“He will get well?”
“Yes, he will go forth from here, where he came five days ago, a hale man, two months and fifteen days after.”
“But,” said Marat, “incapable of working and consequently to feed his family.”
“God is good and he will provide.”
“How?” continued Marat: “while I am gathering information, I may as well learn this?”
“God hath sent to his bedside a charitable lord who took pity on him, and he is saying to himself: ‘I am not going to let poor Havard want for anything.’”
All looked at Balsamo, who smiled.
“Verily, we witness a singular incident,” remarked the head surgeon, as he took the patient’s hand and felt his pulse and his forehead. “This man is dreaming aloud.”
“Do you think so?” retorted the mesmerist. “Havard, awake,” he added with a look full of authority and energy.
The young man opened his eyes with an effort and gazed with profound surprise on the bystanders, become for him as inoffensive as they were menacing at the first.