<P> Misled by Boris's optimism, the narrator is briefly penniless again after he and Boris quit their hotel jobs in the expectation of work at a new restaurant, the "Auberge de Jehan Cottard," where Boris feels sure he will become a waiter again; at the Hotel X, he had been doing lower - grade work . The "patron" of the Auberge, "an ex-colonel of the Russian Army," seems to have financial difficulties . The narrator is not paid for ten days and is compelled to spend a night on a bench--"It was very uncomfortable--the arm of the seat cuts into your back--and much colder than I had expected"--rather than face his landlady over the outstanding rent . </P> <P> At the restaurant, the narrator finds himself working "seventeen and a half hours" a day, "almost without a break," and looking back wistfully at his relatively leisured and orderly life at the Hotel X . Boris works even longer: "eighteen hours a day, seven days a week ." The narrator claims that "such hours, though not usual, are nothing extraordinary in Paris ." He adds </P> <P> by the way, that the Auberge was not the ordinary cheap eating - house frequented by students and workmen . We did not provide an adequate meal at less than twenty - five francs, and we were picturesque and artistic, which sent up our social standing . There were the indecent pictures in the bar, and the Norman decorations--sham beams on the walls, electric lights done up as candlesticks, "peasant" pottery, even a mounting - block at the door--and the patron and the head waiter were Russian officers, and many of the customers titled Russian refugees . In short, we were decidedly chic . </P> <P> He falls into a routine again and speaks of quite literally fighting for a place on the Paris Métro to reach the "cold, filthy kitchen" by seven . Despite the filth and incompetence, the restaurant turns out to be a success . </P>

In down and out in paris and london why did the narrator go to church in london