When as men of sense their discomfort became too great, and they felt themselves growing angry, they simply left the room.
As nobody breathed a word, Doctor Bonamy became quite triumphant, and on the journalist asking him if he were all alone to accomplish so much work, he replied: "Yes, all alone; but my functions as doctor of the Grotto are not so complicated as you may think, for, I repeat it, they simply consist in verifying cures whenever any take place." However, he corrected himself, and added with a smile: "All! I was forgetting, I am not quite alone, I have Raboin, who helps me to keep things a little bit in order here." So saying, he pointed to a stout, grey-haired man of forty, with a heavy face and bull-dog jaw.

Raboin was an ardent believer, one of those excited beings who did not allow the miracles to be called in question.
And thus he often suffered from his duties at the Verification Office, where he was ever ready to growl with anger when anybody disputed a prodigy.

The appeal to the doctors had made him quite lose his temper, and his superior had to calm him.
"Come, Raboin, my friend, be quiet!" said Doctor Bonamy.

"All sincere opinions are entitled to a hearing." However, the _defile_ of patients was resumed.

A man was now brought in whose trunk was so covered with eczema that when he took off his shirt a kind of grey flour fell from his skin.