“I say, young man,” shouted Marat.
“No, there is no need for you to halloo at him,” said Balsamo, “he will hear you in your ordinary voice.”
“Give us an idea what you are doing?”
“I was told to sleep, and I am sleeping,” replied the patient, in a perfectly unruffled voice strongly contrasting with that heard from him shortly before.
All the bystanders stared at one another.
“Now, untie him,” said Balsamo.
“No, you must not do that,” remonstrated the head surgeon, “the operation would be spoilt by the slightest movement.”
“I assure you that he will not stir, and he will do the same: ask him.”
“Can you be left free, my friend?”
“I can.”