"Yes, yes, we know that; if thou hast not got it, forward march to the guardhouse."
Gottschalk, for an instant, thought of resisting, but as a crowd of idlers began to assemble, he put on a stout heart and followed the gendarme. Arriving at the guardhouse, he was left alone for a few moments, awaiting the mayor to examine him. After a quarter of an hour's solitude another gendarme entered, and, seating himself near a window, without taking the trouble to Took at the prisoner, took a paper from his pocket and began reading, 'La France Musicale,' then edited by Léon and Marie Escudier, in which was an account of the last private concert given by Gottschalk, and in which 'Les Colliers d'Or' was inscribed in large letters on the back of the paper. Thinking that the opportunity had arrived for proving his identity, he spoke to the gendarme, and said to him:—
"My good man, if you wish to know who I am, you have only to read the article on the third page and back of the fourth."
The gendarme, who had probably in him more refinement than his comrade, looked at the pianist attentively, and without saying a word left the room. A few moments had hardly elapsed when Gottschalk was brought before the mayor. The mayor, who was a very fat, good-natured man, and quite jovial, questioned his prisoner, and having learned his name laughed heartily at the adventure; but Gottschalk, with the perspicacity which characterized him, perceiving that he still had a faint trace of suspicion, led the conversation in such a way that he learned from the good Mr. Mayor that he had two daughters who played on the piano, and that the 'Bananier' was one of their favourite pieces. "They have a piano," thought Gottschalk; "all right;" and he felt that the difficulty of making himself known was removed. Half an hour afterwards the young pianist saw himself at the piano, having the whole family of Mr. Mayor for his audience. There was no longer any question about the passport. A piece played like that could only appertain to the young American, whose talent was making so much noise at Paris. Gottschalk was invited to spend several days in the family of the mayor, to the mortification of the gendarme who arrested him, and the
