Gaillard rose and looked for the guards who had escorted him from the Luxembourg, thankful for the brief respite he had had from the tedium of confinement.
"You are a free man, Citizen Gaillard," said the judge, waving his hand toward the open door.
"Do you mean I can leave the court room by that door?" asked Gaillard, his heart rising up in his throat.
"Certainly; I dismiss the complaint."
"Thank you, your honor," said Gaillard, stepping quickly through the doorway into the street.
"Your honor!" gasped a court attendant hurriedly appearing at the judge's desk.
"I have no time to listen to anything further now. I am off to dinner," said the judge snappishly.
"But does your honor know? Is your honor aware that the prisoner was a suspect from the Luxembourg, brought here by me for trial on this charge of assault, to be returned after"—
"Bring him back at once!" yelled the judge. "You idiot, why didn't you say so before?"
"But, your honor, I"—