Many people were coming in and going out of the restaurant. All the tables were full now and there were people standing and waiting for tables. Some of her customers were beginning to look at her, waiting for her to take their order. She hoped Mrs Merrin would not notice how long she was taking with Robert Holton.
“I think,” said Caroline, frowning a thin hair-wide frown, “I think I will have some tomato juice, and a lamb chop....”
“No more lamb chops,” said Marjorie, trying to keep the triumph from her voice.
The hair-wide frown became a scowl. “Then I’ll have the veal.”
“Any vegetables?”
“Yes, the spinach.”
“You can have one other.”
“That’s all.”
And Marjorie thought, “the” spinach indeed. Why was it that when these people wanted to sound elegant they would talk about everything as “the”?
“What do you want, Mr Holton?” She wished that she had the nerve to call him Bob, the right to call him that.