Your friend, having wasted half an hour and mislaid his temper for the day, decides to leave this thing over and talk to the hotel porter about it.

Next to the Burgomeister, the hotel porter is the most influential man in the continental town: maybe because he can swear in seven different languages.

But even he is not omnipotent.
The Traveller's one Friend.
Three of us, on the point of starting for a walking tour through the Tyrol, once sent on our luggage by post from Constance to Innsbruck.

Our idea was that, reaching Innsbruck in the height of the season, after a week's tramp on two flannel shirts and a change of socks, we should be glad to get into fresh clothes before showing ourselves in civilized society.

Our bags were waiting for us in the post-office: we could see them through the grating.