'It must be for you then. Surely you're never going to retire!'
'No—I mean to hold on as long as I can. That will only be for a year or two at most. I am seventy-five, Checkley.'
'What of that? So am I. You don't find me grumbling about my work, do you? Besides, you eat hearty. Your health is good.'
'Yes, my health is good. But I am troubled of late, Checkley—I am troubled about my memory.'
'So is many a younger man,' returned the clerk stoutly.
'Sometimes I cannot remember in the morning what I was doing the evening before.'
'That's nothing. Nothing at all.'
'Yesterday, I looked at my watch, and found that I had been unconscious for three hours.'
'You were asleep. I came in and saw you sound asleep.' It was not true, but the clerk's intentions were good.
'To go asleep in the morning argues a certain decay of strength. Yet I believe that I get through the work as well as ever. The clients do not drop off, Checkley. There are no signs of mistrust—eh? No suspicion of failing powers?'