Silas Bradford's Boy by Joseph C. Lincoln

Margaret Bradford, across the supper table, was watching her son intently. At dinner that noon he had eaten little and had been disinclined to talk. She asked the usual questions about his work at the office; he answered them perfunctorily, appearing preoccupied and, it seemed to her, nervous and excited.

When he came home at six o'clock the excitement was less in evidence, but the preoccupation and lack of appetite were more pronounced than ever. He looked tired, almost haggard, and when she attempted to cheer him up with the story of a ludicrous happening at sewing-circle meeting that afternoon his smile was a pitiful effort.