odious name, _Fenetre a la Guillotine_. The vision had disappeared. To
the young man the most radiant star of morning seemed to be hidden by
a cloud.

During these little incidents the heavy inside shutters that protected
the slight windows of the shop of the "Cat and Racket" had been
removed as if by magic. The old door with its knocker was opened back
against the wall of the entry by a man-servant, apparently coeval with
the sign, who, with a shaking hand, hung upon it a square of cloth, on
which were embroidered in yellow silk the words: "Guillaume, successor
to Chevrel." Many a passer-by would have found it difficult to guess
the class of trade carried on by Monsieur Guillaume. Between the
strong iron bars which protected his shop windows on the outside,
certain packages, wrapped in brown linen, were hardly visible, though
as numerous as herrings swimming in a shoal. Notwithstanding the
primitive aspect of the Gothic front, Monsieur Guillaume, of all the
merchant clothiers in Paris, was the one whose stores were always the
best provided, whose connections were the most extensive, and whose
commercial honesty never lay under the slightest suspicion. If some of
his brethren in business made a contract with the Government, and had
not the required quantity of cloth, he was always ready to deliver it,
however large the number of pieces tendered for. The wily dealer knew
a thousand ways of extracting the largest profits without being
obliged, like them, to court patrons, cringing to them, or making them
costly presents. When his fellow-tradesmen could only pay in good
bills of long date, he would mention his notary as an accommodating
man, and managed to get a second profit out of the bargain, thanks to
this arrangement, which had made it a proverb among the traders of the
Rue Saint-Denis: "Heaven preserve you from Monsieur Guillaume's
notary!" to signify a heavy discount.