They named a figure that was entirely satisfactory to Jimmy.

"Come over the day after Christmas," he was told, "and we'll give you a
trial."

"I wonder," thought Jimmy as he started for home, "if I have gone up a
notch in the social scale or down a notch? From the view-point of the
underworld a pug occupies a more exalted position than a waiter; but--
oh, well, a job's a job, and at least I won't have to look at that
greasy Feinheimer all day."

At ten o'clock Monday Jimmy was at Young Brophy's training quarters,
for, although he had not forgotten Harriet Holden's invitation, he had
never seriously considered availing himself of her offer to help him to
a better position. While he had not found it difficult to accept the
rough friendship and assistance of the Lizard, the idea of becoming an
object of "charity," as he considered it, at the hands of a girl in the
same walk of life as that to which he belonged was intolerable.

Young Brophy's manager, whom Jimmy discovered to be one of the men who
had accosted him in Feinheimer's after his trouble with Murray, took him
into a private office and talked with him confidentially for a half-hour
before he was definitely employed.

It seemed that one of the principal requisites of the position was a
willingness to take punishment without attempting to inflict too much
upon Young Brophy. The manager did not go into specific details as to
the reason for this restriction, and Jimmy, badly in need of a job, felt
no particular inclination to search too deeply for the root of the
matter.