'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?' 'They think more of you than ever.' 'I believe they do, Checkley.' 'Everybody says you are the top of the profession.' 'I believe I am, Checkley--I believe I am. Certainly, I am the oldest. Nevertheless, seventy-five is a great age to be continuing work. Things can't last much longer.' 'Some men go on to eighty, and even ninety.' 'A few--a few only.' The lawyer sighed. 'One may hope, but must not build upon the chance of such merciful prolongation. The older I grow, Checkley, the more I enjoy life, especially the only thing that has ever made life happy for me--this work. I cling to it'--he spread his hands over the papers--'I cling to it. I cannot bear to think of leaving it.' 'That--and your savings,' echoed the clerk. 'It seems as if I should be content to go on for a hundred years more at the work of which I am never tired. And I must leave it before long--in a year--two years--who knows? Life is miserably short--one has no time for half the things one would like to do. Well'--he heaved a deep sigh--'let us work while we can. However, it is better to climb down than to be pulled down or shot down. I am going to make preparations, Checkley, for the end.' 'What preparations? You're not going to send for a minister, are you?' 'No. Not that kind of preparation. Nor for the doctor either. Nor for a lawyer to make my will. All those things are duly attended to. I have resolved, Checkley, upon taking a partner.' 'You? Take a partner? You? At your time of life?' 'I am going to take a partner. And you are the first person who has been told of my intention. Keep it a secret for the moment.' 'Take a partner? Divide your beautiful income by two?' 'Yes, Checkley. I am going to give a share in that beautiful income to a young man.' 'What can a partner do for you that I can't do? Don't I know the whole of the office work? Is there any partner in the world who can draw up a conveyance better than me?' 'You are very useful, Checkley, as you always have been. But you are not a partner, and you never can be.' 'I know that very well. But what's the good of a partner at all?'