Lemuel joined them, and for pure listlessness
waited round to see what they were looking at. By and by he was
worked inward by the shifting and changing of the crowd, and found
himself looking in at the door of a room, splendidly fitted up with
mirrors and marble everywhere, and coloured glass and carved
mahogany. There was a long counter with three men behind it, and
over their heads was a large painting of a woman, worse than that
image in the garden. The men were serving out liquor to the people
that stood around drinking and smoking, and battening on this
picture. Lemuel could not help looking, either. "What place is
this?" he asked of the boy next him.
"Why, don't you know?" said the boy. "It's Jimmy Baker's. Just
opened."
"Oh," said Lemuel. He was not going to let the boy see that he did
not know who Jimmy Baker was. Just then something caught his eye
that had a more powerful charm for him than that painting. It was a
large bowl at the end of the counter, which had broken crackers in
it, and near it were two plates, one with cheese, and one with bits
of dried fish and smoked meat. The sight made the water come into
his mouth; he watched like a hungry dog, with a sympathetic working
of the jaws, the men who took a bit of fish, or meat, or cheese, and
a cracker, or all four of them, before or after they drank.
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