"Hullo, Burton, you back again?" he exclaimed weakly.
"I am back again just to settle up here," Mr. Burton explained, with a wave of the hand. "Just run down in the car to take the missis out a little way."
Mr. Johnson held on to the railing tightly.
"Your car?"
"My car," Mr. Burton admitted, modestly. "Take you for a ride some day, if you like. How's the wife?"
"First-class, thanks," Mr. Johnson replied. "First-class, thank you,
Mr. Burton."
Burton protested mildly.
"No need to 'Mr. Burton' me, Johnson, old fellow! It shall never be said of me that a great and wonderful rise in the world altered my feelings towards those with whom I was once on terms of intimacy. I shall always be glad to know you, Johnson. Thursday evening, isn't it? What are you and the wife doing?"
"I don't know," Johnson confessed, "that we are doing anything particular. We shall turn up at the band, I suppose."
"Good!" Mr. Burton said. "It will be our last Thursday evening in these parts, I expect, but after I have taken the wife for a little spin we'll walk round the band-stand ourselves. Perhaps we shall be able to induce you and Mrs. Johnson to come back and take a little supper with us?"