ndergo for the sheer fun of the thing.

Joseph came to my rescue, but, with all the good will in the world, he
complicated matters. Finois, Fanny, and Souris pressed nearer, hoping
for something to eat, and the two donkeys, discouraged and
disheartened by the unexpected cold, were piteous, shivering objects,
with their velvet hair bristling on end, their little legs knocking
together. Even their faces seemed to have shrunk, and Fanny was all
eyes and grey spectacles.

I opened the hateful object which, by its tuberculous knobs, I
recognised as the one least often unpacked. It was there that I
expected to find the coat, wrapped democratically round goodness knew
how many spare boots, stockings, collars, and other small articles
which Locker would never have allowed to come within speaking distance
of each other. But, with the total depravity of inanimate things, the
coat had escaped from the hold-all. In my certainty that I must come
upon it sooner or later--at the bottom of everything, of course--I
scattered the other contents recklessly about; and when at last I gave
up the search in despair, the white ground was strewn with the most
intimate accessories of my toilet. Seized with a Berserker rage, I
tore open the second hold-all, and before the Boy could utter a cry of
protest, more collars, handkerchiefs, brushes, and little horrors of
every description peppered the earth. There were as many things there
as the inestimable mother of the Swiss Family Robinson contrived to
stow in her wonderful bag during the five minutes before the
shipwreck--things which fulfilled all the wants of the young Robinsons
for the period of seventeen years. But, naturally, the one thing I
needed was missing; and now that it was too late, I vaguely recalled
seeing that overcoat hanging limply on a peg in the wardrobe of some
hotel whose very name I had now forgotten.

If I had been a woman, I should inevitably have burst into tears, and
somebody would have comforted me, and everything would immediately
have been all right. As it was, I used several of Innocentina's most
lurid phrases, under my breath, and announced my intention of
abandoning my luggage on the mountain-side, rather than attempt the
impossible task of feeding it again to the monsters which had
disgorged it.

"Poor Man!" exclaimed the Boy. "Why didn't you confide to me before,
that you were physically and mentally incapable of packing? I've often
noticed that your hold-all