To think of Katie praising Zotique for providing her with a seat! If
she only knew how she was wounding him! but he was sure she did not.
He wondered what she would think if she only knew that the failure of
his speech had been largely due to not having had the privilege of
providing her with a seat. He thought of how anxiously he had watched
the door for her, and how Zotique had upset all his plans by going so
fearlessly up to her and taking her to the seat at his side. He
wondered she had not noticed how he had stood up all the time she had
been talking to his brother, and how in that way he had tried to get
her to notice the generous vacant space at his side. There was nothing
to be done now but to let Katie misunderstand him: to let her know the
true state of his feelings would be treachery to Zotique.

In a low voice he admitted Zotique's superiority over him also in the
capacity of politeness.

It is wonderful how cruel maidens can be at times. In a tone in which
there was just the slightest shade of reproach, Katie told him that
she really had expected him to show her a little more attention,
considering how very long they had been friends. Perhaps, however, his
lack of attention had been due to his feeling unwell; she had seen how
he had hardly eaten anything. Ill-health would account, too, for the
tremendous covering of salt he had put over his meat.

Poor Vital! This was dreadful; she had misunderstood him in
everything. She would never know that his prodigality with the salt
had been due to the perversity of his heart in longing for what it
would now never possess. Manfully he stuck to the thankless part he
had to play, and admitted that ill-health had something to do with his