“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know you were here. Honest I didn’t.”
“Well, it’s a public lunch, isn’t it?” she inquired. “I’m almost through.”
“Then you don’t mind if I stay?”
“It’s no business of mine,” she said curtly.
“But I don’t want you to think I––I’m intruding.”
She glanced at him again.
“Let’s forget it,” she decided. “But you might sit there all day and you wouldn’t get anything to eat.”
He looked around, uncertain as to just what she meant.
“You go to the counter, pick out what you want, and bring it back here,” she explained. “I’ll hold your seat for you.”
Don made his way into the crowd at the rear. 38 At the counter he found he had for ten cents a wide choice; but her éclair had looked so good he selected one of those and a cup of coffee. In returning he lost a portion of the coffee, but he brought the éclair through safely. He deposited it on the arm of the chair and sat down. In spite of his utmost effort at self-control, that éclair made just four mouthfuls. It seemed to him that he had no more than picked up his fork than it was gone. However, he still had his coffee, and he settled back to enjoy that in a more temperate fashion.