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Part Two.
Chapter 1.
At the end of the winter, in the Shtcherbatskys’ house, a consulta-
tion 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
satisfaction, it seemed, that maiden modesty is a mere relic of barbar-
ism, 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 spe-
cial 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 stand-
ing 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. “Con-
ceited 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 intel-
ligence. 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 prin-
cess was distracted, and did not know what to do. She felt she had
sinned against Kitty.
“Well, doctor, decide our fate,” said the princess. “Tell me every-
thing.”
“Is there hope?” she meant to say, but her lips quivered, and she
could not utter the question. “Well, doctor?”
“Immediately, princess. I will talk it over with my colleague, And
then I will have the honor of laying my opinion before you.”
“So we had better leave you?”
“As you please.”
The princess went out with a sigh.
When the doctors were left alone, the family doctor began timidly