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
Neither of them knew why they dressed and went into the dining-room: she
in front and he following her. There they found Yegor Semyonitch
standing in his dressing-gown and with a candle in his hand. He was
staying with them, and had been awakened by Tanya's sobs.
"Don't be frightened, Andryusha," Tanya was saying, shivering as though
in a fever; "don't be frightened.... Father, it will all pass over ...
it will all pass over...."
Kovrin was too much agitated to speak. He wanted to say to his
father-in-law in a playful tone: "Congratulate me; it appears I have
gone out of my mind"; but he could only move his lips and smile
bitterly.
At nine o'clock in the morning they put on his jacket and fur coat,
wrapped him up in a shawl, and took him in a carriage to a doctor.
VIII
Summer had come again, and the doctor advised their going into the
country. Kovrin had recovered; he had left off seeing the black monk,
and he had only to get up his strength. Staying at his father-in-law's,
he drank a great deal of milk, worked for only two hours out of the
twenty-four, and neither smoked nor drank wine.
On the evening before Elijah's Day they had an evening service in the
house. When the deacon was handing the priest the censer the immense old
room smelt like a graveyard, and Kovrin felt bored. He went out into the
garden. Without noticing the gorgeous flowers, he walked about the
garden, sat down on a seat, then strolled about the park; reaching the
river, he went down and then stood lost in thought, looking at the
water. The sullen pines with their shaggy roots, which had seen him a
year before so young, so joyful and confident, were not whispering now,
but standing mute and motionless, as though they did not recognise him.
And, indeed, his head was closely cropped, his beautiful long hair was
gone, his step was lagging, his face was fuller and paler than last
summer.
He crossed by the footbridge to the other side. Where the year before
there had been rye the oats stood, reaped, and lay in rows. The sun had
set and there was a broad stretch of glowing red on the horizon, a sign
of windy weather next day. It was still. Looking in the direction from
which the year before the black monk had first appeared, Kovrin stood
for twenty minutes, till the evening glow had begun to fade....
When, listless and dissatisfied, he returned home the service was over.
Yegor Semyonitch and Tanya were sitting on the steps of the verandah,
drinking tea. They were talking of something, but, seeing Kovrin, ceased
at once, and he concluded from their faces that their talk had been
about him.
"I believe it is time for you to have your milk," Tanya said to her
husband.
"No, it is not time yet ..." he said, sitting down on the bottom step.
"Drink it yourself; I don't want it."
Tanya exchanged a troubled glance with her father, and said in a guilty
voice:
"You notice yourself that milk does you good."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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