Dick took his cigar from his mouth.
'I am sorry to hear this, Josephs,' he said, 'because I meant to box your ears presently, and I don't know that I can do it now. How about the sudden termination to the visit you honoured the colonel with last Christmas?'
'I had to go,' said Josephs, 'because I read that Sir Clement Dowton had returned to England. Besides, I was due at the shop.'
'But you had an elegant time while your money held out?'
Josephs wiped a smile from his face.
'It was grand,' he said. 'I shall never know such days again.'
'I hope not, Josephs. Was there no streak of cloud in those halcyon days?'
The barber sighed heavily.
'Ay, there was,' he said, 'hair oil.'
'Explain yourself, my gentle hairdresser.'