Creation out of the void! Is not this task beyond the limit of human powers, of human _rights_? Mihailovsky obviously had one straight answer to the question.... As for Tchekhov himself, if the question were put to him in such a deliberately definite form, he would probably be unable to answer, although he was continually engaged in the activity, or more properly, because he was continually so engaged. Without fear of mistake, one may say that the people who answer the question without hesitation in either sense have never come near to it, or to any of the so-called ultimate questions of life. Hesitation is a necessary and integral element in the judgment of those men whom Fate has brought near to false problems. How Tchekhov's hand trembled while he wrote the concluding lines of his _Tedious Story_! The professor's pupil--the being nearest and dearest to him, but like himself, for all her youth, overstrained and bereft of all hope--has come to Kharkov to seek his advice. The following conversation takes place: "Nicolai Stepanich!" she says, growing pale and pressing her hands to her breast. "Nicolai Stepanich! I can't go on like this any longer. For God's sake tell me now, immediately. What shall I do? Tell me, what shall I do?" "What can I say? I am beaten. I can say nothing." "But tell me, I implore you," she continues, out of breath and trembling all over her body. "I swear to you, I can't go on like this any longer. I haven't the strength." She drops into a chair and begins to sob. She throws her head back, wrings her hands, stamps with her feet; her hat falls from her head and dangles by its string, her hair is loosened. "Help me, help," she implores. "I can't bear it any more." "There's nothing that I can say to you, Katy," I say. "Help me," she sobs, seizing my hand and kissing it. "You 're my father, my only friend. You're wise and learned, and you've lived long I You were a teacher. Tell me what to do." '"Upon my conscience, Katy, I do not know." 'I am bewildered and surprised, stirred by her sobbing, and I can hardly stand upright. '"Let's have some breakfast, Katy," I say with a constrained smile. 'Instantly I add in a sinking voice: "I shall be dead soon, Katy...." '"Only one word, only one word," she weeps and stretches out her hands to me. "What shall I do?..."'