The case being tried at the moment was one of petty larceny. "The other courts must be doing an enormous business, to oblige them to turn some of us over to these little criminal courts," continued Gaillard musingly as the affair in question was disposed of and he was called. "Read the act of accusation," said the judge, "and hurry the affair. I wish to go to dinner." "Don't let me detain you," thought Gaillard. Then he put his hands to his head to ascertain if his ears were in their proper place, for he could not understand a word of the accusation as read by the clerk. He heard a jumble about "coat," "personal assault," "refused payment," then looked in bewilderment at the judge and prosecuting attorney, till from them his eyes wandered about the dingy court room. All at once the sight of a face in the witness box caused a light to flash through his brain, and elucidate the whole matter. He recognized his tailor, who sat with vindictive eyes, holding over his arm the identical coat that had been the cause of the dispute on the very day of his arrest. Gaillard could barely repress his merriment. The rancor of the little tailor had followed him to prison, and dragged him out to answer a complaint of assault and intent to defraud. "I wonder," thought Gaillard, "if I am convicted and sentenced for this crime, and subsequently condemned to the guillotine, which penalty I shall have to pay first?" "Have you any counsel, prisoner?" demanded the judge. "I will plead my own case," replied Gaillard cheerfully. "Call the complainant and witness." After a long recital on the part of the tailor of the history of the coat, and the treatment he had received at the hands of the brutal prisoner, during which the judge yawned, indicating his desire to get out to dinner, Gaillard took the stand. "My sole defense," said he smilingly, "is that the tailor wittingly, maliciously, and falsely, endeavored to palm off upon me, a poor actor, a garment never made for me." "How will you prove it?" demanded the judge. "By simply trying on the coat," answered Gaillard. "If you decide it was made for me, I will abandon my defense." "Let the prisoner have the garment," ordered the judge. Gaillard slowly proceeded to divest himself of his own coat and don the offending garment which the tailor now presented to him reluctantly. It had fitted him badly on the first occasion he had tried it on, and now, by a slight contortion of his supple body, the actor made the misfit ridiculously apparent. The court officers grinned, even the judge could not repress a smile, and the tailor looked foolish. "That is quite sufficient," said the justice. "How much did the tailor want you to pay for this grotesque garment?" "Two hundred francs the bill calls for." "Two hundred francs?" ejaculated the judge. "In gold coin," emphasized Gaillard. "It is very expensive material," explained the tailor ruefully.