loved Hayti, but because since he went to lodge at the cafe of the
Widow Ducrot, he had learned to love her daughter Claire, and
Claire loved him.

On the two thousand dollars due him from Ham they plotted to marry.
This was not as great an adventure as it might appear. Billy knew
that from the Wilmot people he always was sure of a salary, and one
which, with such an excellent housekeeper as was Claire, would
support them both. But with his two thousand dollars as capital
they could afford to plunge; they could go upon a honeymoon; they
need not dread a rainy day, and, what was of greatest importance,
they need not delay. There was good reason against delay, for the
hand of the beautiful Claire was already promised. The Widow Ducrot
had promised it to Paillard, he of the prosperous commission
business, the prominent EMBONPOINT, and four children. Monsieur
Paillard possessed an establishment of his own, but it was a villa
in the suburbs; and so, each day at noon, for his DEJEUNE he left
his office and crossed the street to the Cafe Ducrot. For five
years this had been his habit. At first it was the widow's cooking
that attracted him, then for a time the widow herself; but when
from the convent Claire came to assist her mother in the cafe, and
when from a lanky, big- eyed, long-legged child she grew into a
slim, joyous, and charming young woman, she alone was the
attraction, and the Widower Paillard decided to make her his wife.
Other men had made the same decision; and when it was announced
that between Claire and the widower a marriage had been "arranged,"
the clerks in the foreign commission houses and the agents of the
steamship lines drowned their sorrow in rum and ran the house flags
to half-staff. Paillard himself took the proposed alliance calmly.
He was not an impetuous suitor. With Widow Ducrot he agreed that