But it occurred to us that you might care to feel more settled in some stable occupation where you could look forward to a solid future--all that sort of thing." Dave nodded, waiting, trying to word the talk the old man and his son would have had about him.

Harvey Whipple would have been troubled at the near presence of the father of his new son as a mere journeyman printer.
Undoubtedly the two would have used the phrase the judge had used--they would want him to make something of himself.
"So we've felt," went on Gideon, "that you might care to engage in some business here in Newbern--establish yourself, soundly and prosperously, as it were, so that your son, though maturing under different circumstances, would yet feel a pride in your standing in the community.
Of course, this is tentative--I'm sounding you, only.

You may have quite other ideas.

You may have laid out an entirely different future for yourself in some other field.

But I wanted to let you know that we stand ready to finance liberally any business you would care to engage in, either here or elsewhere.