You will have changed more than we have, I fancy." "Do we dress for dinner ?" asked John, after some little more unimportant talk.
"Yes," said his father, "in honor of the occasion, if you like.

I haven't done it lately," he added, a little wearily.
* * * * * "I haven't had such a glass of wine since I left home," John remarked as they sat together after dinner.
"No," said his father, looking thoughtfully at his glass, "it's the old 'Mouton,' and pretty nearly the last of it; it's very old and wants drinking," he observed as he held his glass up to get the color.

"It has gone off a bit even in two years." "All right," said John cheerfully, "we'll drink it to save it, if needs be." The elder man smiled and filled both glasses.
There had been more or less talk during the meal, but nothing of special moment.

John sat back in his chair, absently twirling the stem of his glass between thumb and fingers.

Presently he said, looking straight before him at the table: "I have been thinking a good deal of late--more than ever before, positively, in fact--that whatever my prospects may be," (he did not see the momentary contraction of his father's brow) "I ought to begin some sort of a career in earnest.