Then for the first time in the Bureau I heard a sharp controversy. One
doctor suddenly broke out, saying that there was no actual proof that it
was not all "hysterical simulation." Another answered him; an appeal was
made to the certificate. Then the first doctor delivered a little
speech, in excellent taste, though casting doubt upon the case; and the
matter was then set aside for investigation with the rest. I heard Dr.
Boissarie afterwards thank him for his admirable little discourse.

Finally, though it was getting late, Honorie Gras, aged thirty-five,
came in to give her evidence. She had suffered till to-day from
"purulent arthritis" and "white swellings" on the left knee. To-day she
walked. Her certificate confirmed her, and she was dismissed.

It was all very matter-of-fact. There is no reason to fear that Lourdes
is all hymn-singing and adjurations. It is a pleasure to think that, on
the right of the Rosary Church, and within a hundred yards of the
Grotto, there is this little room, filled with keen-eyed doctors from
every school of faith and science, who have only to present their cards
and be made free of all that Lourdes has to show. They are keen-brained
as well as keen-eyed. I heard one of them say quietly that if the Mother
of God, as it appeared, cured incurable cases, it was hard to deny to
her the power of curing curable cases also. It does not prove, that is
to say, that a cure is not miraculous, if it might have been cured by
human aid. And it is interesting and suggestive to remember that of such
cases one hears little or nothing. For every startling miracle that is
verified in the Bureau, I wonder how many persons go home quietly, freed
from some maddening little illness by the mercy of Mary--some illness
that is worthless as a "case" in scientific eyes, yet none the less as
real as is its cure?