Hunter's Notes -
Zmiy
“I.S. Turgenev. "Notes of a hunter"": Narodnaya asveta; Minsk; 1977
annotation
“Rarely have two difficult-to-combine elements united to such an extent, in such complete balance: sympathy for humanity and artistic feeling,” F.I. Tyutchev. The cycle of essays "Notes of a Hunter" basically took shape over five years (1847-1852), but Turgenev continued to work on the book. By twenty two early essays Turgenev added three more in the early 1870s. About two dozen stories remained in the sketches, plans and testimonies of contemporaries.
Naturalistic descriptions of the life of pre-reform Russia in the "Notes of a Hunter" develop into reflections on the mysteries of the Russian soul. The peasant world grows into myth and opens up into nature, which turns out to be a necessary backdrop for almost every story. Poetry and prose, light and shadows are intertwined here in unique, bizarre images.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
COUNTY DOCTOR
One autumn day, on my way back from a field I was leaving, I caught a cold and fell ill. Fortunately, the fever overtook me in a provincial town, in a hotel; I sent for the doctor. Half an hour later the county doctor appeared, a man of small stature, thin and black-haired. He prescribed me the usual diaphoretic, ordered me to put a mustard plaster on, very deftly slipped a five-ruble note under his cuff, and, however, coughed dryly and glanced aside, and was already quite ready to go home, but somehow got into a conversation and stayed. The heat tormented me; I foresaw a sleepless night and was glad to chat with kind person. They served tea. My doctor started talking. He was not a stupid fellow, he expressed himself smartly and rather amusingly. Strange things happen in the world: with another person you live together for a long time and are on friendly terms, but you never speak frankly, from the heart with him; you will hardly have time to get to know the other - lo and behold, either you tell him, or he, as if in confession, blurted out all the ins and outs to you. I don’t know how I earned the power of attorney of my new friend - only he, for no apparent reason, as they say, “took” and told me a rather remarkable case; and here I am now bringing his story to the attention of a benevolent reader. I will try to express myself in the words of a doctor.
“You don’t deign to know,” he began in a relaxed and trembling voice (such is the effect of unalloyed Berezovsky tobacco), “you don’t deign to know the local judge, Mylov, Pavel Lukich? .. You don’t know ... Well, it doesn’t matter. (He cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes.) Here, if you please, it was like this, how can I tell you - do not lie, in Great Lent, in the very growth. I sit with him, with our judge, and play preference. Our judge good man and play preference hunter. Suddenly (my doctor often used the word: suddenly) they say to me: your man asks you. I say what does he want? They say he brought a note - it must be from the patient. Give me a note, I say. So it is: from the patient ... Well, all right, - this, you understand, is our bread ... But here's the thing: the landowner, a widow, writes to me; says, they say, the daughter is dying, come, for the sake of the Lord our God himself, and the horses, they say, have been sent for you. Well, that's still nothing ... Yes, she lives twenty miles from the city, and it's night in the yard, and the roads are such that fa! Yes, and she herself is getting poorer, you can’t expect more than two rubles, and that’s still doubtful, but is it really necessary to use the canvas and some grains. However, duty, you understand, first of all: a person dies. I suddenly hand over the cards to the indispensable member of Kalliopin and go home. I look: there is a cart in front of the porch; peasant horses - pot-bellied, pot-bellied, the wool on them is real felt, and the coachman, for the sake of respect, sits without a hat. Well, I think it’s clear, brother, your gentlemen don’t eat on gold ... You deign to laugh, but I’ll tell you: our brother, poor man, take everything into consideration ... If the coachman sits like a prince, but doesn’t break his hat, and even chuckles from under the beard, and wiggles with a whip - boldly beat on two deposits! And here, I see, it doesn't smell like that. However, I think there is nothing to do: duty comes first. I grab the most necessary medicines and set off. Believe me, I barely made it. The road is hellish: streams, snow, mud, waterholes, and then suddenly the dam broke through - trouble! However, I am coming. The house is small, covered with straw. There is light in the windows: to know, they are waiting. I enter. A respectable old woman like that, in a cap, will meet me. “Save me,” he says, “he is dying.” I say: “Don’t you worry… Where is the patient?” - "Here you are welcome." I look: the room is clean, and in the corner there is a lamp, on the bed is a girl of about twenty, unconscious. The heat from her radiates, breathing heavily - fever. Immediately the other two girls, sisters, are frightened, in tears. “Here, they say, yesterday she was completely healthy and ate with appetite; in the morning today she complained about her head, and by the evening she was suddenly in this position ... "I again say:" Don't worry, you know, a doctor's duty, - and started. He bled her, ordered mustard plasters to be put on her, prescribed a mixture. Meanwhile, I look at her, I look, you know, - well, by God, I have never seen such a face ... a beauty, in a word! Pity understands me. Features are so pleasant, eyes ... Here, thank God, she calmed down; sweat came out, as if coming to her senses; She looked around, smiled, ran her hand over her face ... The sisters bent down to her, asking: “What is the matter with you? "-" Nothing, "- she says, and turned away ... I look - she fell asleep. Well, I say, now the patient should be left alone. So we all tiptoed out and went out; the maid was left alone just in case. And in the living room there is already a samovar on the table, and a Jamaican one is right there: in our business it is impossible without it. They gave me tea, they asked me to stay overnight ... I agreed: where to go now! The old woman keeps groaning. “What are you? - I say. “She will be alive, don’t worry, but rather take a rest yourself: the second hour.” - “Yes, you will order me to wake up, if something happens?” - "I will order, I will order." The old woman set off, and the girls also went to their room; They made a bed for me in the living room. So I lay down - only I can not sleep - what miracles! What, it seems, has suffered. All my sick people don't go crazy with me. Finally, he could not stand it, he suddenly got up; I think I'll go see what the patient is doing? And her bedroom is next to the living room. Well, I got up, quietly opened the door, and my heart was still beating. I look: the maid is sleeping, her mouth is open and she even snores, the beast! and the patient is lying facing me and spreading her arms, poor thing! I approached ... How she suddenly opens her eyes and stares at me! .. “Who is this? who is this?" I got confused. "Don't be frightened," I say, "madame: I'm a doctor, I've come to see how you feel." - "Are you a doctor?" - “Doctor, doctor ... Your mother was sent to the city for me; we let you bleed, madam; now, if you please, rest, and in a day or two, we will, God willing, put you on your feet. "Ah, yes, yes, doctor, don't let me die... please, please." - "What are you, God is with you!" And she has a fever again, I think to myself; felt the pulse: for sure, fever. She looked at me - and how she would suddenly take my hand. “I will tell you why I do not want to die, I will tell you, I will tell you ... now we are alone; only you, please, no one… listen…” I bent down; she moved her lips to my very ear, touches my cheek with her hair, - I confess, my head went round, - and began to whisper ... I don’t understand anything ... Oh, she’s delirious ... She whispered, whispered, but so quickly and as if finished in Russian, shuddered, dropped her head on the pillow and shook her finger at me. “Look, doctor, no one ...” Somehow I calmed her down, gave her a drink, woke up the maid and went out.
Here the doctor again took a savage sniff of tobacco and was momentarily numb.
“However,” he continued, “the next day the patient, contrary to my expectations, did not feel better. I thought, thought, and suddenly decided to stay, although other patients were waiting for me ... And you know, you can’t neglige with this: practice suffers from this. But, firstly, the patient was really in despair; and secondly, I must tell the truth, I myself felt a strong disposition towards her. Besides, I liked the whole family. Although they were poor people, they were educated, one might say, extremely rare ... Their father was a scientist, a writer; he died, of course, in poverty, but he managed to give an excellent upbringing to his children; also left a lot of books. Whether it was because I was diligently busying myself with the patient, or for some other reason, only I, I dare to say, was loved in the house as a native ... Meanwhile, the mudslide became terrible: all communications, so to speak, ceased completely; even the medicine was delivered with difficulty from the city... The patient did not get better... Day after day, day after day... But here... here... snuff, grunted, and took a sip of tea.) I’ll tell you without prejudice, my sick ... how could it be ... well, she fell in love with me ... or not, not that she fell in love ... but anyway ... right, like this, that, sir ... (The doctor looked down and blushed.)
- No, - he continued with liveliness, - what a love! Finally, you need to know your worth. She was an educated, intelligent, well-read girl, and I even forgot my Latin, one might say, completely. As for the figure (the doctor looked at himself with a smile) also, it seems, there is nothing to brag about. But the Lord God did not make me a fool either: I will not call white black; I laugh at something too. For example, I understood very well that Alexandra Andreevna - her name was Alexandra Andreevna - did not feel love for me, but a friendly, so to speak, disposition, respect, or something. Although she herself, perhaps, was mistaken in this respect, but what was her position, you yourself judge ... However, - added the doctor, who delivered all these abrupt speeches without taking a breath and with obvious confusion, - I seem to be a little I have reported... You won't understand anything that way... but let me tell you everything in order.
He finished his glass of tea and spoke in a calmer voice.
