"Ah!" laughed his guest. "You're the same as ever, Charles." It sounded very peculiar to find her addressing him by his Christian name. I had never heard it used before. To me he had always been "Gran'pa"--the synonym for a sort of impersonal unit of the vague species Ancestor--and not to hear him referred to as such seemed to bring him down from his lofty pedestal and make him too human and ordinary. I could no more picture him as somebody's "Charles," or "Charlie," than I could visualize the King of England in pajamas. Some things are so homely that they seem disrespectful. Gran'pa as "Charles" was one of them. The visit ended in Gran'pa's seeing Sally Rebecca home in a taxi--and returning two hours later! "Well," I asked, "is your lady-love willing to undergo this rejuvenation treatment?" "She won't promise, yet." "Now listen to me, Gran'pa," I said, firmly. "I like the lady immensely and I admire your taste, but we can't have this gorilla expedition sidetracked for the sake of a mere woman. You'll have to insist on a definite answer by the end of next week, say. Either she will or she won't; but, whatever her decision, we must leave for Africa this month. If she agrees, all the more incentive to your trying to make the expedition a success; if she refuses--well, we still owe a duty to humanity. You've sufficient sense at your age to know that you can't afford to fritter away your time on an abortive love-affair with a lady old enough to be your mother." "You know what women are, George," he replied meekly. "I do. That's why I recommend strong handling." "She recognizes in me quite sufficient proof that she _can_ regain her youth. But she thinks that it's not . . . right." "Fiddlesticks! If she loves you, her answer is obvious." "You must admit, George, that it also requires some courage," he replied, thoughtfully. "Of course it does. But love thrives on courage and self-sacrifice. Put her to the test. Let her endure it." He was silent for awhile. "You think that I ought to _insist_?" he said, at last. "Absolutely!" "Y-e-s! . . . I suppose I must. . . ." "The least sign of weakness will be fatal," I continued. "Unless you're careful, she'll go on wavering--it's so difficult to get people at that age to make a move. But you can't marry a woman . . . who feels and looks thirty years older than yourself." "N--o!" "Then it's agreed that you give her a couple of weeks in which to make up her mind, and that we leave for Africa before the month's out in any case?" "Yes! . . . I agree!" he answered, slowly. After this, events moved swiftly. At my suggestion, Gran'pa devoted the whole of his energies to the courting of his beloved, while I busied myself with the final preparations for our expedition abroad.