Summary

‘A Holiday Task’ tells the story of a woman who had lost her memory and takes the help of a stranger to
help her. Her failed memory affected nothing else but the memory of her own identity, and she tries to
remove all the possibilities to finally find her name. Kenelm Jerton, a young man, was at a crowded
restaurant during lunch hour. The lady tells Jerton that she had no memory who she was. She could not
even remember whether she had any luggage and how she came to the hotel because she remembered
its name and gave herself a false surname of ‘Smith’, at which the porter supplied her with some
luggage tagged ’Kestrel Smith’. She even lied to the page boy that she had lost her keys and got the lock
of the luggage forcefully opened. Her plans to find out who she is, leads to humour in the story. In the
end, Jerton comes across a man, who knew the lady and gets to know that she was Mrs. Stroope, who
was the Lady Champion at golf near where he lived. She had a problem of losing her memory. Soon, a
furious lady started shouting about the broken locks of her luggage. Jerton escaped away and went
straight for the Turkish bath and stayed there for hours.

1. What happened when the hotel porter asked Mrs. Stroope of she had any luggage?
A. When the hotel porter asked Mrs. Stroope if she had any luggage, she invented a dressing-bag and
dressbasket. She pretended that they had gone astray. She gave him the name of Smith. The porter
brought a dressing-bag and dress-basket labeled Kestrel-Smith.

2. Who did Jerton meet at the hotel? What was the ‘curious thing’ about the person?

A. Jerton met Mrs Stroope at the hotel. The ‘curious thing’ about her was that she was able to tell Jerton
the name of the roses in the flower-vase but she could not remember her own name.

3. What happened to Mrs. Stroope while she was going to the hotel?
A. Mrs. Stroope, had a partial loss of memory. Her ticket reminded her that she had come from Victoria
and had to check-in Golden Galleon Hotel. She had some money but no visiting cards. She could only
remember that she was lady somebody.

4. What did Mrs. Stroope ask Jerton to do in the hope that it might help her?

A. Mrs. Stroope asked Jerton to go through any of the back numbers of Country life and similar kind of
papers that he could find in the smoking room to check if he comes across her picture.

5. How did the Lady conclude that she was neither Lady Starping nor Lady Befnal?
A. In her attempt to find out who she was, the Lady removed all the possibilities of who she could not
be. She was lunching off lobster Newburg, which is an extravagance, because it is one of the most
expensive dishes on the menu, but at any rate it proved that she was not Lady Starping because she
never touches shell-fish. So also, when she recognized a well-known bookmaker in the hotel lobby, she
put a tenner on an unnamed filly for three-fifteen race. However, Lady Befnal didn't like any form of
gambling. Hence, she concluded she was neither Lady Starping nor Lady Befnal.

2. What ‘useful idea’ occurred to Mrs. Stroope to find out her identity? What did she do to get rid of the
luggage?

A. The lady was sure that she belonged to the pivot club. She got the idea of going back to town to ask
the hall porter if there were any letters or telephone messages for her. He recognized all the members
by sight, and if there were any letters for her he would hand them over to her. In this way she would get
to know her name. But if she didn’t have any letters then she would ask him if he knew who she was and
then her identity would be revealed to her.

Mrs. Stroope had the luggage brought down to the hall and asked Jerton to pretend to guard over and
move away to the smoking-room. Then the luggage would be advertised by the hotel and the owner
would get it.

3. How did Jerton finally manage to find out the identity of the lady?
A. While Jerton was guarding the luggage, two gentlemen passed by. One of them said to the other, if he
saw the tall young woman in grey; referring to Mrs. Stroope. Jerton missed hearing the name of the
lady. Luckily, the important person strolled back alone. Jerton asked him the name of the lady in grey he
was referring to. Jerton learnt that she was Mrs.Stroope, who was the Lady Champion at golf near
where he lived. He also learnt that she was an awful good lady and was renowned in society but she
kept losing her memory every now and then. She would get angry if someone ever spoke about it
afterwards.

4. What was the commotion about in the hotel? Where did Jerton go and why?
A. Jerton’s attention was drawn towards a commotion in the hotel after he had found out Mrs. Stroope’s
identity from a stranger. An angry-looking lady was making loud and fretful-seeming inquiries of the
hotel clerks. She was enquiring about her dress-basket and dressing-case, tagged ’Kestrel-Smith’. She
could not trace it anywhere though she had seen it being put in at Victoria. Then, she spotted her
luggage and started shouting about the locks being broken. Jerton was guarding the luggage and he
knew who had broken it. Fearing that he could fall in trouble; Jerton escaped, went straight for the
Turkish bath and stayed there for a few hours.