- Yes, so-and-so. My patient got worse, worse, worse. You are not a doctor, dear sir; you cannot understand what is happening in the soul of our brother, especially at first, when he begins to guess that the disease is overcoming him. Where is the self-confidence going? You will suddenly become so timid that it is impossible to say. So it seems to you that you forgot everything you knew, and that the patient no longer trusts you, and that others are already beginning to notice that you are lost, and reluctantly tell you the symptoms, they look askance, whisper ... uh, bad! After all, there is a cure, you think, against this disease, you just have to find it. Isn't that it? Try it - no, it's not! You do not give time for the medicine to work properly ... you will grab on to this, then to that. You used to take a prescription book ... because here it is, you think, here! The right word, sometimes you will reveal at random: maybe, you think, fate ... And meanwhile a person dies; and another doctor would have saved him. A council, you say, is needed; I take no responsibility. And what a fool you look in such cases! Well, you'll get used to it in time, nothing. A man died - not your fault: you acted according to the rules. And then here's what else painfully happens: you see blind trust in you, but you yourself feel that you are not able to help. This is exactly the kind of trust that the whole family of Alexandra Andreevna had in me: they forgot to think that their daughter was in danger. For my part, I assure them, too, that nothing, they say, but at the very soul goes into the heels. To top off the misfortune, such a muddle approached that for medicine for whole days, it happened, the coachman drives. But I don’t leave the sick room, I can’t tear myself away, I tell different, you know, funny jokes, I play cards with her. I spend the night. The old woman thanks me with tears; and I think to myself: "I'm not worth your gratitude." I confess to you frankly - now there is nothing to hide for - I fell in love with my patient. And Alexandra Andreevna became attached to me: she used to let no one into her room except me. He starts talking to me - he asks me where I studied, how I live, who are my relatives, who do I go to? And I feel that it is not a trace for her to talk; but to forbid her, resolutely that way, you know, I can’t forbid. I used to grab myself by the head: “What are you doing, robber? ..” And then he would take my hand and hold it, look at me, look at me for a long, long time, turn away, sigh and say: “How kind you are!” Her hands are so hot, her eyes are big, languid. “Yes,” he says, “you are kind, you are a good person, you are not like our neighbors ... no, you are not like that, you are not like that ... How did I not know you until now! "-" Alexandra Andreevna, calm down, - I say ... - I, believe me, I feel, I don’t know what I deserve ... just calm down, for God's sake, calm down ... everything will be fine, you will be healthy. And meanwhile, I must tell you, - added the doctor, bending forward and raising his eyebrows, - that they did not get along with their neighbors much because the small ones were not a match for them, and pride forbade them to know the rich. I tell you: the family was extremely educated, - so, you know, it was flattering to me. From one of my hands she took medicine ... she will rise, poor thing, with my help she will take a look at me ... my heart will roll. And meanwhile she was getting worse and worse: she would die, I think, she would certainly die. Believe me, even lie down in the coffin yourself; and then my mother, sisters are watching, looking into my eyes ... and trust is gone. "What? How?" - "Nothing-sir, nothing-sir!" And what nothing, sir, the mind gets in the way. Here, sir, I was sitting one night, alone again, near the patient. The girl is also sitting here and snoring in all Ivanovo ... Well, it is impossible to recover from the unfortunate girl: she also slowed down. Alexandra Andreevna felt very unwell all evening; the fever tormented her. Until midnight, everything was tossing about; finally fell asleep; at least not moving, lying down. The lamp in the corner in front of the image is on. I'm sitting, you know, looking down, dozing too. Suddenly, as if someone pushed me in the side, I turned around ... Lord, my God! Alexandra Andreevna is looking at me with all her eyes ... her lips are parted, her cheeks are burning. "What's wrong with you?" - "Doctor, am I going to die?" - "God have mercy!" - “No, doctor, no, please don’t tell me that I will be alive… don’t tell me… if you knew… listen, for God’s sake don’t hide my situation from me! - And she breathes so quickly. “If I know for sure that I must die ... then I will tell you everything, everything!” - “Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!” - “Listen, I haven’t slept at all, I’ve been looking at you for a long time ... for God’s sake ... I believe you, you are a kind person, you fair man I conjure you with everything that is holy in the world - tell me the truth! If you knew how important this is to me ... Doctor, for God's sake tell me, am I in danger? - “What can I tell you, Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!” - "For God's sake, I beg you!" - “I can’t hide from you, Alexandra Andreevna, - you are definitely in danger, but God is merciful ...” - “I will die, I will die ...” And she seemed to be delighted, her face became so cheerful; I was afraid. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, death doesn’t frighten me at all.” She suddenly got up and leaned on her elbow. "Now ... well, now I can tell you that I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart, that you are a kind, good person, that I love you ..." I look at her like crazy; I’m terrified, you know ... “Do you hear, I love you ...” - “Alexandra Andreevna, what did I deserve!” - “No, no, you don’t understand me ... you don’t understand me ...” And suddenly she stretched out her hands, grabbed my head and kissed me ... Believe me, I almost screamed ... I threw myself on my knees and hid my head in the pillows. She is silent; her fingers tremble in my hair; I hear crying. I began to console her, to assure her... I really don't know what I was saying to her. “The girl,” I say, “wake up, Alexandra Andreevna ... thank you ... believe ... calm down.” “Yes, it’s full, it’s full,” she repeated. - God bless them all; well, they'll wake up, well, they'll come - it's all the same: after all, I'll die ... Yes, and why are you shy, what are you afraid of? Raise your head… Or maybe you don’t love me, maybe I was deceived… in that case, excuse me.” - "Alexandra Andreevna, what are you saying? .. I love you, Alexandra Andreevna." She looked me straight in the eyes, opened her arms. “So hug me…” I’ll tell you frankly: I don’t understand how I didn’t go crazy that night. I feel that my patient is ruining herself; I see that she is not quite in my memory; I also understand that if she had not honored herself at death, she would not have thought of me; otherwise, if you want, it’s terrifying to die at twenty-five, having loved no one: after all, that’s what tormented her, that’s why, out of desperation, at least grabbed hold of me, do you understand now? Well, she does not let me out of her hands. “Spare me, Alexandra Andreevna, and spare yourself, I say.” - “Why,” he says, “what to regret? After all, I must die ... ”She constantly repeated this. “Now, if I knew that I would stay alive and again get into decent young ladies, I would be ashamed, as if ashamed ... but what?” - "But who told you that you will die?" - “Eh, no, that’s enough, you won’t deceive me, you don’t know how to lie, look at yourself.” - “You will be alive, Alexandra Andreevna, I will cure you; we will ask your mother for a blessing ... we will unite in bonds, we will be happy. - “No, no, I took your word from you, I must die ... you promised me ... you told me ...” It was bitter for me, bitter for many reasons. And judge, these are the things that sometimes happen: it seems nothing, but it hurts. She took it into her head to ask me what my name is, that is, not a surname, but a given name. It's such a misfortune that they call me Tryphon. Yes, yes, yes; Trifon, Trifon Ivanovich. Everyone in the house called me Doctor. I, there is nothing to do, I say: "Tryphon, ma'am." She screwed up her eyes, shook her head, and whispered something in French—oh, something bad—and then she laughed, not good either. So I spent most of the night with her. In the morning he went out, as if mad; went into her room again in the afternoon, after tea. My God, my God! You can’t recognize her: they put her in a coffin more beautifully. I swear on your honor, I don’t understand now, I don’t understand decisively how I withstood this torture. Three days, three nights, my patient still screeched ... and what nights! What did she say to me! .. And on the last night, imagine you, - I’m sitting next to her and I’m asking God for one thing: clean up, they say, her as soon as possible, and me right there ... Suddenly the old mother - walk into the room ... I already told her the day before, mother, that there is not enough, they say, hope, it’s bad, and a priest would not be bad. The sick woman, as her mother saw, said: “Well, it’s good that you came ... look at us, we love each other, we gave each other our word.” - "What is she, doctor, what is she?" I died. “Delirium, sir,” I say, “fever ...” And she: “Enough, enough, you just told me something completely different, and you accepted the ring from me ... what are you pretending to be? My mother is kind, she will forgive, she will understand, but I am dying - I have nothing to lie; give me your hand…” I jumped up and ran out. The old woman, of course, guessed.
- I will not, however, torment you any longer, and I myself, I confess, find it hard to remember all this. My patient died the next day. The kingdom of heaven to her (added the doctor quickly and with a sigh)! Before her death, she asked her people to come out and leave me alone with her. “Forgive me,” he says, “maybe I’m to blame for you ... illness ... but believe me, I didn’t love anyone more than you ... don’t forget me ... take care of my ring ... "
The doctor turned away; I took his hand.
- Eh! - he said. - Let's talk about something else, or would you like to be a little one? Our brother, you know, is not a trace to indulge in such lofty feelings. Our brother, think of one thing: no matter how the children squeal and the wife does not scold. After all, since then I have managed to enter into a legal, as they say, marriage ... How can I ... I took the merchant's daughter: seven thousand dowry. Her name is Akulina; Trifon something to match. Baba, I must tell you, she is evil, but she sleeps all day long ... But what about preference?
We sat down in preference for a penny. Trifon Ivanovich won two and a half rubles from me - and left late, very pleased with his victory.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
COUNTY DOCTOR
One autumn day, on my way back from a field I was leaving, I caught a cold and fell ill. Fortunately, the fever overtook me in a provincial town, in a hotel; I sent for the doctor. Half an hour later the county doctor appeared, a man of small stature, thin and black-haired. He prescribed me the usual diaphoretic, ordered me to put a mustard plaster on, very deftly slipped a five-ruble note under his cuff, and, however, coughed dryly and glanced aside, and was already quite about to go home, but somehow got into a conversation and stayed. The heat tormented me; I foresaw a sleepless night and was glad to chat with a kind man. They served tea. My doctor started talking. He was not a stupid fellow, he expressed himself smartly and rather amusingly. Strange things happen in the world: with another person you live together for a long time and are on friendly terms, but you never speak frankly, from the heart with him; you will hardly have time to get to know the other - lo and behold, either you tell him, or he, as if in confession, blurted out all the ins and outs to you. I don’t know how I earned the power of attorney of my new friend - only he, for no apparent reason, as they say, “took” and told me a rather remarkable case; and here I am now bringing his story to the attention of a benevolent reader. I will try to express myself in the words of a doctor.
