- There is no work for Jurgis and no place for him to find shelter.
- One night, though, Jurgis has an adventure.
- He is walking down a side street when he sees a man coming towards him.
- Jurgis asks the man for some money to find a bed to sleep in that night.
- Jurgis soon realizes the man is drunk off his head.
- Jurgis starts telling the man some of his misfortunes.
- The guy seems sympathetic (though also, you know, trashed).
- The man invites Jurgis home with him to have dinner.
- Apparently, this young guy's father is away on business and the servants have been assigned to watch him. (We guess he slipped away to find somewhere to drink anyway, since he's hiccupping and singing snatches of song now and then.)
- Jurgis asks his new friend – Freddie Jones – if he lives far away.
- Freddie tells Jurgis to call them a cab. He fumbles a huge wad of bills out of his pocket.
- Jurgis stares at this fortune of money.
- Freddie says that he'll run through this money in a week – his dad isn't giving him the kind of allowance he needs.
- Jurgis realizes that he could easily snatch this guy's money and run away. Freddie is way too drunk to stop him.
- Still, Jurgis has never committed a crime before (we're guessing either Jurgis or Upton Sinclair has forgotten the whole cheek-biting incident from Chapter 15). Should he do it?!
- Freddie pulls a hundred dollar bill out of the wad and gives it to Jurgis before putting the rest away.
- A cab arrives and takes both Jurgis and Freddie in the direction of Freddie's home.
- Freddie falls asleep curled up against Jurgis.
- Jurgis is still thinking about robbing Freddie, but he decides to be happy with the hundred – it's too dangerous to go for more.
- The cab stops in front of a giant mansion the size of a whole city block.
- Jurgis follows Freddie because he thinks Freddie is so trashed that he has given the cab driver the address to a city hall or something.
- But no! It's Freddie's house. A butler opens the door.
- Jurgis follows Freddie. He is extremely nervous because he has never been in such a place before. But Freddie insists that Jurgis can come in.
- Freddie is so drunk that he can't open the dining room doors by himself.
- He needs to get his butler, Hamilton, to do it for him.
- Jurgis is looking around himself at all of this wealth.
- He has never seen anything as beautiful and rich as this house.
- Freddie lets slip that his father owns Jones's packing plant.
- Jurgis admits that he once had a job at that plant. (That's the plant where Jurgis almost got a job after he bit Connor's cheek, only to discover that he had been blacklisted.)
- Freddie (again, because he is wasted) thinks that Jurgis must know his father, then.
- Freddie invites Jurgis to spend the night.
- (He has a lot of trouble with Jurgis's last name, Rudkus, and keeps calling him "Mr. Rednose.")
- Freddie insists that the butler, Hamilton, shake hands with Jurgis.
- The butler obviously Does Not Approve of Jurgis hanging around with young Master Freddie.
- Freddie orders some wine to be brought to them.
- Hamilton tries to protest.
- Freddie won't listen.
- Freddie takes Jurgis up to his study.
- There is a large dog waiting for them there. The dog snarls at Jurgis, but Freddie scarcely notices. (This dog is named Admiral Dewey, who actually did look a bit like a bulldog. Here's a picture.)
- Hamilton and two servants bring dinner. Freddie dismisses Hamilton (even though Hamilton protests.)
- Jurgis digs in to the food. Even Freddie, drunk as he is, is impressed by the speed and amount Jurgis is eating.
- Jurgis finishes at last and looks over at Freddie.
- Freddie is very good-looking and completely naive. He starts telling Jurgis his whole family history.
- Apparently, Jones Senior is a tyrant of a father who likes to threaten to disinherit his kids if they do anything he doesn't like. Freddie doesn't seem too bothered, though – he smiles the whole time.
- Eventually, Freddie falls asleep (or passes out).
- The butler comes quietly in and tells Jurgis to get out of the house.
- Jurgis starts moving towards the door.
- Once they reach the entrance to the house, Hamilton tries to search Jurgis to make sure that he hasn't stolen anything.
- Jurgis refuses to let Hamilton search him.
- Hamilton doesn't want the noise to wake Freddie, so he doesn't try to fight Jurgis.
- As Jurgis walks out the door of the mansion, though, Hamilton does give Jurgis a sharp kick to the butt that sends him sprawling down the stairs.