He dodged to his table and sat down without a look at any of his neighbours.

To him it seemed that Nora regarded him with yet more visible scornfulness.
Could he have sunk beneath the board he would have done so.

Naught but hunger made him bold, for he had lived long at his barn on sardines, cheese, and crackers.
One by one the guests at the tables rose and left the room, and one by one the waiter girls followed them.

The dining hour was nearly over.
The girls would go upstairs for a brief season of rest before changing their checked gingham mid-day uniform for the black gown and white apron which constituted the regalia for the evening meal, known, of course, as "supper." Sam, absorbed in his own misery and his own hunger, awoke with a start to find the great hall apparently quite deserted.
It is the curious faculty of some men (whereby scientists refer us to the ape) that they are able at will to work back and forth the scalp upon the skull.

Yet other and perhaps fewer men retain the ability to work either or both ears, moving them back and forth voluntarily.