The disadvantage of being an unknown Person.

Both gentlemen became excited, and the discussion passed beyond my understanding.  But I gathered dimly from what the clerk said, that ill-natured remarks relative to the porter’s grandfather and a missing cow had never yet been satisfactorily replied to: and, from observations made by the porter, that stories were in circulation about the clerk’s aunt and a sergeant of artillery that should suggest to a discreet nephew of the lady the inadvisability of talking about other people’s grandfathers.

Our sympathies were naturally with the porter: he was our man, but he did not seem to be advancing our cause much.  We left them quarrelling, and persuaded the head waiter that evening to turn out the gas at our end of the table d’hôte.

The next morning we returned to the post-office by ourselves.  The clerk proved a reasonable man when treated in a friendly spirit.  He was a bit of a climber himself.  He admitted the possibility of our being the rightful owners.  His instructions were only not to deliver up the bags, and he himself suggested a way out of the difficulty.  We might come each day and dress in the post-office, behind the screen.  It was an awkward arrangement, even although the clerk allowed us the use of the back door.  And occasionally, in spite of the utmost care, bits of us would show outside the screen.  But for a couple of days, until the British Consul returned from Salzburg, the post-office had to be our dressing room.  The continental official, I am inclined to think, errs on the side of prudence.