This, with what he had in hand, would
take Claire and himself to New York and for a week keep them alive.
After that he must find work or they must starve.
In the garden of the Cafe Ducrot Billy placed his guard at a table with
bottles of beer between them, and at an adjoining table with Claire
plotted the elopement for that night. The garden was in the rear of the
hotel and a door in the lower wall opened into the rue Cambon, that led
directly to the water-front.
Billy proposed that at eight o'clock Claire should be waiting in the rue
Cambon outside this door. They would then make their way to one of the
less frequented wharfs, where Claire would arrange to have a rowboat in
readiness, and in it they would take refuge on the steamer. An hour
later, before the flight of Claire could be discovered, they would have
started on their voyage to the mainland.
"I warn you," said Billy, "that after we reach New York I have only
enough to keep us for a week. It will be a brief honeymoon. After that
we will probably starve. I'm not telling you this to discourage you," he
explained; "only trying to be honest.
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