Page 438 - of-human-bondage-

of his weakness, he left Dunsford and went straight to the
shop which he had vowed never again to enter. He saw the
waitress the moment he came in and sat down at one of her
tables. He expected her to make some reference to the fact
that he had not been there for a week, but when she came
up for his order she said nothing. He had heard her say to
other customers:
‘You’re quite a stranger.’
She gave no sign that she had ever seen him before. In
order to see whether she had really forgotten him, when she
brought his tea, he asked:
‘Have you seen my friend tonight?’
‘No, he’s not been in here for some days.’
He wanted to use this as the beginning of a conversation,
but he was strangely nervous and could think of nothing to
say. She gave him no opportunity, but at once went away. He
had no chance of saying anything till he asked for his bill.
‘Filthy weather, isn’t it?’ he said.
It was mortifying that he had been forced to prepare
such a phrase as that. He could not make out why she filled
him with such embarrassment.
‘It don’t make much difference to me what the weather is,
having to be in here all day.’
There was an insolence in her tone that peculiarly irri-
tated him. A sarcasm rose to his lips, but he forced himself
to be silent.
‘I wish to God she’d say something really cheeky,’ he
raged to himself, ‘so that I could report her and get her
sacked. It would serve her damned well right.’