Returned EmptyBarclay, Florence L. (Florence Louisa)
General
Returned Empty
Barclay, Florence L. (Florence Louisa)
Reincarnation -- Fiction
Luke smiled. His knapsack held a clean shirt, a razor, a comb, a
toothbrush, and half a dozen handkerchiefs.
“I am doing a walking tour,” he said. “You might explain to her ladyship
that I have nothing with me but bare necessaries in a small knapsack.”
The butler opened a door, switched on the light and stood aside that he
might enter.
“You will find all you need here, sir. The door to the left leads into a
bath-room. A gong will sound at eight. It is now half-past seven. If you
should require anything more, will you be so good as to ring, sir?” He
retired, closing the door softly behind him.
Luke looked around and laughed. He wondered what on earth he could find
to ring for, which was not already there!
He walked over to the dressing-table, on which were silver-backed
brushes, ivory razors, silver-topped bottles!
Laid out upon the bed was a complete suit of dress clothes.
If this was “Colin’s” room, he certainly did himself well! If these were
“Colin’s” clothes, they certainly would not fit him!
Laughing again—he who never laughed—he turned to the bed, flung off his
rough Norfolk jacket, and slipped on the smooth black coat with its silk
lining. It fitted him perfectly; and he was fastidious about the cut of
his clothes.
Should he?... Not he! He would never wear another man’s garments. He
would never stand in another man’s shoes. If Lady Tintagel asked him to
dine, she must have him as he was. If the lovely daughter looked askance
at him, she must learn to understand that you don’t carry a dress suit
in a knapsack.
But the bath? Yes, rather! That was quite another matter. His long sea
swims had made him feel like a kipper.
What a bath-room! Every muscle relaxed in the steaming hot water. A
bottle of fragrant aromatic stuff stood, temptingly handy. He poured it
in, and luxuriated. “Colin” must feel a god, with all this at his
command, whenever he came in fagged. He must descend on his admiring
womenfolk, like a giant refreshed.
A cold shower—and then he blessed heaven he had put a clean shirt in his
knapsack.
“Colin’s” ivory-handled razors made shaving a positive pastime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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