“In old age her voice had become thin as a bird's, but her reading was still beautiful to him.”

“Her old body against his old body, unbeautiful in aging. But together, they were still beautiful, somehow.”

“Could beauty be caught and hurtthey had done her to death with their sneersin ages and ages past,could beauty be sacrificedfor a thrust of a sword,for a piece of thin moneytossed up to fall half alloy—then beauty were deadlong, long before we saw her face.”

“She listened to silence. Except the birds. The waves. A few voices in the distance. She would not turn to him. He had to come to her. He HAD to come to her.”

“Although Pulcheria Alexandrovna was forty-three, her face still retained traces of her former beauty; she looked much younger than her age, indeed, which is almost always the case with women who retain serenity of spirit, sensitiveness and pure sincere warmth of heart to old age. We may add in parenthesis that to preserve all this is the only means of retaining beauty to old age.”

“Although Pulcheria Alexandrovna was forty-three, she still showed traces of her former beauty and seemed much younger than her years. This is generally true of women who remain serene in spirit, fresh in their impressions, and spontaneously warmhearted right to the edge of old age. One might add that in this way, and only in this way, they retain their beauty in old age too.”