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 on their whole systems . Their eyes grew clear and bright ; a dark shade deepened among their silvery locks : they sat around the table three gentlemen of middle age and a woman hardly beyond her buxom prime . `` My dear widow , you are charming ! '' cried Colonel Killigrew , whose eyes had been fixed upon her face while the shadows of age were flitting from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak . The fair widow knew of old that Colonel Killigrew 's compliments were not always measured by sober truth ; so she started up and ran to the mirror , still dreading that the ugly visage of an old woman would meet her gaze . Meanwhile , the three gentlemen behaved in such a manner as proved that the water of the Fountain of Youth possessed some intoxicating qualities -- unless , indeed , their exhilaration of spirits were merely a lightsome dizziness caused by the sudden removal of the weight of years . Mr. Gascoigne 's mind seemed to run on political topics , but whether relating to the past , present or future could not easily be determined , since the same ideas and phrases have been in vogue these fifty years .
Now he rattled forth full-throated sentences about patriotism , national glory and the people 's right ; now he muttered some perilous stuff or other in a sly and doubtful whisper , so cautiously that even his own conscience could scarcely catch the secret ; and now , again , he spoke XXXXX measured accents and a deeply-deferential tone , as if a royal ear were listening to his well-turned periods .
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