To Whom Shall I Tell My Grief?

This is an excerpt from “Misery,” one of my favorite Chekhov works. Read this sad little story if you get a chance.

The misery which has been for a brief space eased comes back again and tears his heart more cruelly than ever. With a look of anxiety and suffering Iona’s eyes stray restlessly among the crowds moving to and fro on both sides of the street: can he not find among those thousands someone who will listen to him? But the crowds flit by heedless of him and his misery . . . His misery is immense, beyond all bounds. If Iona’s heart were to burst and his misery to flow out, it would flood the whole world, it seems, but yet it is not seen. It has found a hiding-place in such an insignificant shell that one would not have found it with a candle by daylight . . .

Ew Gross

So the other day I was in the Barnes and Noble bathroom, and this woman comes out of the stall with a book from the store in her hand. Hoping that she was just using it as some leisurely bathroom reading before purchasing it, I followed her out into the store. She left the book on a table and walked off! I couldn't believe she did this, and I went back to see if they have some sort of sign up, banning the admittance of unpurchased merchandise in the bathroom. sure enough, they did. Confused, and feeling like I was in an episode of Seinfield, I called my little sister (who used to work at Borders) to ask her what I should do. She told me to stop wasting her time. Even though I'm usually too cheap to buy my books from Barnes and Noble, I was appalled at the thought that this woman had contaminated a book that I might have bought.
As I stood there, dumbfounded and trying to figure out what to do, the woman traipsed out of the store, totally carefree, as though she had not just broken a serious book store law. I witnessed her repulsive act and did nothing. I almost felt like an accessory to her crime. What should I have done? What would you have done in the situation?