Well,
then, Lord!... I shrugged my shoulders unobserved.
"If you please," says the waitress, kindly placing the beef on the table,
"wouldn't you rather go to another compartment, it's so dark here?"
"No, thanks; just let me be here," I reply; her kindliness touches me at
once. I pay for the beef on the spot, put whatever change remains into her
hand, close her fingers over it. She smiles, and I say in fun, with the
tears near my ears, "There, you're to have the balance to buy yourself a
farm.... Ah, you're very welcome to it."
I commenced to eat, got more and more greedy I as I did so, swallowed
whole pieces without chewing them, enjoyed myself in an animal-like way at
every mouthful, and tore at the meat like a cannibal.
The waitress came over to me again.
"Will you have anything to drink?" she asks, bending down a little towards
me. I looked at her. She spoke very low, almost shyly, and dropped her
eyes. "I mean a glass of ale, or whatever you like best ... from me ...
without ... that is, if you will...."
"No; many thanks," I answer. "Not now; I shall come back another time."
She drew back, and sat down at the desk. I could only see her head. What a
singular creature!
When finished, I made at once for the door. I felt nausea already. The
waitress got up. I was afraid to go near the light--afraid to show myself
too plainly to the young girl, who never for a moment suspected the depth
of my misery; so I wished her a hasty good-night, bowed to her, and left.
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