He got so mixed up in his chuckling and coughing that he couldn't get out another word for a moment. Then-- "Oh, no! _Cer_-tainly not; nor one too hot and airless, as you say--he! he! he! And don't put him--don't put him--" the judge was gasping for air now--"don't put him on bread and water, or anything of that kind, nor in a cell with rude, rough men who would tame his playful spirit--he! he! he!--oh, _don't_ do that!... What say? I didn't quite catch--" And then, dash it, it seemed he _did_ catch it, for he began waving his arm and pounding the desk. "Oh--oh, no, that would be _too_ bad--really!... Eh? Oh, well, you know best--it's up to you now!... 'Bye, and many thanks, Commissioner! Eh? All right, to-morrow then at one at the Lawyers' Club--you can go over again the points of what you want with the mayor. 'Bye!" And with good humor perfectly restored, he faced me, wabbling like a jolly jellyfish. "'S greatest joke ever heard of in my life!" he chortled. "Oh, I say, how did you find Jack?" I asked, for that was the thing I had begun to think of. His face collapsed so dashed sudden, I was afraid it would break. And from being a peppery red, he changed to a devilish sickly yellow. "Awful!" he said jerkily. "Something awful!" And he groaned like a jolly horse in pain. "Went up there, you know, but--" his hands lifted and dropped; he shook his head--"didn't seem to know me at all--was sitting there in his pajamas examining with a magnifying glass some leaves he had pulled at the window. Seems obsessed with some crazy patter of talk I couldn't understand--poor fellow!" The judge sighed. "Only thing he seemed to want me to do for him was to promise to wear his pajamas to-night--pajamas seem to be the focus of his malady this time." I swallowed pretty hard and looked down. "I promised," continued the judge gloomily. "And I'll do it--oh, yes, anything to humor him! He's to put them outside his door to-night--it's his own whim, you know." He went on moodily: "He won't allow any luncheon sent up; says if not too much trouble, would be grateful for two and one-half ounces of unleavened bread and clabber--what the devil's _clabber_?" I had never heard of it--knew, of course, no one had! "Well," he said with a deep breath, "we'll just have to do the best we can. Of course, under the circumstances, it's best for him to keep his apartment--Oh, say, would you like to go up?" "Oh--er--think not!" I stammered. "Don't believe I--" "You're right! You're right!" He pursed his lips: "Too pitiful a sight--only sadden you!" He began gathering up the papers behind my arm, though I murmured that they were not in my way at all. The cathedral chimes in the hall had played the half hour. The judge strolled over to the French windows that opened upon the loggia.