The Lady with the Dog and Other StoriesChekhov, Anton Pavlovich
General
The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich
Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904 -- Translations into English; Russia -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
At that moment a lamp was brought into the bed-room. The patient screwed
up her eyes at the light, then suddenly put her hands to her head and
broke into sobs. And the impression of a destitute, ugly creature
vanished, and Korolyov no longer noticed the little eyes or the heavy
development of the lower part of the face. He saw a soft, suffering
expression which was intelligent and touching: she seemed to him
altogether graceful, feminine, and simple; and he longed to soothe her,
not with drugs, not with advice, but with simple, kindly words. Her
mother put her arms round her head and hugged her. What despair, what
grief was in the old woman's face! She, her mother, had reared her and
brought her up, spared nothing, and devoted her whole life to having her
daughter taught French, dancing, music: had engaged a dozen teachers for
her; had consulted the best doctors, kept a governess. And now she could
not make out the reason of these tears, why there was all this misery,
she could not understand, and was bewildered; and she had a guilty,
agitated, despairing expression, as though she had omitted something
very important, had left something undone, had neglected to call in
somebody--and whom, she did not know.
"Lizanka, you are crying again ... again," she said, hugging her
daughter to her. "My own, my darling, my child, tell me what it is! Have
pity on me! Tell me."
Both wept bitterly. Korolyov sat down on the side of the bed and took
Liza's hand.
"Come, give over; it's no use crying," he said kindly. "Why, there is
nothing in the world that is worth those tears. Come, we won't cry;
that's no good...."
And inwardly he thought:
"It's high time she was married...."
"Our doctor at the factory gave her kalibromati," said the governess,
"but I notice it only makes her worse. I should have thought that if she
is given anything for the heart it ought to be drops.... I forget the
name.... Convallaria, isn't it?"
And there followed all sorts of details. She interrupted the doctor,
preventing his speaking, and there was a look of effort on her face, as
though she supposed that, as the woman of most education in the house,
she was duty bound to keep up a conversation with the doctor, and on no
other subject but medicine.
Korolyov felt bored.
"I find nothing special the matter," he said, addressing the mother as
he went out of the bedroom. "If your daughter is being attended by the
factory doctor, let him go on attending her. The treatment so far has
been perfectly correct, and I see no reason for changing your doctor.
Why change? It's such an ordinary trouble; there's nothing seriously
wrong."
He spoke deliberately as he put on his gloves, while Madame Lyalikov
stood without moving, and looked at him with her tearful eyes.
"I have half an hour to catch the ten o'clock train," he said. "I hope I
am not too late."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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