraid I cannot promise her, much as I would like
to do so; but the exact object of my visit was to make arrangements for
"the girls" to go to our home of rest for a whole fortnight.

And they went, bath-chair as well. For sixteen long years they had not
seen the sea or listened to its mighty voice, but for a whole fortnight
they enjoyed its never-ending wonder and inhaled its glorious breath.
And the younger "girl" pushed the chair, and the older "girl" sat in it
the while they prattled, and talked and managed, till almost the days of
their real girlhood came back to them. Dull penury and sordid care were
banished for a whole fortnight and appetite came by eating. The older
"girl" said, "If I stop here much longer, I know I shall walk," and she
nearly managed it too, for when helped out of her chair, she first began
to stand, and then to progress a little step by step by holding on
to any friendly solid till she almost became a child again. But the
fortnight ended all too soon, and back to their upper room, the window
and the umbrellas they came, to live that fortnight over and over again,
and to count the days, weeks and months that are to elapse before once
again the two old girls and an old--so old--bath-chair will revel and
joy, eat and rest, prattle and laugh by the sea.

But they have had their "motor ride," too! and the girls sat side by
side, and although it was winter time they enjoyed it, and they have a
new theme for prattle.

I have since ascertained that the sum of ten shillings, and ten
shillings only, remained in the Post-Office Savings Bank to the credit
of the managing sister.

But I have also learned something else quit