The Visitor. What?
The Orderly. In the front ranks! With my own eyes! I saw him! (The Surgeon hurries out of the room.)
The Visitor (after a tense pause). He was dying. Did you know that?
The Orderly (gravely). I knew. (The Surgeon reënters.)
The Visitor. Well?
The Surgeon (nodding quietly). Dead.
The Orderly. I saw him! With my own eyes I saw him!
The Surgeon. Dead not five minutes.
The Visitor (staggered). But—but such things don't happen! There were thousands of boys like him!
The Suregon (slowly). Yes.
The Visitor (turning fiercely on The Orderly). You must have been mistaken!
The Orderly (changing the word pointedly). I might have been mistaken.
The Suregeon. Then again, you might not have been— (The Orderly nods quietly, understandingly. The Visitor gasps...)
The Curtain Falls Slowly
