He stopped me the other day to say how sorry he was to hear about my brother's illness.

I could see from the way he spoke that his brain is getting feeble.

He's losing his grip.

He was speaking of how kind people had been to him after his accident and there were tears in his eyes.

I think he's getting batty." Nor were even these things the most momentous happenings of the period.
For as winter slowly changed to early spring it became known that something of great portent was under way.