The crash brought everybody to his feet except the two officials and the railway man.

They continued eating, and the railway man continued counting copper coins as if life depended on that alone.
"Sit down all!" yelled Coutlass.

"You will eat with better appetite now that you can behold the blushes of these virgins!" Then he swaggered over to the long table, thrust the other Greek and the Goanese into chairs on either side of him, and yelled for food.

It was the first time we had been referred to publicly as virgins, and I think we all three felt the strain.
The Goanese manager--a wizened old black man with perfectly white hair--came running from the kitchen in a state of near-collapse, the sweat streaming off him and his hands trembling.
"What shall I do ?" he asked, almost upsetting the railway man's tray of money.

"That man is crazy! He came in once before and broke the dishes! Twice he has come in here and eaten and refused to pay! What shall I do ?" "Nothing," said the railway man.