And the Old Man was in splendid physical condition and in the brightest of spirits.

Indeed, I was never more struck with the extraordinary physical perfection which Mr.
Gladstone's frame has maintained after his eighty-three years of full active and wearing life.

The back was straight, the figure erect, the motions free, unconstrained, easy; the gestures those of a man whose every joint moved easily in a fresh and vigorous frame.

And the face was wonderfully expressive, now darkened with passionate hatred of wrong, now bursting into the sunshine of genial and pleasant smiles.

And--as is usual when he is in this mood--he was extraordinarily quick at taking interruptions; he was, indeed, almost boisterous in his manner, and seemed to positively invite those interjectional interventions from the other side, which, in less exuberant moods he is sometimes inclined to resent.