Claire cried ardently;
and at that they both laughed with a delightful sense of understanding
and _camaraderie_. At that moment Claire felt a distinct pang at the
thought that never again would she have the opportunity of speaking and
laughing with this attractive, eminently companionable man; then her
attention was distracted by the appearance of two more porters, who had
each to be interviewed in his turn.

They had no good news to give, however, so the searchers left the
platform in disgust, and repaired to the office for lost luggage, where
the story of the missing box was recounted to an unsympathetic clerk.
When a man spends his whole life listening to complaints of missing
property, he can hardly be expected to show a vehement distress at the
loss of yet another passenger, but to Claire at this moment there was
something quite brutal in his callous indifference. The one suggestion
which he had to make was that she could leave her name, and the manner
in which it was given was a death-blow to hope.

At this very moment, however, just as Claire was bending forward to
dictate the desired information she felt a touch on her arm, and looking
in the direction of Mr Fanshawe's outstretched hand, beheld a porter
approaching the office, trundling before him a truck on which reposed in
solitary splendour, a long brown dress-box, and oh, joy of joys! even at
the present distance the white letters C.G. could be plainly
distinguished on the nearer side! Claire's dignity went to the winds at
that sight, and she dashed forward to meet her property with the joyous
impetuosity of a child.

The explanation was simple to a degree, and precisely agreed with Mr
Fanshawe's surmise as to what had really happened. During Claire's
trance of forgetfulness, the box had been wheeled away, with a large
consignment of luggage, and the mistake discovered only when the various
items were in process of being packed into a company's omnibus, when,
there being no one at hand to claim it, it had been conveyed--by very
leisurely stages--to the lost luggage office.

All's well that ends well! Claire gleefully collected her possessions,
feeling a glow of delight in the safety which an hour before she would
have taken as a matter of course, and stood at attention while each
separate item was placed on the roof of the taxi. The little addresses
of which she had boasted were duly inserted in leather framings on each
box, the delicate writing