`` Drink , then , '' said the doctor , bowing ; `` I rejoice that I have so well selected the subjects of my experiment . '' With palsied hands they raised the glasses to their lips . The liquor , if it really possessed such virtues as Dr. Heidegger imputed to it , could not have been bestowed on four human beings who needed it more woefully . They looked as if they had never known what youth or pleasure was , but had been the offspring of Nature 's dotage , and always the gray , decrepit , sapless , miserable creatures who now sat stooping round the doctor 's table without life enough in their souls or bodies to be animated even by the prospect of growing young again . They drank off the water and replaced their glasses on the table . Assuredly , there was an almost immediate improvement in the aspect of the party -- not unlike what might have been produced by a glass of generous wine -- together with a sudden glow of cheerful sunshine , brightening over all their visages at once . There was a healthful suffusion on their cheeks instead of the ashen hue that had made them look so corpse-like . They gazed at one another , and fancied that some magic power had really begun to smooth away the deep and sad inscriptions which Father Time had been so long engraving on their brows . The widow Wycherly adjusted her cap , for she felt almost like a woman again . `` Give us more of this wondrous water , '' cried they , eagerly . `` We are younger , but we are still too old . Quick ! give us more ! '' `` Patience , patience ! '' quoth Dr. Heidegger , who sat , watching the experiment with philosophic coolness . `` You have been a long time growing old ; surely you might be content to grow young in half an hour . But the water is at your service . '' Again he filled their glasses with the liquor of youth , enough of which still remained in the vase to turn half the old people in the city to the age of their own grandchildren . While the bubbles were yet sparkling on the brim the doctor 's four guests snatched their glasses from the table and swallowed the contents at a single gulp . Was it delusion ?
Even while the draught was passing down their throats it seemed to have wrought a change XXXXX their whole systems .
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