ATDTDA (18): Not exactly beau material, 511-514

[Paul Nightingale]

Root can 'move up' to first class only as Kit's guest. Previously, Erlys
isolated Kit when drawing Dally's attention to him (510). We have no way of
knowing if he was alone then, or with Root, as now: here, Root isn't
mentioned again, and Kit eventually approaches Erlys and Dally alone. At the
end of the previous section we're told that Root is "a little too fond of
the bottle" (511); and straightaway, when this section opens, he is "engaged
with the wine list".

We have seen Dally come into the dining saloon, from Kit's pov, "with a
large party of performing Italians" (511), his view emphasising her
"striking head of red hair". Subsequently, recalling RW's party, he refers
to Katie as the "girl in a red dress" (512), and we might remember that,
when first seeing him, she was thinking of her own dress, the "juvenile rag
Katie had all but forced her into buying" (349). She remembers him
straightaway (510); for him, "it's almost as if he had dreamed it once"
(511). For Kit, she is "at once there and somewhere else".

Another narrative unfolds when Kit and Dally speak, that of his family and
brothers; the text reveals that the Zombinis have "long finished supper and
left the table" (512), and Dally wonders if he is "working up to a
declaration or at least a kiss" (513). Kit, however, continues to speak of
his brothers, "at once there and somewhere else". His story occupies a space
similar to that told by Erlys earlier; however, Dally's "all-purpose
wide-eyed gaze" masks her failure to think of anything to say.