Don't you deign to know, - he began in a relaxed and trembling voice (such is the effect of pure Berezovsky tobacco), - you don't deign to know the local judge, Mylov, Pavel Lukich? .. You don’t know ... Well, it doesn’t matter. (He cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes.) Here, if you please, it was like this, how can I tell you - do not lie, in Great Lent, in the very growth. I sit with him, with our judge, and play preference. Our judge is a good person and a hunter to play preference. Suddenly (my doctor often used the word: suddenly) they say to me: your man asks you. I say what does he want? They say he brought a note - it must be from the patient. Give me a note, I say. So it is: from the patient ... Well, all right, - this, you understand, is our bread ... But here's the thing: the landowner, a widow, writes to me; says, they say, the daughter is dying, come, for the sake of the Lord our God himself, and the horses, they say, have been sent for you. Well, that's still nothing ... Yes, she lives twenty miles from the city, and it's night in the yard, and the roads are such that fa! Yes, and she herself is getting poorer, you can’t expect more than two rubles, and that’s still doubtful, but is it really necessary to use the canvas and some grains. However, duty, you understand, first of all: a person dies. I suddenly hand over the cards to the indispensable member of Kalliopin and go home. I look: there is a cart in front of the porch; peasant horses - pot-bellied, pot-bellied, the wool on them is real felt, and the coachman, for the sake of respect, sits without a hat. Well, I think it’s clear, brother, your gentlemen don’t eat on gold ... You deign to laugh, but I’ll tell you: our brother, poor man, take everything into consideration ... If the coachman sits like a prince, but doesn’t break his hat, and even chuckles from under the beard, and wiggles with a whip - boldly beat on two deposits! And here, I see, it doesn't smell like that. However, I think there is nothing to do: duty comes first. I grab the most necessary medicines and set off. Believe me, I barely made it. The road is hellish: streams, snow, mud, waterholes, and then suddenly the dam broke through - trouble! However, I am coming. The house is small, covered with straw. There is light in the windows: to know, they are waiting. I enter. A respectable old woman like that, in a cap, will meet me. “Save me,” he says, “he is dying.” I say: “Don’t you worry… Where is the patient?” - "Here you are welcome." I look: the room is clean, and in the corner there is a lamp, on the bed is a girl of about twenty, unconscious. The heat from her radiates, breathing heavily - fever. Immediately the other two girls, sisters, are frightened, in tears. “Here, they say, yesterday she was completely healthy and ate with appetite; in the morning today she complained about her head, and by the evening she was suddenly in this position ... "I again say:" Don't worry, you know, a doctor's duty, - and started. He bled her, ordered mustard plasters to be put on her, prescribed a mixture. Meanwhile, I look at her, I look, you know, - well, by God, I have never seen such a face ... a beauty, in a word! Pity understands me. Features are so pleasant, eyes ... Here, thank God, she calmed down; sweat came out, as if coming to her senses; She looked around, smiled, ran her hand over her face ... The sisters bent down to her, asking: “What is the matter with you?” - “Nothing,” she says, and turned away ... I look - she fell asleep. Well, I say, now the patient should be left alone. So we all tiptoed out and went out; the maid was left alone just in case. And in the living room there is already a samovar on the table, and a Jamaican one is right there: in our business it is impossible without it. They gave me tea, they asked me to stay overnight ... I agreed: where to go now! The old woman keeps groaning. “What are you? - I say. “She will be alive, don’t worry, but rather take a rest yourself: the second hour.” - “Yes, you will order me to wake up, if something happens?” - "I will order, I will order." The old woman set off, and the girls also went to their room; They made a bed for me in the living room. So I lay down - only I can not sleep - what miracles! What, it seems, has suffered. All my sick people don't go crazy with me. Finally, he could not stand it, he suddenly got up; I think I'll go see what the patient is doing? And her bedroom is next to the living room. Well, I got up, quietly opened the door, and my heart was still beating. I look: the maid is sleeping, her mouth is open and she even snores, the beast! and the patient is lying facing me and spreading her arms, poor thing! I approached ... How she suddenly opens her eyes and stares at me! .. “Who is this? who is this?" I got confused. "Don't be frightened," I say, "madame: I'm a doctor, I've come to see how you feel." - "Are you a doctor?" - “Doctor, doctor ... Your mother was sent to the city for me; we let you bleed, madam; now, if you please, rest, and in a day or two, we will, God willing, put you on your feet. "Ah, yes, yes, doctor, don't let me die... please, please." - "What are you, God is with you!" And she has a fever again, I think to myself; felt the pulse: for sure, fever. She looked at me - and how she would suddenly take my hand. “I will tell you why I do not want to die, I will tell you, I will tell you ... now we are alone; only you, please, no one… listen…” I bent down; she moved her lips to my very ear, touches my cheek with her hair, - I confess, my head went round, - and began to whisper ... I don’t understand anything ... Oh, she’s delirious ... She whispered, whispered, but so quickly and as if finished in Russian, shuddered, dropped her head on the pillow and shook her finger at me. “Look, doctor, no one ...” Somehow I calmed her down, gave her a drink, woke up the maid and went out.
Here the doctor again took a savage sniff of tobacco and was momentarily numb.
However, - he continued, - the next day the patient, contrary to my expectations, did not feel better. I thought, thought, and suddenly decided to stay, although other patients were waiting for me ... And you know, you can’t neglige with this: practice suffers from this. But, firstly, the patient was really in despair; and secondly, I must tell the truth, I myself felt a strong disposition towards her. Besides, I liked the whole family. Although they were poor people, they were educated, one might say, extremely rare ... Their father was a scientist, a writer; he died, of course, in poverty, but he managed to give an excellent upbringing to his children; also left a lot of books. Whether it was because I was diligently busying myself with the patient, or for some other reason, only I, I dare to say, was loved in the house as a native ... Meanwhile, the mudslide became terrible: all communications, so to speak, ceased completely; even the medicine was delivered with difficulty from the city... The patient did not get better... Day after day, day after day... But here... here... snuff, grunted, and took a sip of tea.) I’ll tell you without prejudice, my sick ... how could it be ... well, she fell in love with me ... or not, not that she fell in love ... but anyway ... right, like this, that, sir ... (The doctor looked down and blushed.)
No, - he continued with liveliness, - what a love! Finally, you need to know your worth. She was an educated, intelligent, well-read girl, and I even forgot my Latin, one might say, completely. As for the figure (the doctor looked at himself with a smile) also, it seems, there is nothing to brag about. But the Lord God did not make me a fool either: I will not call white black; I laugh at something too. For example, I understood very well that Alexandra Andreevna - her name was Alexandra Andreevna - did not feel love for me, but a friendly, so to speak, disposition, respect, or something. Although she herself, perhaps, was mistaken in this respect, but what was her position, you yourself judge ... However, - added the doctor, who delivered all these abrupt speeches without taking a breath and with obvious confusion, - I seem to be a little I have reported... You won't understand anything that way... but let me tell you everything in order.
This page of the website contains literary work County doctor the author whose name is Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich. On the website, you can either download the book The County Doctor in RTF, TXT, FB2 and EPUB formats for free, or read it online e-book Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich - District doctor without registration and without SMS.
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Hunter's Notes -
Zmiy
“I.S. Turgenev. "Notes of a hunter"": Narodnaya asveta; Minsk; 1977
annotation
“Rarely have two difficult-to-combine elements united to such an extent, in such complete balance: sympathy for humanity and artistic feeling,” F.I. Tyutchev. The cycle of essays "Notes of a Hunter" basically took shape over five years (1847-1852), but Turgenev continued to work on the book. Turgenev added three more to twenty-two early essays in the early 1870s. About two dozen stories remained in the sketches, plans and testimonies of contemporaries.
Naturalistic descriptions of the life of pre-reform Russia in the "Notes of a Hunter" develop into reflections on the mysteries of the Russian soul. The peasant world grows into myth and opens up into nature, which turns out to be a necessary backdrop for almost every story. Poetry and prose, light and shadows are intertwined here in unique, bizarre images.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev
COUNTY DOCTOR
One autumn day, on my way back from a field I was leaving, I caught a cold and fell ill. Fortunately, the fever overtook me in a provincial town, in a hotel; I sent for the doctor. Half an hour later the county doctor appeared, a man of small stature, thin and black-haired. He prescribed me the usual diaphoretic, ordered me to put a mustard plaster on, very deftly slipped a five-ruble note under his cuff, and, however, coughed dryly and glanced aside, and was already quite about to go home, but somehow got into a conversation and stayed. The heat tormented me; I foresaw a sleepless night and was glad to chat with a kind man. They served tea. My doctor started talking. He was not a stupid fellow, he expressed himself smartly and rather amusingly. Strange things happen in the world: with another person you live together for a long time and are on friendly terms, but you never speak frankly, from the heart with him; you will hardly have time to get to know the other - lo and behold, either you tell him, or he, as if in confession, blurted out all the ins and outs to you. I don’t know how I earned the power of attorney of my new friend - only he, for no apparent reason, as they say, “took” and told me a rather remarkable case; and here I am now bringing his story to the attention of a benevolent reader. I will try to express myself in the words of a doctor.
