exclaimed the Judge, triumphantly.  ’Yes, I told my uncle that the man purchased drugs from us, but that is not so.’  ‘Why isn’t it?’ ’Wait, I will tell you.  Unknown to my family I am a journalist.’  ’Journalist!  My son a journalist!  Don’t believe that, Monsieur the Judge, my son is an apprentice in a pharmacy.’  ’Yes, my nephew is an apprentice in a pharmacy,’ I echoed.  ’These men contradict themselves; this is a gang, decidedly a gang—­are you a journalist, young man, or an apprentice in a pharmacy?’ ‘I am both.’  ‘That is a lie!’ cried my brother, now thoroughly angry.  ‘And for what newspaper do you write?’ ‘For no paper at all,’ replied my brother, ‘I know that, for he is not capable.’  ’I do not exactly write, Monsieur the Judge; I procure information; I am a reporter.’  ‘Reporter!  My son a reporter?  What’s that he says?’ ’Will you be still!’ cried the Judge.  For what newspaper are you a reporter?’ Joseph told the name of the paper.  ‘Well,’ resumed the Judge, ’we must send for the chief editor immediately—­immediately, he must be awakened and brought here.  I will pass the night at court.  I’ve discovered a great conspiracy.  Lead these men away and keep them apart.’  The Judge beamed, for he already saw himself Court Counsellor.  They brought us back, and I assure you I no longer knew where I was.  I came and went up and down the staircases and through the corridors.  If anyone had asked me at the time if I were an accomplice of Ravachol, I would have answered, ‘Probably.’”

“When did all this take place?”

“One o’clock in the morning; and the fourth examination did not take place until two.  But, thank Heaven! in five minutes it was all made clear.  The editor of the newspaper arrived, and burst into a hearty laugh when he learned of the condition of affairs; and this is what he told the Judge.  My nephew had given them the particulars of a murder, and had been recompensed for it, and then the young man had acquired a taste for that occupation, and had come to apply for the situation.  They had found him clear-headed, bold, and intelligent, and had sent him to take notes at the executions, at fires, etc., and the morning after the editor had a good idea.  ’The detectives were on the lookout for Anarchists, so I sent my reporters on the heels of each detective, and in this way I would be the first to hear of all the arrests.  Now, you see, it all explains itself; the detective followed an Anarchist.’”

“And your nephew Joseph followed the detective?”

“Yes, but he dared not tell the truth, so he told me he was one of papa’s debtors.’  The man with the muffler was triumphant.  ’Am I still a Spaniard?’ ‘No, well and good,’ replied the Judge.  ’But an Anarchist is another thing.’  And in truth he was; but he only held one, that Judge, and was so vexed because he believed he had caught a whole gang, and was obliged to discharge us at four o’clock in the morning.  I had to take a carriage to return to Versailles—­got one for thirty francs.  But found my poor wife in such a state!”