A Traveller in Little Things

How I Found My Title

He then gave me some particulars concerning the large thing he

travelled in; and when I had expressed all the interest and admiration

the subject called for, he condescendingly invited me to tell him

something about my own small line.

Now this was wrong of him; it was a distinct contravention of an

unwritten law among "Commercials" that no person must be interrogated

concerning the nature of his business. The big and the little man, once

inside the hostel, which is their club as well, are on an equality. I

did not remind my questioner of this--I merely smiled and said nothing,

and he of course understood and respected my reticence. With a pleasant

nod and a condescending let-us-say-no-more-about-it wave of the hand he

passed on to other matters.

Notwithstanding that I was amused at his mistake, the label he had

supplied me with was something to be grateful for, and I am now finding

a use for it. And I think that if he, my labeller, should see this

sketch by chance and recognise himself in it, he will say with his

pleasant smile and wave of the hand, "Oh, that's his line! Yes, yes, I

described him rightly enough, thinking it haberdashery or floral texts

for cottage bedrooms, or something of that kind; I didn't imagine he

was a traveller in anything quite so small as this."