.

As I had my window seat, I could not but see that the girl was late
again. Somehow I dawdled over my coffee. I had an evening paper before
me, but there was so little in it that my eyes found more of interest
in the street. It did not matter to me whether William's wife died, but
when that girl had promised to come, why did she not come? These lower
classes only give their word to break it. The coffee was undrinkable.

At last I saw her. William was at another window, pretending to do
something with the curtains. I stood up, pressing closer to the window.
The coffee had been so bad that I felt shaky. She nodded three times
and smiled.

"She is a little better," William whispered to me, almost gayly.

"Whom are you speaking of?" I asked, coldly, and immediately retired to
the billiard-room, where I played a capital game. The coffee was much
better there than in the dining-room.

Several days passed, and I took care to show William that I had
forgotten his maunderings. I chanced to see the little girl (though I
never looked for her) every evening and she always nodded three times,
save once, when she shook her head, and then William's face grew white
as a napkin. I remember this incident because that night I could not
get into a pocket. So badly did I play that the thought of it kept me
awake in bed, and that, again, made me wonder how William's wife was.
Next day I went to the club early (which was not my custom) to see the
new books. Being in the club at any rate, I looked into the dining-room
to ask William if I had left my gloves there, and the sight of him
reminded me of his wife, so I asked for her. He shook his head
mournfully, and I went off in a rage.

So accustomed am I to the club, that when I dine elsewhere I feel
uncomfortable next morning, as if I had missed a dinner. William knew
this; yet here he was, hounding me out of the club! That evening I
dined (as the saying is) at a restaurant, where no sauce was served
with the asparagus. Furthermore, as if that were not triumph enough for
William, his doleful face came between me and every dish, and I seemed
to see his wife dying to annoy me.

I dined next day at the club, for self-preservation, taking, however, a
table in the middle of the room, and engaging a waiter who had once
nearly poisoned me by not interfering when I put two lumps of sugar
into my coffee instead of one, which is my allowance. But no William
came to me to acknowledge his humilia