Her legs trembling, Mai Mingle climbed to her feet. For a moment, she still couldn't believe she had escaped the consequences of breaking a rule at the last second.
'I was too naive.'
'The rule "No one may sit at the central round table" must have had a double meaning: first, one could not sit *near* the central round table, and second, one could not sit *in the chairs* belonging to it.'
After all, no one sits *on* a restaurant table. If there was something you couldn't sit on, it had to be the two chairs.
The couple must have taken advantage of the moment she was in the restroom delivering the face piece. They probably had a waiter drag one of the chairs to their table, trying to trick her into sitting down.
