DaveRo wrote: Quote from The Importance of Being Earnest The reference is to the famous hand-bag. JACK. I have lost both my parents. LADY BRACKNELL. To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. Who was your father? He was evidently a man of some wealth. Was he born in what the Radical papers call the purple of commerce, or did he rise from the ranks of the aristocracy? JACK. I am afraid I really don’t know. The fact is, Lady Bracknell, I said I had lost my parents. It would be nearer the truth to say that my parents seem to have lost me . . . I don’t actually know who I am by birth. I was . . . well, I was found. LADY BRACKNELL. Found! JACK. The late Mr. Thomas Cardew, an old gentleman of a very charitable and kindly disposition, found me, and gave me the name of Worthing, because he happened to have a first-class ticket for Worthing in his pocket at the time. Worthing is a place in Sussex. It is a seaside resort. LADY BRACKNELL. Where did the charitable gentleman who had a first-class ticket for this seaside resort find you? JACK. [Gravely.] In a hand-bag. LADY BRACKNELL. A hand-bag? JACK. [Very seriously.] Yes, Lady Bracknell. I was in a hand-bag—a somewhat large, black leather hand-bag, with handles to it—an ordinary hand-bag in fact. LADY BRACKNELL. In what locality did this Mr. James, or Thomas, Cardew come across this ordinary hand-bag? JACK. In the cloak-room at Victoria Station. It was given to him in mistake for his own. LADY BRACKNELL. The cloak-room at Victoria Station? JACK. Yes. The Brighton line. LADY BRACKNELL. The line is immaterial. As all gricers know, Victoria was originally two stations. The 'Brighton Side' started at platform 9. Trains also ran to Brighton from London Bridge. From Platform 5?
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