Many years later, after the shame had mellowed into something more
like mortification, Andrew swore that he had learned from his past
mistakes, although he steadfastly refused to say what those mistakes
were, and sometimes, when asked about them, knocked everything off the
dinner table in a calculated effort to avoid having to allude to them
at all, a tactic which, while it had the desired effect of changing
the subject, all too often prevented Andrew from finishing meals he
had, until that moment, been enjoying, and more than once resulted in
his ejection from a restaurant where his reputation had hitherto been
impeccable, but no longer was.
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