  We apply the optimization procedure based on the Principle of Minimal
Sensitivity to the third-order calculation of $R_{\tau}$. Since the effective
couplant remains finite, freezing to a value $\alpha_s/\pi = 0.26$ at low
energies, we can actually evaluate the defining integral of $R_{\tau}$ and
compare the optimized perturbation theory result to that of the optimized
result obtained after the integral has been evaluated using contour techniques.
The good agreement shows that the optimization procedure is consistent and
suggests that the infrared fixed point is meaningful.
