Americans -- Europe -- Fiction; Cape Cod (Mass.) -- Fiction
“There!” she exclaimed, “I've seen 'em walk. Now I feel better. When
they stood there, with those red jackets and with the fur hats on their
heads, I couldn't make myself believe they hadn't been taken out of a
box for children to play with. I wanted to get up close so as to see if
their feet were glued to round pieces of wood like Noah's and Ham's and
Japhet's in the Ark. But they aren't wood, they're alive. They're men,
not toys. I'm glad I've seen 'em. THEY are satisfyin'. They make me more
reconciled to a King with a Derby hat on.”
She and I had stood in the crowd fringing the park mall and seen King
George trot by on horseback. His Majesty's lack of crown and robes and
scepter had been a great disappointment to Hephzy; I think she expected
the crown at least.
I had, of course, visited the London office of my publishers, in Camford
Street and had found Mr. Matthews, the manager, expecting me. Jim
Campbell had cabled and written of my coming and Matthews' welcome was a
warm one. He was kindness itself. All my financial responsibilities were
to be shifted to his shoulders. I was to use the office as a bank, as a
tourist agency, even as a guide's headquarters. He put his clerks at my
disposal; they would conduct us on sight-seeing expeditions whenever
and wherever we wished. He even made out a list of places in and about
London which we, as strangers, should see.
His cordiality and thoughtfulness were appreciated. They made me feel
less alone and less dependent upon my own resources. Campbell had
arranged that all letters addressed to me in America should be forwarded
to the Camford Street office, and Matthews insisted that I should write
my own letters there. I began to make it a practice to drop in at
the office almost every morning before starting on the day's round of
sight-seeing.
Bancroft's Hotel also began to seem less strange and more homelike.
Mr. Jameson, the proprietor, was a fine fellow--quiet, refined, and
pleasant. He, too, tried to help us in every possible way. His wife, a
sweet-faced Englishwoman, made Hephzy's acquaintance and Hephzy liked
her extremely.
“She's as nice as she can be,” declared Hephzy. “If it wasn't that she
says 'Fancy!' and 'Really!' instead of 'My gracious!' and 'I want to
know!' I should think I was talking to a Cape Codder, the best kind
of one. She's got sense, too. SHE don't ask about 'red Indians' in
Bayport.”
Among the multitude of our new experiences we learned the value of
a judicious “tip.” We had learned something concerning tips on the
“Plutonia”; Campbell had coached us concerning those, and we were
provided with a schedule of rates--so much to the bedroom steward, so
much to the stewardess, to the deck steward, to the “boots,” and all the
rest. But tipping in London we were obliged to adjust for ourselves, and
the result of our education was surprising.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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