The Surgeon (pointedly). Yes: if animals saw angels.
The Visitor. Hm! (He pauses.) Do you really believe he saw them?
The Surgeon. I read you his statement.
The Visitor. Which he wrote himself?
The Surgeon. Hardly; he knows no English.
The Visitor. Why didn't you take it down in the original?
The Surgeon. I did. (He produces a second sheet of paper.) Here it is. (He pauses; smiles.) I translated it, paraphrased it, for my own pleasure, if you like. The original is a mass of ejaculations; short phrases, repeated over and over again. I tried to make it coherent.
The Visitor. And repeated it back to him? (The Surgeon shakes his head.) Why not?
The Surgeon. He takes no notice of anything.
The Visitor. Oh! Not quite in his senses?
The Surgeon. No.
The Visitor. Raving? And you believe his ravings?
The Surgeon. I neither believe nor disbelieve.
The Visitor. But an insane man?
The Surgeon (with emphasis). Who has not had the education to invent what he told me!
