But some informality--I have never been able to understand what it was--had occurred at Constance.

The suspicion of the Swiss postal authorities had been aroused, and special instructions had been sent that the bags were to be delivered up only to their rightful owners.
It sounds sensible enough.

Nobody wants his bag delivered up to anyone else.

But it had not been explained to the authorities at Innsbruck how they were to know the proper owners.

Three wretched-looking creatures crawled into the post-office and said they wanted those three bags--"those bags, there in the corner"-- which happened to be nice, clean, respectable- looking bags, the sort of bags that anyone might want.