What is the use of 他（ひと）in this sentence?


この間もちょっと畳で爪を磨いだら細君が非常に怒ってそれから容易に座敷へ入れない。 The other day when I happened to be
sharpening my claws on some straw floor-matting, the mistress of the house
became so unreasonably incensed that now it is only with the greatest
reluctance that she’ll even let me enter a matted room.

台所の板の間で他（ひと）が顫えていても一向平気なものである。 Though I’m shivering on the wooden floor in the
kitchen, heartlessly she remains indifferent.

I'm reading through I am a cat by Soseki and I came across this use of the
word 他 which had the reading as ひと. I'm having trouble understanding how this
word is being used in this sentence and would appreciate some enlightenment.




This Japanese sentences are highly literary expression. These are quoted from
"吾輩は猫である（夏目漱石）." Some of them are entirely not modern expression. I can't read
"他" as "ひと" without the furigana.

We can't find "他（ひと）" in modern leterature. In meiji period highly
sofisticated perple like 漱石 wrote this kind of expression.

Anyway I associate "他人（たにん）" with "他（ひと）."

