Jules knocked the ashes of his cigarette against the edge of the table. "Now, do you mean? I can't imagine. You're always doing impossible things." "I'm going to interview the little acrobat." Jules came very near jumping. He controlled himself, however, and carelessly lifted the cigarette to his lips again. "What little acrobat?" he asked, screwing his eyes. "The one you saw last night--at the _Cirque_--the _Cirque Parisien_." "Oh, Mademoiselle--Mademoiselle--what's her name--the one who dives from the top of the building?" "Yes, Mademoiselle Blanche. When I went back to the office last night, I told old Bargy about her--cracked her up to the skies, and he swallowed the bait, and sent me round to interview her to-night. Ah, my dear boy, that's one of the advantages of being a newspaper man. It opens every door to you. Whenever I want to get acquainted with a pretty actress, I simply go and interview her." He sat back in his seat and smiled and hummed a popular song, rapping the table with his fingers. The waiter came up and asked for his order. "Two bocks!" said Durand, looking at Jules. "No, no more for me. I haven't finished this yet." When the waiter went away, Jules glanced sleepily at the journalist. "You're a very lucky fellow, it seems to me. I should think it would be rather agreeable to know the pretty actresses." Durand shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes, yes--sometimes, no. Usually it spoils the illusion." Jules stared thoughtfully at his bock. "Aren't you afraid you'll be disillusioned by Mademoiselle Blanche?" "Oh, probably. They're all alike--when you come to know them. But there's something about her that made me think she might be a little different from the rest. At any rate, she's dev'lish pretty, isn't she?" "Do you think so?" Jules asked, with a deprecating lift of the eyebrows. "Think so! I know so! If you don't think so you must be hard to please." "Oh, I thought she was pretty in her circus rig. I should like to see her out of the ring. They make up so, those women. You can't tell whether they're really pretty or not." "Well, come around with me, and I'll introduce you. Then you can see for yourself." Jules nearly jumped again, but his cigarette helped him to disguise the impulse. "I'm afraid I shall be in the way," he said, after a meditative puff. Durand had seized the bock left on the table by the waiter, and was holding it over his head. When half the contents had disappeared, he smacked his lips and wiped them with his handkerchief. "Not at all. You'll help me draw her out. They say she does the shy-young-girl act; so she's hard to talk with. That seems to be a favorite pose of actresses nowadays." Jules' heart was throbbing. He was afraid that Durand would discover his elation. So he tried to appear indifferent and cynical. Durand's cynicism amused him; yet in the journalist's presence he was always trying to imitate it.