It is for his sake that I asked.

My friend is an old man, and it might concern him unduly--even alarm him.

I promise you there shall be nothing that could cause him anxiety in our silence, or at which he could take umbrage." "Go on, sir!" said Adam simply.
"You see, your uncle is now an old man.

I know it, for we were boys together.

He has led an uneventful and somewhat self-contained life, so that any such condition of things as has now arisen is apt to perplex him from its very strangeness.