“You don’t deign to know,” he began in a relaxed and trembling voice (such is the effect of unalloyed Berezovsky tobacco), “you don’t deign to know the local judge, Mylov, Pavel Lukich? .. You don’t know ... Well, it doesn’t matter. (He cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes.) Here, if you please, it was like this, how can I tell you - do not lie, in Great Lent, in the very growth. I sit with him, with our judge, and play preference. Our judge is a good person and a hunter to play preference. Suddenly (my doctor often used the word: suddenly) they say to me: your man asks you. I say what does he want? They say he brought a note - it must be from the patient. Give me a note, I say. So it is: from the patient ... Well, all right, - this, you understand, is our bread ... But here's the thing: the landowner, a widow, writes to me; says, they say, the daughter is dying, come, for the sake of the Lord our God himself, and the horses, they say, have been sent for you. Well, that's still nothing ... Yes, she lives twenty miles from the city, and it's night in the yard, and the roads are such that fa! Yes, and she herself is getting poorer, you can’t expect more than two rubles, and that’s still doubtful, but is it really necessary to use the canvas and some grains. However, duty, you understand, first of all: a person dies. I suddenly hand over the cards to the indispensable member of Kalliopin and go home. I look: there is a cart in front of the porch; peasant horses - pot-bellied, pot-bellied, the wool on them is real felt, and the coachman, for the sake of respect, sits without a hat. Well, I think it’s clear, brother, your gentlemen don’t eat on gold ... You deign to laugh, but I’ll tell you: our brother, poor man, take everything into consideration ... If the coachman sits like a prince, but doesn’t break his hat, and even chuckles from under the beard, and wiggles with a whip - boldly beat on two deposits! And here, I see, it doesn't smell like that. However, I think there is nothing to do: duty comes first. I grab the most necessary medicines and set off. Believe me, I barely made it. The road is hellish: streams, snow, mud, waterholes, and then suddenly the dam broke through - trouble! However, I am coming. The house is small, covered with straw. There is light in the windows: to know, they are waiting. I enter. A respectable old woman like that, in a cap, will meet me. “Save me,” he says, “he is dying.” I say: “Don’t you worry… Where is the patient?” - "Here you are welcome." I look: the room is clean, and in the corner there is a lamp, on the bed is a girl of about twenty, unconscious. The heat from her radiates, breathing heavily - fever. Immediately the other two girls, sisters, are frightened, in tears. “Here, they say, yesterday she was completely healthy and ate with appetite; in the morning today she complained about her head, and by the evening she was suddenly in this position ... "I again say:" Don't worry, you know, a doctor's duty, - and started. He bled her, ordered mustard plasters to be put on her, prescribed a mixture. Meanwhile, I look at her, I look, you know, - well, by God, I have never seen such a face ... a beauty, in a word! Pity understands me. Features are so pleasant, eyes ... Here, thank God, she calmed down; sweat came out, as if coming to her senses; She looked around, smiled, ran her hand over her face ... The sisters bent down to her, asking: “What is the matter with you?” - “Nothing,” she says, and turned away ... I look - she fell asleep. Well, I say, now the patient should be left alone. So we all tiptoed out and went out; the maid was left alone just in case. And in the living room there is already a samovar on the table, and a Jamaican one is right there: in our business it is impossible without it. They gave me tea, they asked me to stay overnight ... I agreed: where to go now! The old woman keeps groaning. “What are you? - I say. “She will be alive, don’t worry, but rather take a rest yourself: the second hour.” - “Yes, you will order me to wake up, if something happens?” - "I will order, I will order." The old woman set off, and the girls also went to their room; They made a bed for me in the living room. So I lay down - only I can not sleep - what miracles! What, it seems, has suffered. All my sick people don't go crazy with me. Finally, he could not stand it, he suddenly got up; I think I'll go see what the patient is doing? And her bedroom is next to the living room. Well, I got up, quietly opened the door, and my heart was still beating. I look: the maid is sleeping, her mouth is open and she even snores, the beast! and the patient is lying facing me and spreading her arms, poor thing! I approached ... How she suddenly opens her eyes and stares at me! .. “Who is this? who is this?" I got confused. "Don't be frightened," I say, "madame: I'm a doctor, I've come to see how you feel." - "Are you a doctor?" - “Doctor, doctor ... Your mother was sent to the city for me; we let you bleed, madam; now, if you please, rest, and in a day or two, we will, God willing, put you on your feet. "Ah, yes, yes, doctor, don't let me die... please, please." - "What are you, God is with you!" And she has a fever again, I think to myself; felt the pulse: for sure, fever. She looked at me - and how she would suddenly take my hand. “I will tell you why I do not want to die, I will tell you, I will tell you ... now we are alone; only you, please, no one… listen…” I bent down; she moved her lips to my very ear, touches my cheek with her hair, - I confess, my head went round, - and began to whisper ... I don’t understand anything ... Oh, she’s delirious ... She whispered, whispered, but so quickly and as if finished in Russian, shuddered, dropped her head on the pillow and shook her finger at me. “Look, doctor, no one ...” Somehow I calmed her down, gave her a drink, woke up the maid and went out.
Here the doctor again took a savage sniff of tobacco and was momentarily numb.
“However,” he continued, “the next day the patient, contrary to my expectations, did not feel better. I thought, thought, and suddenly decided to stay, although other patients were waiting for me ... And you know, you can’t neglige with this: practice suffers from this. But, firstly, the patient was really in despair; and secondly, I must tell the truth, I myself felt a strong disposition towards her. Besides, I liked the whole family. Although they were poor people, they were educated, one might say, extremely rare ... Their father was a scientist, a writer; he died, of course, in poverty, but he managed to give an excellent upbringing to his children; also left a lot of books. Whether it was because I was diligently busying myself with the patient, or for some other reason, only I, I dare to say, was loved in the house as a native ... Meanwhile, the mudslide became terrible: all communications, so to speak, ceased completely; even the medicine was delivered with difficulty from the city... The patient did not get better... Day after day, day after day... But here... here... snuff, grunted, and took a sip of tea.) I’ll tell you without prejudice, my sick ... how could it be ... well, she fell in love with me ... or not, not that she fell in love ... but anyway ... right, like this, that, sir ... (The doctor looked down and blushed.)
- No, - he continued with liveliness, - what a love! Finally, you need to know your worth. She was an educated, intelligent, well-read girl, and I even forgot my Latin, one might say, completely. As for the figure (the doctor looked at himself with a smile) also, it seems, there is nothing to brag about. But the Lord God did not make me a fool either: I will not call white black; I laugh at something too. For example, I understood very well that Alexandra Andreevna - her name was Alexandra Andreevna - did not feel love for me, but a friendly, so to speak, disposition, respect, or something. Although she herself, perhaps, was mistaken in this respect, but what was her position, you yourself judge ... However, - added the doctor, who delivered all these abrupt speeches without taking a breath and with obvious confusion, - I seem to be a little I have reported... You won't understand anything that way... but let me tell you everything in order.
He finished his glass of tea and spoke in a calmer voice.
- Yes, so-and-so. My patient got worse, worse, worse. You are not a doctor, dear sir; you cannot understand what is happening in the soul of our brother, especially at first, when he begins to guess that the disease is overcoming him. Where is the self-confidence going? You will suddenly become so timid that it is impossible to say. So it seems to you that you forgot everything you knew, and that the patient no longer trusts you, and that others are already beginning to notice that you are lost, and reluctantly tell you the symptoms, they look askance, whisper ... uh, bad! After all, there is a cure, you think, against this disease, you just have to find it. Isn't that it? Try it - no, it's not! You do not give time for the medicine to work properly ... you will grab on to this, then to that. You used to take a prescription book ... because here it is, you think, here! The right word, sometimes you will reveal at random: maybe, you think, fate ... And meanwhile a person dies; and another doctor would have saved him. A council, you say, is needed; I take no responsibility. And what a fool you look in such cases! Well, you'll get used to it in time, nothing. A man died - not your fault: you acted according to the rules. And then here's what else painfully happens: you see blind trust in you, but you yourself feel that you are not able to help. This is exactly the kind of trust that the whole family of Alexandra Andreevna had in me: they forgot to think that their daughter was in danger. For my part, I assure them, too, that nothing, they say, but at the very soul goes into the heels. To top off the misfortune, such a muddle approached that for medicine for whole days, it happened, the coachman drives. But I don’t leave the sick room, I can’t tear myself away, I tell different, you know, funny jokes, I play cards with her. I spend the night. The old woman thanks me with tears; and I think to myself: "I'm not worth your gratitude." I confess to you frankly - now there is nothing to hide for - I fell in love with my patient. And Alexandra Andreevna became attached to me: she used to let no one into her room except me. He starts talking to me - he asks me where I studied, how I live, who are my relatives, who do I go to? And I feel that it is not a trace for her to talk; but to forbid her, resolutely that way, you know, I can’t forbid. I used to grab myself by the head: “What are you doing, robber? ..” And then he would take my hand and hold it, look at me, look at me for a long, long time, turn away, sigh and say: “How kind you are!” Her hands are so hot, her eyes are big, languid. “Yes,” he says, “you are kind, you are a good person, you are not like our neighbors ... no, you are not like that, you are not like that ... How did I not know you until now! "-" Alexandra Andreevna, calm down, - I say ... - I, believe me, I feel, I don’t know what I deserve ... just calm down, for God's sake, calm down ... everything will be fine, you will be healthy. And meanwhile, I must tell you, - added the doctor, bending forward and raising his eyebrows, - that they did not get along with their neighbors much because the small ones were not a match for them, and pride forbade them to know the rich. I tell you: the family was extremely educated, - so, you know, it was flattering to me. From one of my hands she took medicine ... she will rise, poor thing, with my help she will take a look at me ... my heart will roll. And meanwhile she was getting worse and worse: she would die, I think, she would certainly die. Believe me, even lie down in the coffin yourself; and then my mother, sisters are watching, looking into my eyes ... and trust is gone. "What? How?" - "Nothing-sir, nothing-sir!" And what nothing, sir, the mind gets in the way. Here, sir, I was sitting one night, alone again, near the patient. The girl is also sitting here and snoring in all Ivanovo ... Well, it is impossible to recover from the unfortunate girl: she also slowed down. Alexandra Andreevna felt very unwell all evening; the fever tormented her. Until midnight, everything was tossing about; finally fell asleep; at least not moving, lying down. The lamp in the corner in front of the image is on. I'm sitting, you know, looking down, dozing too. Suddenly, as if someone pushed me in the side, I turned around ... Lord, my God! Alexandra Andreevna is looking at me with all her eyes ... her lips are parted, her cheeks are burning. "What's wrong with you?" - "Doctor, am I going to die?" - "God have mercy!" - “No, doctor, no, please don’t tell me that I will be alive… don’t tell me… if you knew… listen, for God’s sake don’t hide my situation from me! - And she breathes so quickly. “If I know for sure that I must die ... then I will tell you everything, everything!” - “Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!” “Listen, I haven’t slept at all, I’ve been looking at you for a long time ... for God’s sake ... I believe you, you are a kind person, you are an honest person, I conjure you with everything that is holy in the world - tell me the truth! If you knew how important this is to me ... Doctor, for God's sake tell me, am I in danger? - “What can I tell you, Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!” - "For God's sake, I beg you!" - “I can’t hide from you, Alexandra Andreevna, - you are definitely in danger, but God is merciful ...” - “I will die, I will die ...” And she seemed to be delighted, her face became so cheerful; I was afraid. