Chapter 15 Summary

Valenti tells the narrator a story about when he was out of work. Although Valenti is a waiter, he claims to have gone five days once without eating. Valenti says that on the fifth day without eating he went mad, praying to an image in his apartment building that he mistook for St. Eloise.

Soon after his prayer, in which he promises the saint that he'll burn a candle for her if she fulfill his request, an annoying girl comes in and asks him why he hasn't taken his oil lantern back for the deposit, which would give him three franks fifty for the deposit. He is overjoyed, having just asked St. Eloise for "three or four franks."

The girl returns the oil lamp for him and comes back with a good meal. After he has eaten, he wants tobacco and has just...