Gaillard repressed the start that the sight of his friend's name gave him. "'The Suspect Tournay.' My colonel has been arrested," he said to himself. Then heaving a deep sigh he exclaimed aloud in a pathetic tone of voice:-- "It is very sad to think I should be arrested just as I was going to have such a good part in the new piece at the theatre." "Was it a funny one?" inquired the short gendarme. "Funny! why if you should hear it, you'd laugh those big brass buttons off your coat." "It's a shame you can't play it," was the sympathetic rejoinder. "I'll tell you what you can do," said Gaillard. "Go with me to my house, 15 Rue des Mathurins, and let me fetch the part so that I can study it while in prison; then, if I should be released soon I shall be prepared to play the part." "It's against our orders," said the tall gendarme. "We must take you at once to the Luxembourg." "It's very near here," persisted Gaillard, "and I will read one or two of the funniest speeches while we are there." "It will not take us more than fifteen minutes," interposed the stout gendarme, looking at his mate. "And when I am released," said Gaillard persuasively, "and play the part, I'll send you each an admission." "Well," said the tall gendarme, "we'll go." "You see," explained Gaillard as they walked off in the direction of the Rue des Mathurins, "my arrest is a mistake, that's clear. Whoever heard of an actor being mixed up in politics!" "That's so," remarked the short gendarme. "Yes," admitted the long one, "I have arrested many a suspect, and you're the first actor. But I have my duty to perform, and if the warrant calls for an actor, an actor has to come." "Of course," agreed Gaillard, "you are a man of high principle, as any one can see." Gaillard knew that as soon as he was arrested his rooms would be searched for any evidence of a suspicious nature. In all the house there was only one document which could possibly compromise either himself or Tournay, and that was the letter his friend had received that same afternoon, and which was now lying upon the chimney-piece. "Here we are at No. 15; I live on the fourth floor," he said, as they came to the door. "Whew!" exclaimed the stout gendarme. "You'll have to give us half a dozen of the best jokes if we go way up there." "You shall have as many as you can stand," answered Gaillard. "Now, citizen officers, mind the angle in the wall, that's it. It's not a hard climb when you're used to it." "Whew!" exclaimed the stout man as they entered Gaillard's apartment, "I could not climb that every day." He sank down in a chair and mopped the perspiration from his brow. "I wish I was sure of climbing it every day of my life," said Gaillard. "It's thirsty work, however, so let us have something to refresh ourselves with;" and he took out from the closet a bottle of the choice Burgundy and three glasses. "Here's to the gendarmerie," he said as he filled the glasses.