Nell did as she was desired, and encountered a man with some portmanteaus, and bags and plaids in a wheelbarrow standing outside the door.
‘These are the things, miss, of the gents as is to sleep here,’ he said.
‘All right. Bring them in,’ was the reply.
The man brought the articles in, one by one, on his shoulders, and heaped them all down in the first room.
‘But stay!’ exclaimed Nell, ‘some must go in the other room. What are the gentlemen’s names?’
‘Sure, I don’t know, miss. All I was told was to bring the luggage over here.’
Nell examined the portmanteaus first. On one were the initials M. L., on the other J. S. P. One bag had M. L. on it, the other was blank. The two bundles of plaids and umbrellas were not addressed at all.
‘Take that portmanteau and that bag,’ said Nell, intimating the two marked M. L. ‘into the next room, and leave the others here. The gentlemen can sort their own plaids when they come.’
The man did as she told him, and withdrew, as Mrs Llewellyn came bustling into the room to see if the luggage betokened wealth or not.
‘Nice portmantles, ain’t they, Nell?’ she remarked, as she examined the locks and leather. ‘Lor’! what a lot of money young gentlemen do spend on themselves. M. L. I fancy I’ve seen him before. I think that must be Mr Martin Lennox, who was down the year before last. Such a nice, free-spoken young man, and will be an earl some day they told me. J. S. P.,’ she went on, looking at the other portmanteau, ‘I’ve never seen that before. I wonder what it stands for—J. S. P.’