The altered method of work would not suit him at his age, nor,--as he said,--would it be profitable.

He would take his silk as an honour for his declining years, so that he might become a bencher at his Inn.

But he had now been working for the last twelve or fourteen years with his silk gown,--almost as hard as in younger days, and with pecuniary results almost as serviceable; and though from month to month he declared his intention of taking no fresh briefs, and though he did now occasionally refuse work, still he was there with his mind as clear as ever, and with his body apparently as little affected by fatigue.
Mr.Wharton had not married till he was forty, and his wife had now been two years dead.

He had had six children,--of whom but two were now left to make a household for his old age.

He had been nearly fifty when his youngest daughter was born, and was therefore now an old father of a young child.