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Page 46
DOCTOR. Yes. On how he behaves. Quiet. Get along.
(The STRANGER comes from the verandah: he seems excited but his
manner betrays a certain resignation. CAESAR has gone out.)
STRANGER. You're surprised to see me here?
DOCTOR (seriously). I've long given up being surprised. But I see I
must begin again.
STRANGER. Will you permit me to speak to you?
DOCTOR. About anything decent people may discuss. Are you ill?
STRANGER (hesitating). Yes.
DOCTOR. Why did you come to me--of all people?
STRANGER. You must guess!
DOCTOR. I refuse to. (Pause.) What do you complain of?
STRANGER (with uncertainty). Sleeplessness.
DOCTOR. That's not a disease, but a symptom. Have you already seen
a doctor?
STRANGER. I've been lying ill in an ... institution. I was
feverish. I've a strange malady.
DOCTOR. What was so strange about it?
STRANGER. May I ask this? Can one go about as usual; and yet be
delirious?
DOCTOR. If you're mad; not otherwise. (The STRANGER lets up, but
then sits down again.) What was the hospital called?
STRANGER. St. Saviour.
DOCTOR. That's not a hospital.
STRANGER. A convent, then.
DOCTOR. No. It's an asylum. (The STRANGER gets up, the DOCTOR does
so, too, and calls.) Sister! Shut the front door. And the gate
leading to the road. (To the STRANGER.) Won't you sit down? I have
to keep the doors here locked. There are so many tramps.
STRANGER (calms himself). Be frank with me: do you think me ...
insane?
DOCTOR. No one ever gets a frank answer to that question, as you
know. And no one who suffers in that way ever believes what he's
told. So my opinion must be a matter of indifference to you.
(Pause.) But if it's your soul, go to a spiritual healer.
STRANGER. Could you take his place for a moment?
DOCTOR. I haven't the vocation.
STRANGER. But ...
DOCTOR (interrupting). Or the time. We're getting ready for a
wedding here!
STRANGER. I dreamed it!
DOCTOR. It may ease your mind to know that I've consoled myself, as
it's called. You may be pleased, it would be natural ... but I see,
on the contrary, it makes you suffer more. There must be a reason.
Why, should you be upset at my marrying a widow?
STRANGER. With two children?
DOCTOR. Two children! Now we have it! A damnable supposition worthy
of you. If there were a hell, you should be hell's overseer, for
your skill in finding means of punishment exceeds my wildest
inventions. Yet I'm called a werewolf!
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