"Mons'us gran' dinneh, seh! 'E fines' dinneh I eveh witness', seh! I
have stood behin' you' chai', seh, this thutty y'ah, an' I neveh see no
such a gran' dinneh, Misteh Do'ph, seh!"

"Except the dinner we gave Mr. Hamilton; in State Street, Julius," the
old man would put in.

"_Ex_cep' that, seh," Julius would gravely reply: "_that_ was a
pol-litical dinneh, seh; an', _of_ co'se, a pol'litical dinneh--" an
expressive pause--"but this he' is sho'ly a mons'us fine dinneh, seh."

* * * * *

His bodily vigor was unimpaired, however, and except that his times of
entire mental clearness grew fewer and briefer as the months went on,
there was little change in the old gentleman when the spring of 1829
came. He was not insane, he was not idiotic, even at the worst. It
seemed to be simply a premature old age that clouded his faculties. He
forgot many things, he was weakly absent-minded, often he did not
recognize a familiar face, and he seemed ever more and more disinclined
to think and to talk. He liked best to sit in silence, seemingly
unconscious of the world about him; and if he was aroused from his
dreamy trance, his wandering speech would show that his last
thought--and it might have entered his mind hours before, at the
suggestion of some special event--was so far back in the past that it
dealt with matters beyond his son's knowledge.

He was allowed to do as he pleased, for in the common affairs of daily
life he seemed to be able to care for himself, and he plaintively
resented anything that looked like guardianship. So he kept up his
custom of walking down into the city, at least as far as St. Paul's. It
was thought to be safe enough, for he was a familiar figure in the town,
and had friends at every turn.

But one afternoon he did not return in time for dinner. Young Jacob was
out for his afternoon ride, which that day had taken him in the
direction of the good doctor's house. And when he had reached the house,
he found the doctor likewise mounted for a ride. The doctor was going up
to Bond Street--the Dolphs' quarter was growing fashionable already--to
look at a house near Broadway that he had some thoughts of buying, for
he was to be married the coming winter. So they had ridden back
together, and after a long examination of the house, young Jacob had
ridden off for a gallop through the country lanes; and it was five
o'clock, and dinner was on the table, when he came to his father'