and too glad for the old man, and his cheeks whiten, and he has a
dazed look, and his staff falls out of his hand, and he would have
dropped had not the sons caught him and led him to a lounge and put
cold water on his face, and fanned him a little.
In that half delirium the old man mumbles something about his son
Joseph. He says: "You do not mean Joseph, do you? my dear son who has
been dead so long. You don't mean Joseph, do you?" But after they had
fully resuscitated him, and the news was confirmed, the tears begin
the winding way down the cross roads of the wrinkles, and the sunken
lips of the old man quiver, and he brings his bent fingers together as
he says: "Joseph is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die."
It did not take the old man a great while to get ready, I warrant you.
He put on the best clothes that the shepherd's wardrobe could afford.
He got into the wagon, and though the aged are cautious and like to
ride slow, the wagon did not get along fast enough for this old man;
and when the wagon with the old man met Joseph's chariot coming down
to meet him, and Joseph got out of the chariot and got into the wagon
and threw his arms around his father's neck, it was an antithesis of