FLORIDA AND THE WEST INDIES 45 



of letters, cards, a passport, and inscriptions in my 

 watch and on my cane, did the president of the bank 

 finally consent to liquidate my claim on him. I 

 told him that the only chance of identifying me 

 was to walk over to the White House, where I had 

 that morning had an interview with the President. 

 I could not, so near the dinner hour, hold out 

 the prospect of a very warm reception, and that, 

 I think, settled him. When, some weeks later, I 

 told the experience to the Colonial Secretary of 

 Jamaica, Mr Clarence Bourne, he recalled a most 

 amusing case in which someone, who found himself 

 in a similar difficulty, sought in his despair to 

 establish his identity by disclosing the tab of his 

 shirt. With this object he pulled up his waistcoat, 

 thinking to show his own name, when, to his horror, 

 he discovered that a wrong shirt must have been 

 sent from the laundry, for the name on the shirt 

 bore no resemblance to his own. On another 

 occasion, Mr Bourne himself, having been relieved 

 in a Continental railway train of a pocket-book 

 containing all his loose notes, went to Cook's 

 bureau in one of the cities of northern Italy to 

 see if the manager would cash a cheque to meet 

 his immediate needs. He suggested that a tele- 

 gram be sent to his banker in London, and said 

 that he would call back later. On his return, 

 the same evening, he found that no answer had 

 been received, but in spite of this, impressed, no 

 doubt, by the readiness with which he gave his 

 banker's address, they cashed his cheque, an act 

 of courtesy grateful to the exile, but too rare to 

 be counted on, so once again I counsel letters of 

 credit. 



