England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Orphans -- Fiction; Uncles -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
"Yes, it's a pity you got a porter," Aunt Cuckoo continued. "A great
pity. Because I've got a porter as well. And it doesn't seem worth
while, does it, to have two porters?" Jasmine agreed helplessly. "Unless
your luggage is very heavy indeed," Aunt Cuckoo added, "and if it _is_
very heavy indeed, we can't take it back with us in the brougham, and
then I don't know what to do. Yes, it's a pity really you got a porter
so quickly. Aunt May wrote us that you were rather impulsive."
She sighed; the rival porters waiting for a decision sighed too. Finally
Jasmine took a shilling from her bag, presented it to her porter, and
said "Thank you very much."
"Thank _you_ very much, miss," said the porter, respectfully touching
his cap and retiring from the contest. Aunt Cuckoo without commenting
upon Jasmine's action, asked wearily if her luggage was in the back or
the front of the train. By good luck Jasmine did know this, because Sir
Hector's last bellowed words at Spaborough had been: "Don't forget that
your luggage will be in the back part of the train! You are in a through
carriage!"
By this time Jasmine's luggage had been reduced to one trunk. The crates
with her father's pictures had on her uncle's advice been left at
Strathspey House to be brought to London with the rest of the furniture
when the family moved. The carpet bag had been presented to Hopkins as a
parting gift, because Hopkins had once said how much it would appeal to
a little niece of hers in Battersea. The basket of prickly pears had
long ago been burnt, because Aunt May had supposed it capable of
introducing subtropical insects into Strathspey House. There was
therefore nothing left but her trunk, which Aunt Cuckoo decided was
neither too large nor too heavy for the brougham. In fact, as a piece of
luggage she made light of it altogether, and only gave her porter
twopence, at which he said: "I shan't argue about it, mum. It's not
worth arguing about."
"Are you dissatisfied?" asked Aunt Cuckoo.
The porter called upon Heaven with upturned eyes to witness his
treatment and invited Aunt Cuckoo to keep her twopence.
"You want it more than I do, mum," he said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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