didn't forget it. He had his wages and he made his tips, and the food
was plentiful; but I take it he worked harder during that time than he'd
ever worked before in his life, and found that a landlady is just twice
as difficult to please as the strictest landlord it can be a man's
misfortune to get under, and that Mrs. Wrench was no exception to the
rule.

"At the end of the fifteen months she sends for him into the office. He
didn't want telling by this time; he just stood with his hat in his hand
and waited respectful like.

"'James,' says she, after she had finished what she was doing, 'I find I
shall want another waiter for the coffee-room this season. Would you
care to try the place?'

"'Thank you, Mrs. Wrench,' he answers; 'it's more what I've been used to,
and I think I'll be able to give satisfaction.'

"'There's no wages attached, as I suppose you know,' continues she; 'but
the second floor goes with it, and if you know your business you ought to
make from twenty-five to thirty shillings a week.'

"Thank you, Mrs. Wrench; that'll suit me very well,' replies he; and it
was settled.

"He did better as a waiter; he'd got it in his blood, as you might say;
and so after a time he worked up to be head-waiter. Now and then, of
course, it came about that he found himself waiting on the very folks
that he'd been chums with in his classy days, and that must have been a
bit rough on him. But he'd taken in a good deal of sense since then; and