again.

"I like you, kid," she said. "You're not fresh. You know what I am as
well as the rest of them, but you wait on me just the same as you would
on"--she hesitated and there was a little catch in her voice as she
finished her sentence--"just the same as you would on a decent girl."

Jimmy looked at her in surprise. It was the first indication that he
had ever had from an habitue of Feinheimer's that there might lurk
within their breasts any of the finer characteristics whose outward
indices are pride and shame. He was momentarily at a loss as to what to
say, and as he hesitated the girl's gaze went past him and she
exclaimed:

"Look who's here!"

Jimmy turned to look at the newcomer, and saw the Lizard directly behind
him.

"Howdy, bo," said his benefactor. "I thought I'd come in and give you
the once-over. And here's Little Eva with a plate of ham and at four
o'clock in the afternoon."

The Lizard dropped into a chair at the table with the girl, and after
Jimmy had taken his order and departed for the kitchen Little Eva jerked
her thumb toward his retreating figure.

"Friend of yours?" she asked.

"He might have a worse friend," replied the Lizard non-committally.