“Well, I guess they have. But how is it that you, an official of the government, seem to ignore the law of your own country? Don’t you know that if all these articles are for my own private use, they are not dutiable, whether new or not?”
The man did not answer.
He took out more linen, which he put on the floor, and spreading open a pair of unmentionables, he asked again:
“Have you worn this? It looks quite new.”
I nodded affirmatively.
He then took out a pair of socks.
“Have you worn these?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Have a sniff at them.”
He continued his examination, and was about to throw my evening suit on the floor. I had up to now been almost amused at the proceedings, but I felt my good-humor was going, and the lion began to wag its tail. I took the man by the arm, and looking at him sternly, I said:
“Now, you put this carefully on the top of some other clothes.”