MY DEAR,--I want you to be a little more merciful. The other day, when
your father, over the eggs and bacon, was reading out the news from
Greece, with the defeat of VENIZELOS, you said lightly that exile didn't
matter very much because VENIZELOS was a very old man. You then returned
to the absorbing occupation of identifying Society people, reading from
left to right. Now VENIZELOS is fifty-five years of age, and I cannot
allow the term "very old" to be applied to him without protest; I am too
nearly his contemporary. "Getting on," if you like, "mature," "ripe,"
but not "very old." You must keep that phrase for the people who--well,
who _are_ very old.
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