"I am Tom Roberts. I was in your company, you know, before you went onto the staff."
"I remember you now, Roberts," and the two shook hands heartily. "What are you doing now? If I remember right, you went as servant to General Mathieson when you got your discharge."
"Yes; you see, I had been his orderly for two or three years before, and when I got my discharge with my pension, I told him that I should like to stop with him if he would take me. I was with him out there for five years after; then I came home, and was with him until his death, and am still in the service of his niece, Miss Covington, one of the young ladies I was with just now. And what are you doing?"
"I am collector for a firm in the City. It is an easy berth, and with my pension I am as comfortable as a man can wish to be."
So they chatted for half an hour, and when they parted Roberts received a hearty invitation to look in at the other's place at Kilburn.
"Both my boys are in the army," he said, "and likely to get on well. My eldest girl is married, my youngest is at home with her mother and myself; they will be pleased to see you too. The missus enjoys a gossip about India, and is always glad to welcome any old comrade of mine."