'You wouldn't like me to be head-waiter, I suppose?' says he. 'It would
be a bit of a come-down.'

"'You're thinking of the hotel, I suppose,' says she. 'Perhaps you are
right. My customers are mostly an old-fashioned class; it's probable
enough they might not like you. You had better suggest something else.'

"'I could hardly be an under-waiter,' says he.

"'Perhaps not,' says she; 'your manners strike me as a bit too familiar
for that.'

"Then he thought he'd try sarcasm.

"'Perhaps you'd fancy my being the boots,' says he.

"'That's more reasonable,' says she. 'You couldn't do much harm there,
and I could keep an eye on you.'

"'You really mean that?' says he, starting to put on his dignity.

"But she cut him short by ringing the bell.

"'If you think you can do better for yourself,' she says, 'there's an end
of it. By a curious coincidence the place is just now vacant. I'll keep
it open for you till to-morrow night; you can turn it over in your mind.'
And one of the page boys coming in she just says 'Good-morning,' and the
interview was at an end.

"Well, he turned it over, and he took the job. He thought she'd relent
after the first week or two, but she didn't. He just kept that place for
over fifteen months, and learnt the business. In the house he was James
the boots, and she Mrs. Wrench the landlady, and she saw to it that he
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,' r