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, death doesn’t frighten me at all.” She suddenly got up and leaned on her elbow. "Now ... well, now I can tell you that I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart, that you are a kind, good person, that I love you ..." I look at her like crazy; I’m terrified, you know ... “Do you hear, I love you ...” - “Alexandra Andreevna, what have I done to deserve it! - “No, no, you don’t understand me ... you don’t understand me ...” And suddenly she stretched out her hands, grabbed my head and kissed me ... Believe me, I almost screamed ... I threw myself on my knees and hid my head in the pillows. She is silent; her fingers tremble in my hair; I hear crying. I began to console her, to assure her... I really don't know what I was saying to her. “The girl,” I say, “wake up, Alexandra Andreevna ... thank you ... believe ... calm down.” “Yes, it’s full, it’s full,” she repeated. - God bless them all; well, they'll wake up, well, they'll come - it's all the same: after all, I'll die ... Yes, and why are you shy, what are you afraid of? Raise your head… Or maybe you don’t love me, maybe I was deceived… in that case, excuse me.” - "Alexandra Andreevna, what are you saying? .. I love you, Alexandra Andreevna." She looked me straight in the eyes, opened her arms. “So hug me…” I’ll tell you frankly: I don’t understand how I didn’t go crazy that night. I feel that my patient is ruining herself; I see that she is not quite in my memory; I also understand that if she had not honored herself at death, she would not have thought of me; otherwise, if you want, it’s terrifying to die at twenty-five, having loved no one: after all, that’s what tormented her, that’s why, out of desperation, at least grabbed hold of me, do you understand now? Well, she does not let me out of her hands. “Spare me, Alexandra Andreevna, and spare yourself, I say.” - “Why,” he says, “what to regret? After all, I must die ... ”She constantly repeated this. “Now, if I knew that I would stay alive and again get into decent young ladies, I would be ashamed, as if ashamed ... but what?” - "But who told you that you will die?" - “Eh, no, that’s enough, you won’t deceive me, you don’t know how to lie, look at yourself.” - “You will be alive, Alexandra Andreevna, I will cure you; we will ask your mother for a blessing ... we will unite in bonds, we will be happy. - “No, no, I took your word from you, I must die ... you promised me ... you told me ...” It was bitter for me, bitter for many reasons. And judge, these are the things that sometimes happen: it seems nothing, but it hurts. She took it into her head to ask me what my name is, that is, not a surname, but a given name. It's such a misfortune that they call me Tryphon. Yes, yes, yes; Trifon, Trifon Ivanovich. Everyone in the house called me Doctor. I, there is nothing to do, I say: "Tryphon, ma'am." She screwed up her eyes, shook her head, and whispered something in French—oh, something bad—and then she laughed, not good either. So I spent most of the night with her. In the morning he went out, as if mad; went into her room again in the afternoon, after tea. My God, my God! You can’t recognize her: they put her in a coffin more beautifully. I swear on your honor, I don’t understand now, I don’t understand decisively how I withstood this torture. Three days, three nights, my patient still screeched ... and what nights! What did she say to me! .. And on the last night, imagine you, - I’m sitting next to her and I’m asking God for one thing: clean up, they say, her as soon as possible, and me right there ... Suddenly the old mother - walk into the room ... I already told her the day before, mother, that there is not enough, they say, hope, it’s bad, and a priest would not be bad.
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One autumn day, on my way back from a field I was leaving, I caught a cold and fell ill. Fortunately, the fever overtook me in a provincial town, in a hotel; I sent for the doctor. Half an hour later the county doctor appeared, a man of small stature, thin and black-haired. He prescribed me the usual diaphoretic, ordered me to put a mustard plaster on, very deftly slipped a five-ruble note under his cuff, and, however, coughed dryly and glanced aside, and was already quite about to go home, but somehow got into a conversation and stayed. The heat tormented me; I foresaw a sleepless night and was glad to chat with a kind man. They served tea. My doctor started talking. He was not a stupid fellow, he expressed himself smartly and rather amusingly. Strange things happen in the world: with another person you live together for a long time and are on friendly terms, but you never speak frankly, from the heart with him; you will hardly have time to get to know the other - lo and behold, either you tell him, or he, as if in a confession, blurted out all the ins and outs to you. I don’t know how I deserved the power of attorney of my new friend - only he, for no apparent reason, as they say, “took” and told me a rather remarkable case; and here I am now bringing his story to the attention of a benevolent reader. I will try to express myself in the words of a doctor.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. Author of the story "County Doctor". Portrait by Repin
“You don’t deign to know,” he began in a relaxed and trembling voice (such is the effect of pure Berezovsky tobacco), “you don’t deign to know the local judge, Mylov, Pavel Lukich? .. You don’t know ... Well, it doesn’t matter. (He cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes.) Here, if you please, it was like this, how can I tell you - do not lie, in Great Lent, in the very warm weather. I sit with him, with our judge, and play preference. Our judge is a good person and a hunter to play preference. Suddenly (my doctor often used the word: suddenly) they say to me: your man asks you. I say what does he want? They say he brought a note, must be from a patient. Give me a note, I say. So it is: from the patient ... Well, all right, - this, you understand, is our bread ... But here's the thing: the landowner, a widow, writes to me; says, they say, the daughter is dying, come, for the sake of the Lord our God himself, and the horses, they say, have been sent for you. Well, that's still nothing ... Yes, she lives twenty miles from the city, and it's night in the yard, and the roads are such that fa! Yes, and she herself is getting poorer, you can’t expect more than two rubles, and that’s still doubtful, but is it really necessary to use the canvas and some grains. However, duty, you understand, first of all: a person dies. I suddenly hand over the cards to the indispensable member of Kalliopin and go home. I look: there is a cart in front of the porch; peasant horses - pot-bellied, pot-bellied, the wool on them is real felt, and the coachman, for the sake of respect, sits without a hat. Well, I think it’s clear, brother, your gentlemen don’t eat on gold ... You deign to laugh, but I’ll tell you: our brother, poor man, take everything into consideration ... If the coachman sits like a prince, but doesn’t break his hat, and even chuckles from under the beard, and wiggles with a whip - boldly beat on two deposits! And here, I see, it doesn't smell like that. However, I think there is nothing to do: duty comes first. I grab the most necessary medicines and set off. Believe me, I barely made it. The road is hellish: streams, snow, mud, waterholes, and then suddenly the dam broke through - trouble! However, I am coming. The house is small, covered with straw. There is light in the windows: to know, they are waiting. I enter. A respectable old woman like that, in a cap, will meet me. “Save me,” he says, “he is dying.” I say: “Don’t you worry… Where is the patient?” - "Here, please." I look: the room is clean, and in the corner there is a lamp, on the bed is a girl of about twenty, unconscious. The heat from her radiates, breathing heavily - fever. Immediately the other two girls, sisters, are frightened, in tears. “Here, they say, yesterday she was completely healthy and ate with appetite; in the morning today she complained about her head, and in the evening she was suddenly in this position ... "I again say:" Do not worry, you know, a doctor's duty, - and proceeded. He bled her, ordered mustard plasters to be put on her, prescribed a mixture. Meanwhile, I look at her, I look, you know, - well, by God, I have never seen such a face before ... a beauty, in a word! Pity understands me. Features are so pleasant, eyes ... Here, thank God, she calmed down; sweat came out, as if coming to her senses; She looked around, smiled, ran her hand over her face ... The sisters bent down to her, asking: “What is the matter with you?” - “Nothing,” she says, and turned away ... I look - she fell asleep. Well, I say, now the patient should be left alone. So we all tiptoed out and went out; the maid was left alone just in case. And in the living room there is already a samovar on the table, and a Jamaican one is right there: in our business it is impossible without it. They gave me tea, they asked me to stay overnight ... I agreed: where to go now! The old woman keeps groaning. “What are you? I say. “She will be alive, don’t worry, but rather take a rest yourself: the second hour.” - "Yes, you will order me to wake up, if something happens?" - "I will order, I will order." The old woman set off, and the girls also went to their room; They made a bed for me in the living room. So I lay down - only I can not fall asleep - what miracles! What, it seems, has suffered. All my sick people don't go crazy with me. Finally, he could not stand it, he suddenly got up; I think I'll go see what the patient is doing? And her bedroom is next to the living room. Well, I got up, quietly opened the door, and my heart was still beating. I look: the maid is sleeping, her mouth is open and she even snores, the beast! and the patient is lying facing me and spreading her arms, poor thing! I approached ... How she suddenly opens her eyes and stares at me! .. “Who is this? who is this?" I got confused. “Don’t be frightened,” I say, “madame: I’m a doctor, I came to see how you feel.” - "Are you a doctor?" - “Doctor, doctor ... Your mother was sent to the city for me; we let you bleed, madam; now, if you please, rest, and in a day or two, we will, God willing, put you on your feet. "Ah, yes, yes, doctor, don't let me die... please, please." - "What are you, God is with you!" And she has a fever again, I think to myself; felt the pulse: for sure, fever. She looked at me - and how she would suddenly take my hand. “I will tell you why I do not want to die, I will tell you, I will tell you ... now we are alone; only you, please, no one… listen…” I bent down; she moved her lips to my very ear, touched my cheek with her hair—I confess, my head went round—and began to whisper... I don’t understand anything... Oh, she’s delirious... finished in Russian, shuddered, dropped her head on the pillow and shook her finger at me. “Look, doctor, no one ...” Somehow I calmed her down, gave her a drink, woke up the maid and went out.
