"Do you mean my wings?" said the Angel in alarm. "Wings!" said the Doctor. "Eigh? Call 'em wings! Yes--what else should I mean?" "Saw them off!" said the Angel. "Don't you think so? It's of course your affair. I am only advising----" "Saw them off! What a funny creature you are!" said the Angel, beginning to laugh. "As you will," said the Doctor. He detested people who laughed. "The things are curious," he said, turning to the Vicar. "If inconvenient"--to the Angel. "I never heard of such complete reduplication before--at least among animals. In plants it's common enough. Were you the only one in your family?" He did not wait for a reply. "Partial cases of the fission of limbs are not at all uncommon, of course, Vicar--six-fingered children, calves with six feet, and cats with double toes, you know. May I assist you?" he said, turning to the Angel who was struggling with the coat. "But such a complete reduplication, and so avian, too! It would be much less remarkable if it was simply another pair of arms." The coat was got on and he and the Angel stared at one another. "Really," said the Doctor, "one begins to understand how that beautiful myth of the angels arose. You look a little hectic, Mr Angel--feverish. Excessive brilliance is almost worse as a symptom than excessive pallor. Curious your name should be Angel. I must send you a cooling draught, if you should feel thirsty in the night...." He made a memorandum on his shirt cuff. The Angel watched him thoughtfully, with the dawn of a smile in his eyes. "One minute, Crump," said the Vicar, taking the Doctor's arm and leading him towards the door. The Angel's smile grew brighter. He looked down at his black-clad legs. "He positively thinks I am a man!" said the Angel. "What he makes of the wings beats me altogether. What a queer creature he must be! This is really a most extraordinary Dream!" XIV. "That _is_ an Angel," whispered the Vicar. "You don't understand." "_What?_" said the Doctor in a quick, sharp voice. His eyebrows went up and he smiled. "But the wings?" "Quite natural, quite ... if a little abnormal." "Are you sure they are natural?" "My dear fellow, everything that is, is natural. There is nothing unnatural in the world. If I thought there was I should give up practice and go into _Le Grand Chartreuse_. There are abnormal phenomena, of course. And----" "But the way I came upon him," said the Vicar. "Yes, tell me where you picked him up," said the Doctor. He sat down on the hall table.