The Russian suddenly rose.
"Well!" whispered Monsignor sharply as the doctors began to talk.
The monk smiled.
"He's just said an interesting thing. The President asked him just now whether he had seen anything of the crowds as he came down this morning."
"Yes?"
"He said that people looked like trees moving about. . . . Oh no! he didn't know he was making a quotation. Look! he's going down to the grotto. He'll be back in half an hour to report."
Monsignor leaned back in his chair.
"And you tell me that the optic nerves were destroyed?"
The monk looked at him in wide-eyed wonder.
"Certainly. He was examined on Tuesday, when he came.
To-day's Friday."