Here the doctor again took a savage sniff of tobacco and was momentarily numb.
“However,” he continued, “the next day the patient, contrary to my expectations, did not feel better. I thought, thought, and suddenly decided to stay, although other patients were waiting for me ... And you know, you can’t neglige with this: practice suffers from this. But, firstly, the patient was really in despair; and secondly, I must tell the truth, I myself felt a strong disposition towards her. Besides, I liked the whole family. Although they were poor people, they were educated, one might say, extremely rare ... Their father was a scientist, a writer; he died, of course, in poverty, but he managed to give an excellent upbringing to his children; also left a lot of books. Whether it was because I was diligently busying myself with the patient, or for some other reason, only I, I dare to say, was loved in the house as a native ... Meanwhile, the mudslide became terrible: all communications, so to speak, ceased completely; even the medicine was delivered with difficulty from the city... The patient did not get better... Day after day, day after day... But here... here... snuff, grunted, and took a sip of tea.) I’ll tell you without prejudice, my sick ... how could it be ... well, she fell in love with me ... or not, not that she fell in love ... but anyway ... right, like this, that, sir ... (The doctor looked down and blushed.)
- No, - he continued with liveliness, - which one I liked! Finally, you need to know your worth. She was an educated, intelligent, well-read girl, and I even forgot my Latin, one might say, completely. As for the figure (the doctor looked at himself with a smile) also, it seems, there is nothing to brag about. But the Lord God did not make me a fool either: I will not call white black; I laugh at something too. For example, I understood very well that Alexandra Andreevna - her name was Alexandra Andreevna - did not feel love for me, but a friendly, so to speak, disposition, respect, or something. Although she herself, perhaps, was mistaken in this respect, but what was her position, you judge for yourself ... However, - added the doctor, who delivered all these abrupt speeches without taking a breath and with obvious confusion, - I seem to be a little I have reported... You won't understand anything that way... but let me tell you everything in order.
- Yes, so-and-so. My patient got worse, worse, worse. You are not a doctor, dear sir; you cannot understand what is happening in the soul of our brother, especially at first, when he begins to guess that the disease is overcoming him. Where is the self-confidence going? You will suddenly become so timid that it is impossible to say. So it seems to you that you forgot everything you knew, and that the patient no longer trusts you, and that others are already beginning to notice that you are lost, and reluctantly tell you the symptoms, they look askance, whisper ... uh, bad! After all, there is a cure, you think, against this disease, you just have to find it. Isn't that it? Try it - no, it's not! You do not give time for the medicine to work properly ... you will grab on to this, then to that. You used to take a prescription book ... because here it is, you think, here! The right word, sometimes you will reveal at random: maybe, you think, fate ... And meanwhile a person dies; and another doctor would have saved him. A council, you say, is needed; I take no responsibility. And what a fool you look in such cases! Well, you'll get used to it in time, nothing. A person died - not your fault: you acted according to the rules. And then here's what else painfully happens: you see blind trust in you, but you yourself feel that you are not able to help. This is exactly the kind of trust that the whole family of Alexandra Andreevna had in me: they forgot to think that their daughter was in danger. For my part, I assure them, too, that nothing, they say, but at the very soul goes into the heels. To top off the misfortune, such a muddle approached that for medicine for whole days, it happened, the coachman drives. But I don’t leave the sick room, I can’t tear myself away, I tell different, you know, funny jokes, I play cards with her. I spend the night. The old woman thanks me with tears; and I think to myself: "I'm not worth your gratitude." I confess to you frankly - now there is nothing to hide - I fell in love with my patient. And Alexandra Andreevna became attached to me: she used to let no one into her room except me. He will start talking to me, asking me where I studied, how I live, who are my relatives, who do I go to? And I feel that it is not a trace for her to talk; but I can’t forbid her, resolutely that way, you know, I can’t. I used to grab myself by the head: “What are you doing, robber?”. And then he will take my hand and hold, look at me, look at me for a long, long time, turn away, sigh and say: “How kind you are!” Her hands are so hot, her eyes are big, languid. “Yes,” he says, “you are kind, you are a good person, you are not like our neighbors ... no, you are not like that, you are not like that ... How did I not know you until now! "-" Alexandra Andreevna, calm down, - I say ... - I, believe me, I feel, I don’t know what I deserved ... just calm down, for God's sake, calm down ... everything will be fine, you will be healthy. And meanwhile, I must tell you,” added the doctor, bending forward and raising his eyebrows, “that they didn’t get along with their neighbors much because the small ones were not a match for them, and pride forbade them to know the rich. I tell you: the family was extremely educated - so, you know, it was flattering to me. From one of my hands she took medicine ... she will rise, poor thing, with my help she will take it and look at me ... my heart will roll. And meanwhile she was getting worse and worse: she would die, I think, she would certainly die. Believe me, even lie down in the coffin yourself; and then my mother, sisters are watching, looking into my eyes ... and trust is gone. "What? How?" - "Nothing, nothing, nothing!" And what nothing, sir, the mind gets in the way. Here, sir, I was sitting one night, alone again, near the patient. The girl is also sitting here and snoring in all Ivanovo ... Well, it is impossible to recover from the unfortunate girl: she also slowed down. Alexandra Andreevna felt very unwell all evening; the fever tormented her. Until midnight, everything was tossing about; finally fell asleep; at least not moving, lying down. The lamp in the corner in front of the image is on. I'm sitting, you know, looking down, dozing too. Suddenly, as if someone pushed me in the side, I turned around ... Lord, my God! Alexandra Andreevna is looking at me with all her eyes ... her lips are parted, her cheeks are burning. "What's wrong with you?" “Doctor, am I going to die?” - "God have mercy!" “No, doctor, no, please don’t tell me that I will be alive… don’t tell me… if you knew… listen, for God’s sake don’t hide my situation from me! - And she breathes so quickly. “If I know for sure that I must die ... then I will tell you everything, everything!” - "Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!" “Listen, I haven’t slept at all, I’ve been looking at you for a long time ... for God’s sake ... I believe you, you are a kind person, you are an honest person, I conjure you with everything that is holy in the world - tell me the truth! If you knew how important this is to me ... Doctor, for God's sake tell me, am I in danger? - “What can I tell you, Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!” "For God's sake, I beg you!" - “I can’t hide from you, Alexandra Andreevna, - you are definitely in danger, but God is merciful ...” - “I will die, I will die ...” And she seemed to be delighted, her face became so cheerful; I was afraid. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, death doesn’t frighten me at all.” She suddenly got up and leaned on her elbow. "Now ... well, now I can tell you that I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart, that you are a kind, good person, that I love you ..." I look at her like crazy; I’m terrified, you know ... “Do you hear, I love you ...” - “Alexandra Andreevna, what have I done to deserve it! - “No, no, you don’t understand me ... you don’t understand me ...” And suddenly she stretched out her hands, grabbed my head and kissed me ... Believe me, I almost screamed ... I threw myself on my knees and hid my head in the pillows. She is silent; her fingers tremble in my hair; I hear crying. I began to console her, to assure her... I really don't know what I was saying to her. “The girl,” I say, “wake up, Alexandra Andreevna ... thank you ... believe ... calm down.” “Yes, it’s full, it’s full,” she repeated. – God be with them all; well, they’ll wake up, well, they’ll come - it’s all the same: after all, I’ll die ... Yes, and why are you shy, what are you afraid of? Raise your head… Or maybe you don’t love me, maybe I was deceived… in that case, excuse me.” - "Alexandra Andreevna, what are you saying? .. I love you, Alexandra Andreevna." She looked me straight in the eyes, opened her arms. “So hug me…” I’ll tell you frankly: I don’t understand how I didn’t go crazy that night. I feel that my patient is ruining herself; I see that she is not quite in my memory; I also understand that if she had not honored herself at death, she would not have thought of me; otherwise, if you want, it’s terrifying to die at twenty-five, having loved no one: after all, that’s what tormented her, that’s why, out of desperation, at least grabbed hold of me, do you understand now? Well, she does not let me out of her hands. “Spare me, Alexandra Andreevna, and spare yourself, I say.” “Why,” he says, “why be sorry? After all, I must die ... ”She constantly repeated this. “Now, if I knew that I would stay alive and again get into decent young ladies, I would be ashamed, as if ashamed ... but what?” “Who told you that you were going to die?” “Eh, no, that’s enough, you won’t deceive me, you don’t know how to lie, look at yourself.” - “You will be alive, Alexandra Andreevna, I will cure you; we will ask your mother for a blessing ... we will unite in bonds, we will be happy. - “No, no, I took your word from you, I must die ... you promised me ... you told me ...” I was bitter, bitter for many reasons. And judge, these are the things that sometimes happen: it seems nothing, but it hurts. She took it into her head to ask me what my name is, that is, not a surname, but a given name. It's such a misfortune that they call me Tryphon. Yes, yes, yes; Trifon, Trifon Ivanovich. Everyone in the house called me Doctor. I, there is nothing to do, I say: "Tryphon, ma'am." She narrowed her eyes, shook her head, and whispered something in French—oh, something bad—and then she laughed, not good either. So I spent most of the night with her. In the morning he went out, as if mad; went into her room again in the afternoon, after tea. My God, my God! You can’t recognize her: they put her in a coffin more beautifully. I swear on your honor, I don’t understand now, I don’t understand decisively how I withstood this torture. Three days, three nights, my patient still screeched ... and what nights! What did she say to me! .. And on the last night, imagine, I’m sitting next to her and I’m asking God for one thing: clean up, they say, her as soon as possible, and me right there ... Suddenly the old mother - walk into the room ... I already told her the day before, mother, that there is not enough, they say, hope, it’s bad, and a priest would not be bad. The sick woman, as her mother saw, said: “Well, it’s good that you came ... look at us, we love each other, we gave each other our word.” “What is she, doctor, what is she?” I died. “He’s delusional,” I say, “fever…” And she: “That’s enough, that’s enough, you just told me something completely different, and you accepted the ring from me ... what are you pretending to be? My mother is kind, she will forgive, she will understand, but I am dying - I have nothing to lie; give me your hand…” I jumped up and ran out. The old woman, of course, guessed.
