At the end of the winter, in the Shtcherbatskys' house, a

consultation was being held, which was to pronounce on the state

of Kitty's health and the measures to be taken to restore her

failing strength. She had been ill, and as spring came on she

grew worse. The family doctor gave her cod liver oil, then iron,

then nitrate of silver, but as the first and the second and the

third were alike in doing no good, and as his advice when spring

came was to go abroad, a celebrated physician was called in. The

celebrated physician, a very handsome man, still youngish, asked

to examine the patient. He maintained, with peculiar

Advertisement..

satisfaction, it seemed, that maiden modesty is a mere relic of

barbarism, and that nothing could be more natural than for a man

still youngish to handle a young girl naked. He thought it

natural because he did it every day, and felt and thought, as it

seemed to him, no harm as he did it and consequently he

considered modesty in the girl not merely as a relic of

barbarism, but also as an insult to himself.

There was nothing for it but to submit, since, although all the

doctors had studied in the same school, had read the same books,

and learned the same science, and though some people said this

celebrated doctor was a bad doctor, in the princess's household

and circle it was for some reason accepted that this celebrated

doctor alone had some special knowledge, and that he alone could

save Kitty. After a careful examination and sounding of the

bewildered patient, dazed with shame, the celebrated doctor,

having scrupulously washed his hands, was standing in the drawing

room talking to the prince. The prince frowned and coughed,

listening to the doctor. As a man who had seen something of

life, and neither a fool nor an invalid, he had no faith in

medicine, and in his heart was furious at the whole farce,

specially as he was perhaps the only one who fully comprehended

the cause of Kitty's illness. "Conceited blockhead!" he thought,

as he listened to the celebrated doctor's chatter about his

daughter's symptoms. The doctor was meantime with difficulty

restraining the expression of his contempt for this old

gentleman, and with difficulty condescending to the level of his

intelligence. He perceived that it was no good talking to the

old man, and that the principal person in the house was the

mother. Before her he decided to scatter his pearls. At that

instant the princess came into the drawing room with the family

doctor. The prince withdrew, trying not to show how ridiculous

he thought the whole performance. The princess was distracted,

and did not know what to do. She felt she had sinned against

Kitty.




Most Popular