INCIDENT. 269 



man, with a youth of rather forbidding 

 appearance, apparently about twenty years 

 of age. I had long been accustomed to 

 speculate on the character of my com- 

 panions, and though I jumped to conclu- 

 sions that were not always borne out by 

 the results, still I was in the main not far 

 wrong. 



I remember a porter I had on my last 

 drag, who, with no other information than 

 the brass plate on a passenger's portmanteau, 

 would address him in language that implied 

 a long, though respectful acquaintance with 

 the gentleman's family. After calling him 

 by name, he would say, " How's the good 

 lady, sir ? " Sometimes he would go so 

 far as to ask after them individually. 

 "How's Master John or Master George," 

 chancing the individual having any such 

 ties, or indeed any ties at all; and if it 

 proved so, this civilest of porters was never 

 in any way abashed. 



