to sit at your comer table when they stay at the Plaza.'
Abel was limpressed. The average customer wasn't supposed to appreciate the relative merits of the various tables.
'But I'm not doing so badly for myself. In fact, my best hotel may well grow to be as impressive as this one some day, Abel.'
'I am sure it will be, sir,l said Abel, playing for time.
Leroy, Leroy, Leroy. The name didn't mean a thing.
'Lemme git to the point, son. The number one hotel in my group needs a new assistant manager, in charge of the restaurants. If you're interested, join me in my room when you come off duty.'
He handed Abel a large embossed card.
'Thank you, sir,' said Abel, looking at it: Davis Ler - oy. The Richmond Group of Hotels, Dallas. Underneath was inscribed the motto: ~One day a hotel in every state., The name still meant nothing to Abel.
'I look forward to seeing you,' said the friendly, checkjacketed Texan.
'Thank you, sir,' said Abel. He smiled at Melanie, whose eyes were as coolly green as before and returned to Sammy, still head down, counting his takings.
'Ever heard of the Richmond Group of Hotels, Sammy?'
Tes, sure, my brother was a junior waiter in one once. Must be about eight or nine of them, all over the South, run by a mad Texan, but I can't remember the guy's name. Why you asking?' said Sammy, looking up suspiciously.
'No particular reason,' said Abel.
'There's always a reason with you. Now what did table seventeen want?'
said Sammy.
'Gn,unbling about the noise from the kitchen. Can't say I blame him.'
'What does he expect me to do, put him out on the veranda? Who does the guy think he is, John D. Rockefeller?'
Abel left Sammy to his counting and grumbling and cleared his own tables as quickly as possible. Then he went to his room and started to check out the Richmond Group. A few calls and he'd learned enough to satisfy his curiosity. The group turned out to be a private company, with eleven hotels in all, the most impressive one a three hundred and forty - two bedroom de luxe establishment in Chicago, the Richmond Continental. Abel decided he had nothing to lose by paying a call on Mr. Leroy and Melanie.
He checked Mr. Leroy's room number - 85 - one of the better smaller rooms. He arrived a little before four o'clock and was disappointed to discover Melanie was no longer with her father.
'Glad you could drop by, Abel. Take a seat.'
It was the first time Abel had sat down as a guest in the more than four years he had worked at the Plaza.
'What are you paid?' said Mr. Leroy.
The suddenness of the question took Abel by surprise. 'I take in around twenty4five dollars a week with tips.'
'I'll start you at thirty - five a week.'
'Which hotel are you referring to?' asked Abel, 'If I'm a judge of character, Abel, you got off table duty about thrre - thirty and took the next thirty minutes finding out which hotel. Am I right?'
Abel was beginning to like the man. 'The Richmond Continental in Chicago?' he ventured.
Davis Leroy laughed. 'I was right, and right about you." Abel's mind was working fast. 'How many people are there over the assistant manager on the hotel staff ?'
'Only the manager and me. The manager is slow, gentle, and near retirement, and as I have ten other hotels to worry about, I don't think you'll have too much trouble - although I must confess Chicago is my favourite, my first hotel in the North, and with Melanie at school there, I find I spend more time in the Windy City than I ought to. Don't ever make the mistake New Yorkers do of underestimating Chicago. They think Chicago is only a postage stamp on a very large envelope, and they are the envelope.'
Abel smiled.
'The hotel is a little run down at the moment,' Mr. Leroy continued, 'and the last assistant manager walked out on me suddenly without an explanation, so I need a good man to take his place and to realise its full potential. Now listen, Abel, I've watched you carefully for the last five days and I know you're that man. Do you think you would be in - terested in coming to Chicago?'
Torty dollars and ten per cent of any increased profits, and I'll take the job.'
'What?' said Davis Leroy, flabbergasted. 'None of my managers are paid on a profit basis. The others would raise hell if they