A Custom House Incident by Nigel Balchin (почти в конце рассказа)

Посмотрела рассказ, нашла фразу. Исходя из контекста, думаю, что "rather" относится к "what he had been doing". То есть: rather what he had been doing. Никогда не сталкивалась с таким употреблением, но думаю, что перевод примерно следующий: "я спросил его, чем он занимался все это время", то есть подразумевается, что он "had been doing something else rather than taking care of the luggage".

the luggage.

это - несовременная речь. Идёт, по-моему, чтобы отличаться мысль, о чём он здесь (в этом предложении) спросил, от того, что он или (1) не спросил хоть и желающий так спросить, или (2) не спросил, несмотря на то, что самый вопрос ждётся, например, собеседником. поэтому здесь "rather" используется как "instead".

можно: "Вместо, я спросил его..." и.т.д. ≈ instead (of asking him that), I asked him what he had been doing....

= Rather than asking him that, I... Порядок слов у Бальчина немножко старомодны, если так можно сказать.

А спасибо, Ольга, за искренние рассказа:)

Hi Chris :) This is a very interesting subject. Here is that part of the story:
"I found my seat in the Golden Arrow and began to read. It must have been about twenty minutes later that I suddenly realized the train was due to leave in five minutes and that the porter had not yet brought my luggage. I was just going to look for him when he appeared, breathing heavily, with my suit-cases. I asked him rather what he had been doing. "The lady is still there," said the boy, "and will be for some time, I think. They are going through her things properly.""

So what do you think?

Hi Olga:) This is getting stranger and stranger. My first instinct was to say that "rather" is being used like a particle, for emphasis. When I read it again, though, I think there's an implied contrast between what the narrator was about to do (i.e. look for the porter), and what he in fact does (i.e. ask the porter what he'd been doing). That supports my theory :)), that "rather" functions like "instead" (or even "but") in this context.

I'd guess this way of using "rather" fell out of favour from about the 1950's.

Along with porters for your luggage.

Yes, I think you're right. It totally makes more sense. Thank you so much for your opinion :) I'm so much into stuff like this. Always makes me curious :)

Hey, not at all, it was fun:) Strange how quickly some usages become obsolete. Sleep well:)

True, languages change very fast. Good night to you too :)