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Christmas Eve at Feinheimer's is, or was, a riot of unconfined hilarity, although

the code of ethics of the place was on a higher plane than that which governed

the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve patrons of so-called respectable

restaurants, where a woman is not safe from insult even though she be properly

escorted, while in Feinheimer's a woman with an escort was studiously avoided

by the other celebrators unless she chose to join with them. As there was only

one class of women who came to Feinheimer's at night without escort, the male

habitues had no difficulty in determining who they might approach and who they

might not.

Jimmy Torrance was as busy as a cranberry merchant. He had four tables to

attend to, and while the amount of food he served grew more and more negligible

as the evening progressed, his trips to the bar were exceedingly frequent. One of

his tables had been vacated for a few minutes when, upon his return from the bar

with a round of drinks for Steve Murray and his party he saw that two women

had entered and were occupying his fourth table. Their backs were toward him,

and he gave them but little attention other than to note that they were unescorted

and to immediately catalogue them accordingly. Having distributed Steve

Murray's order, Jimmy turned toward his new patrons, and, laying a menu card

before each, he stood between them waiting for their order.

What shall we take?" asked Elizabeth of Harriet. Then: "What have you that's

good?" and she looked up at the waiter.

Jimmy prided himself upon self-control, and his serving at Feinheimer's had still

further schooled him in the repression of any outward indication of his emotions.

For, as most men of his class, he had a well-defined conception of what

constituted a perfect waiter, one of the requisites being utter indifference to any

of the affairs of his patrons outside of those things which actually pertained to his

duties as a servitor; but in this instance Jimmy realized that he had come very

close to revealing the astonishment which he felt on seeing this girl in

Feinheimer's and unescorted.

The Efficiency Expert