- I will not, however, torment you any longer, and I myself, I confess, find it hard to remember all this. My patient died the next day. The kingdom of heaven to her (added the doctor quickly and with a sigh)! Before her death, she asked her people to come out and leave me alone with her. “Forgive me,” he says, “maybe I’m to blame for you ... illness ... but, believe me, I didn’t love anyone more than you ... don’t forget me ... take care of my ring ... "
The doctor turned away; I took his hand.
- Eh! - he said. - Let's talk about something else, or would you like to be a little one? Our brother, you know, is not a trace to indulge in such lofty feelings. Our brother, think of one thing: no matter how the children squeal and the wife does not scold. After all, since then I have managed to enter into a legal, as they say, marriage ... How can I ... I took the merchant's daughter: seven thousand dowry. Her name is Akulina; Trifon something to match. Baba, I must tell you, she is evil, but she sleeps all day long ... But what about preference?
We sat down in preference for a penny. Trifon Ivanovich won two and a half rubles from me - and left late, very pleased with his victory.
"Notes of a hunter - County doctor"
One autumn day, on my way back from a field I was leaving, I caught a cold and fell ill. Fortunately, the fever overtook me in a provincial town, in a hotel; I sent for the doctor. Half an hour later the county doctor appeared, a man of small stature, thin and black-haired. He prescribed me the usual diaphoretic, ordered me to put a mustard plaster on, very deftly slipped a five-ruble note under his cuff, and, however, coughed dryly and glanced aside, and was already quite ready to go home, but somehow got into a conversation and stayed. The heat tormented me; I foresaw a sleepless night and was glad to chat with a kind man. They served tea. My doctor started talking. He was not a stupid fellow, he expressed himself smartly and rather amusingly. Strange things happen in the world: with another person you live together for a long time and are on friendly terms, but you never speak frankly, from the heart with him; you will hardly have time to get to know the other - lo and behold, either you tell him, or he, as if in confession, blurted out all the ins and outs to you. I don't know how I earned my new friend's power of attorney - only he, for no apparent reason, as they say, "took" and told me a rather remarkable case; and here I am now bringing his story to the attention of a benevolent reader. I will try to express myself in the words of a doctor.
Don't you deign to know, - he began in a relaxed and trembling voice (such is the effect of pure Berezovsky tobacco), - you don't deign to know the local judge, Mylov, Pavel Lukich? .. You don’t know ... Well, it doesn’t matter. (He cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes.) Here, if you please, it was like this, how can I tell you - do not lie, in Great Lent, in the very growth. I sit with him, with our judge, and play preference. Our judge is a good person and a hunter to play preference. Suddenly (my doctor often used the word: suddenly) they say to me: your man asks you. I say what does he want? They say he brought a note - it must be from the patient. Give me a note, I say. So it is: from the patient ... Well, all right, - this, you understand, is our bread ... But here's the thing: the landowner, a widow, writes to me; says, they say, the daughter is dying, come, for the sake of the Lord our God himself, and the horses, they say, have been sent for you. Well, that's still nothing ... Yes, she lives twenty miles from the city, and it's night in the yard, and the roads are such that fa! Yes, and she herself is getting poorer, you can’t expect more than two rubles, and that’s still doubtful, but is it really necessary to use the canvas and some grains. However, duty, you understand, first of all: a person dies. I suddenly hand over the cards to the indispensable member of Kalliopin and go home. I look: there is a cart in front of the porch; peasant horses - pot-bellied, pot-bellied, the wool on them is real felt, and the coachman, for the sake of respect, sits without a hat. Well, I think it’s clear, brother, your gentlemen don’t eat on gold ... You deign to laugh, but I’ll tell you: our brother, poor man, take everything into consideration ... If the coachman sits like a prince, but doesn’t break his hat , and even chuckles from under his beard, and wiggles his whip - feel free to hit two deposits! And here, I see, it doesn't smell like that. However, I think there is nothing to do: duty comes first. I grab the most necessary medicines and set off. Believe me, I barely made it. The road is hellish: streams, snow, mud, waterholes, and then suddenly the dam broke through - trouble! However, I am coming. The house is small, covered with straw. There is light in the windows: to know, they are waiting. I enter. A respectable old woman like that, in a cap, will meet me. "Save me," he says, "he's dying." I say: "Don't worry... Where is the patient?" - "Here you are welcome." I look: the room is clean, and in the corner there is a lamp, on the bed is a girl of about twenty, unconscious. The heat from her radiates, breathing heavily - fever. Immediately the other two girls, sisters, are frightened, in tears. “Here, they say, yesterday she was completely healthy and ate with appetite; today in the morning she complained about her head, and in the evening she was suddenly in this position. .." Again I say: "Don't you worry," - a doctor's, you know, duty - and started. She bled, ordered mustard plasters, prescribed a mixture. Meanwhile, I look at her, I look, you know - well "Honest to God, I've never seen such a face before... a beauty, in a word! Pity makes me understand. Such pleasant features, eyes... Now, thank God, she calmed down; the sweat broke out, as if she came to her senses; she looked around, smiled, she ran her hand over her face... The sisters bent down to her and asked: "What's the matter with you?" - "Nothing," she says, and turned away... I look, she's fallen asleep. we all tiptoed out and left, the maid was left alone, just in case. And in the living room there was already a samovar on the table, and a Jamaican one was right there: in our business it’s impossible without it. They gave me tea, they asked me to stay overnight ... I agreed: where now let's go! The old woman is still groaning. "What are you doing? - I say. “She will be alive, don’t worry, but rather rest yourself: the second hour.” - “Yes, you will order me to wake up, if something happens?” - “I will order, I will order.” The old woman went, and the girls also went to their room They made a bed for me in the living room. So I lay down - only I can’t fall asleep - what miracles! I seem to have suffered so much. All my sickness is going crazy with me. Finally I could not stand it, suddenly got up; I think I’ll go and see "What is the patient doing? And her bedroom is next to the living room. Well, I got up, quietly opened the door, and my heart was beating. I looked: the maid was sleeping, her mouth was open and she was even snoring, a beast! and the patient was lying facing me and spreading her arms "Poor thing! I approached... When she suddenly opens her eyes and stares at me! .. "Who is this? who is this?" I was embarrassed. "Don't be frightened, - I say, - ma'am: I'm a doctor, I came to see how you feel." - "Are you a doctor?" - "Doctor, doctor ... your mother sent for me to the city ; we let you bleed, madam; now, if you please, rest, and in a day or two, God willing, we will put you on your feet. "-" Oh, yes, yes, doctor, don't let me die ... please, please. you!" And she's got a fever again, I think to myself; I felt a pulse: it's definitely a fever. She looked at me - and how she would suddenly take my hand. "I'll tell you why I don't want to die, I'll tell you, I I'll tell you... now we're alone; only you, please, no one ... listen ... "I bent down; she moved her lips to my very ear, touches my cheek with her hair, - I confess, my head went round - and began to whisper ... I don’t understand anything . .. Oh, yes, she is delirious ... She whispered, whispered, but so quickly and as if not in Russian finished, shuddered, dropped her head on the pillow and shook her finger at me. "Look, doctor, no one ..." Somehow I calmed her down, gave her a drink, woke the maid and went out.
Here the doctor again took a savage sniff of tobacco and was momentarily numb.
