This is a fairly straightforward quotation. The
younger waiter says it to the other, older
waiter, while they are talking about the old
man. Actually the younger waiter is talking about the old man and
complaining about him. When he says it is after he has been
serving the old man brandy until the early hours of morning and until the old man is
rather drunk.
"He's drunk now," he said. (young
waiter)
"He's drunk every night." (other, older
waiter)
The young waiter is
on duty at the cafe with the other, older waiter. Where
they sit is together at a table keeping watch on the old man because when he gets "too
drunk" he goes away without paying his bill. The waiters sit at a table they share
inside the cafe while the old man sits on the outdoor terrace in the shadows cast by
tree leaves in the "electric light," the same light that illuminates the military
insignia on a soldier's uniform as he hurries past the old man and terrace with a girl
who "hurried beside him."
The two waiters notice the
romance between the soldier and the girl, which refers the
young waiter's thoughts to the late hour and the wife he has at home waiting for him in
a warm bed. This is the reason why he makes the remark in
the quote: He is tired; he sees a young couple in love; he is talking about the old
man's attempt on his own life; he never gets home to his wife before three o'clock. The
significance is that he wants to go home at a more decent
hour and see his wife and feel young and alive. He wants to wash away the thoughts of
being old and alone and cold and dying.
"I wish he would go home. I never get to bed
before three o'clock.What kind of hour is that to go to bed?"
"He
stays up because he likes it."
"He's lonely. I'm not lonely. I have a
wife waiting in bed for me."
"He had a wife once
too."
"A wife would be no good to him now."
"You
can't tell. He might be better with a wife."
"His niece looks after
him. You said she cut him down."
"I know." "I wouldn't want to be that
old. An old man is a nasty thing."
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