He Threw Up His Arm, Semaphore Fashion,
First To This Point Of The Compass And Then To That, And Traffic
Halted Instantly.
As far as the eye might reach it halted; and
it stayed halted, too, while he searched his mind and gave me
carefully and painstakingly the directions for which I sought.
In
that packed mass of cabs and taxis and buses and carriages there
were probably dukes and archbishops - dukes and archbishops are
always fussing about in London - but they waited until he was through
directing me. It flattered me so that I went back to the hotel
and put on a larger hat. I sincerely hope there was at least one
archbishop.
Another time we went to Paddington to take a train for somewhere.
Following the custom of the country we took along our trunks and
traps on top of the taxicab. At the moment of our arrival there
were no porters handy, so a policeman on post outside the station
jumped forward on the instant and helped our chauffeur to wrestle
the luggage down on the bricks. When I, rallying somewhat from
the shock of this, thanked him and slipped a coin into his palm,
he said in effect that, though he was obliged for the shilling, I
must not feel that I had to give him anything - that it was part
of his duty to aid the public in these small matters. I shut my
eyes and tried to imagine a New York policeman doing as much for
an unknown alien; but the effort gave me a severe headache.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 230 of 341
Words from 62370 to 62633
of 93169