However, - he continued, - the next day the patient, contrary to my expectations, did not feel better. I thought, thought, and suddenly decided to stay, although other patients were waiting for me ... And you know, you can’t neglige with this: practice suffers from this. But, firstly, the patient was really in despair; and secondly, I must tell the truth, I myself felt a strong disposition towards her. Besides, I liked the whole family. Although they were poor people, they were educated, one might say, extremely rare ... Their father was a scientist, a writer; he died, of course, in poverty, but he managed to give an excellent upbringing to his children; also left a lot of books. Whether it was because I was diligently busying myself with the patient, or for some other reason, only I, I dare say, was loved in the house as a native ... Meanwhile, the mudslide became terrible: all communications, so to speak, ceased completely; even medicine was delivered from the city with difficulty... The patient did not get better... Day after day, day after day... I would tell you, sir... (He sniffed the tobacco again, grunted and took a sip of tea.) I'll tell you without prejudice, my patient... as if it were... well, she fell in love with me, or something... or no, it’s not that she fell in love ... but anyway ... really, like this, that, sir ... (The doctor looked down and blushed.)
No, - he continued with liveliness, - what a love! Finally, you need to know your worth. She was an educated, intelligent, well-read girl, and I even forgot my Latin, one might say, completely. As for the figure (the doctor looked at himself with a smile) also, it seems, there is nothing to brag about. But the Lord God did not make me a fool either: I will not call white black; I laugh at something too. For example, I understood very well that Alexandra Andreevna - her name was Alexandra Andreevna - did not feel love for me, but a friendly, so to speak, disposition, respect, or something. Although she herself, perhaps, was mistaken in this respect, but what was her position, you judge for yourself ... However, - added the doctor, who delivered all these abrupt speeches without taking a breath and with obvious confusion, - I seem , I reported a little ... That way you won’t understand anything ... but, let me tell you everything in order.
Yes, so-and-so. My patient got worse, worse, worse. You are not a doctor, dear sir; you cannot understand what is happening in the soul of our brother, especially at first, when he begins to guess that the disease is overcoming him. Where is the self-confidence going? You will suddenly become so timid that it is impossible to say. So it seems to you that you have forgotten everything you knew, and that the patient no longer trusts you, and that others are already beginning to notice that you are lost, and reluctantly tell you the symptoms, look askance, whisper ... uh, bad! After all, there is a cure, you think, against this disease, you just have to find it. Isn't that it? Try it - no, it's not! You do not give time for the medicine to work properly ... then you grab on to this, then to that. You used to take a prescription book ... because here it is, you think, here! The right word, sometimes you will reveal at random: maybe, you think, fate ... And meanwhile a person dies; and another doctor would have saved him. A council, you say, is needed; I take no responsibility. And what a fool you look in such cases! Well, you'll get used to it in time, nothing. A man died - not your fault: you acted according to the rules. And then here's what else painfully happens: you see blind trust in you, but you yourself feel that you are not able to help. This is exactly the kind of trust that the whole family of Alexandra Andreevna had in me: they forgot to think that their daughter was in danger. For my part, I assure them, too, that nothing, they say, but at the very soul goes into the heels. To top off the misfortune, such a muddle approached that for medicine for whole days, it happened, the coachman drives. But I don’t leave the sick room, I can’t tear myself away, I tell different, you know, funny jokes, I play cards with her. I spend the night. The old woman thanks me with tears; and I think to myself: "I'm not worth your gratitude." I confess to you frankly - now there is nothing to hide for - I fell in love with my patient. And Alexandra Andreevna became attached to me: she used to let no one into her room except me. He starts talking to me - he asks me where I studied, how I live, who are my relatives, who do I go to? And I feel that it is not a trace for her to talk; but to forbid her, resolutely that way, you know, I can’t forbid. I used to grab myself by the head: "What are you doing, robber? .." And then he would take my hand and hold it, look at me for a long, long time, look away, sigh and say: "How kind you are!" Her hands are so hot, her eyes are big, languid. “Yes,” he says, “you are kind, you are a good person, you are not like our neighbors. .. no, you are not like that, you are not like that ... How did I not know you until now! "-" Alexandra Andreevna, calm down, - I say ... - believe me, I feel, I don’t know what I deserved ... as soon as you calm down, for God's sake, calm down ... everything will be fine, you will be healthy. "And meanwhile, I must tell you," the doctor added, bending forward and raising his eyebrows, "that they did not get along with their neighbors because that the small ones were no match for them, but pride forbade them to know the rich. I tell you: the family was extremely educated - so, you know, it was flattering to me. From my hands alone she took medicine ... she will rise, poor thing, with my with the help of signs I will look at me ... my heart will roll. And meanwhile she was getting worse and worse: she will die, I think she will die without fail. Believe me, even lie down in the coffin herself; they look me in the eyes... and the trust disappears. "What? How?" - "Nothing, sir, nothing!" And what a thing, sir, my mind is getting in the way. Here, sir, I was sitting one night, alone again, next to the patient. The girl also sits here and snores in all Ivanovo ... "Well, it's impossible to exact anything from the unfortunate girl: she also slowed down. Alexandra Andreevna felt very unwell all evening; she was tormented by a fever. Until midnight she kept tossing about; at last she seemed to fall asleep; at least she didn't stir, she lay. The icon lamp was in the corner in front of I'm sitting, you know, looking down, dozing too. Suddenly, as if someone had pushed me in the side, I turned around... Lord, my God! Alexandra Andreevna is looking at me with all her eyes... "What's the matter with you?" - "Doctor, am I going to die?" - "God have mercy!" - "No, doctor, no, please don't tell me that I'll be alive... don't tell me... if you knew... listen, for God's sake don't hide my position from me! - And she breathes so quickly. “If I know for sure that I must die ... then I will tell you everything, everything!” - “Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!” - “Listen, I have not slept at all, I have been looking at you for a long time ... God ... I believe you, you are a kind man, you are an honest man, I conjure you with everything that is holy in the world - tell me the truth! If you only knew how important this is to me... Doctor, for God's sake tell me, am I in danger?" - "What can I tell you, Alexandra Andreevna, have mercy!" - "For God's sake, I beg you!" - "I can't hide from you, Alexandra Andreevna, - you are definitely in danger, but God is merciful ... "-" I will die, I will die ... "And she seemed to be delighted, her face became so cheerful; I was frightened. "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, death does not frighten me at all. She suddenly got up and leaned on her elbow. "Now ... well, now I can tell you that I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart, that you are a kind, good person, that I love you ..." I look at her like crazy; I'm terrified, you know ... "Do you hear, I love you ..." - "Alexandra Andreevna, what have I done to deserve it!" - "No, no, you don't understand me ... you don't understand me ..." And suddenly she stretched out her hands, grabbed my head and kissed ... Believe me, I almost screamed ... rushed to hid his knees and head in the pillows. She is silent; her fingers tremble in my hair; I hear crying. I began to console her, to assure her... I really don't know what I was saying to her. “Wake the girl,” I say, “wake up, Alexandra Andreevna ... thank you ... believe ... calm down.”
“Yes, it’s full, it’s full,” she repeated. “God be with them all; well, they’ll wake up, well, they’ll come - it doesn’t matter: after all, I’ll die ... And what are you shy about, what are you afraid of? Raise your head .. Or maybe you don't love me, maybe I was deceived... in that case, excuse me." - "Alexandra Andreevna, what are you saying? .. I love you, Alexandra Andreevna." She looked me straight in the eyes, opened her arms. "So hug me..." I'll tell you frankly: I don't understand how I didn't go crazy that night. I feel that my patient is ruining herself; I see that she is not quite in my memory; I also understand that if she had not honored herself at death, she would not have thought of me; otherwise, if you want, it’s terrifying to die at twenty-five, having loved no one: after all, that’s what tormented her, that’s why, out of desperation, at least grabbed hold of me, do you understand now? Well, she does not let me out of her hands. "Spare me, Alexandra Andreevna, and spare yourself too, I say." - "Why," she says, "why be sorry? After all, I must die ..." She constantly repeated this. “Now, if I knew that I would stay alive and again get into decent young ladies, I would be ashamed, as if ashamed ... but what is it?” - "But who told you that you will die?" - "Eh, no, that's enough, you won't deceive me, you don't know how to lie, look at yourself." - "You will be alive, Alexandra Andreevna, I will cure you; we will ask your mother for a blessing ... we will unite in bonds, we will be happy." - "No, no, I took your word from you, I must die ... you promised me ... you told me ..." I was bitter, bitter for many reasons. And judge, these are the things that sometimes happen: it seems nothing, but it hurts. She took it into her head to ask me what my name is, that is, not a surname, but a given name. It's such a misfortune that they call me Tryphon. Yes, yes, yes; Trifon, Trifon Ivanovich. Everyone in the house called me Doctor. I, there is nothing to do, I say: "Tryphon, ma'am." She screwed up her eyes, shook her head, and whispered something in French—oh, something bad—and then she laughed, not good either. So I spent most of the night with her. In the morning he went out, as if mad; went into her room again in the afternoon, after tea. My God, my God! You can’t recognize her: they put her in a coffin more beautifully. I swear on your honor, I don’t understand now, I don’t understand decisively how I withstood this torture. Three days, three nights my sick woman screeched... and what nights! What did she say to me! .. And on the last night, you imagine, I was sitting next to her and I asked God for one thing: clean it up, they say, as soon as possible, and me right there. .. All of a sudden, the old mother - walk into the room ... I already told her the day before, mother, that there is not enough, they say, hope, it’s bad, and a priest would not be bad. The sick woman, as her mother saw, said: "Well, it's good that you came ... look at us, we love each other, we gave each other our word." - "What is she, doctor, what is she?" I died. "He's delusional," I say, "fever..." And she: "That's enough, that's enough, you just told me something completely different, and you accepted the ring from me... what are you pretending to be? My kind mother, she will forgive, she understand, but I'm dying - I have nothing to lie; give me your hand ... "I jumped up and ran out. The old woman, of course, guessed.
I will not, however, torment you any longer, and I myself, I confess, find it hard to remember all this. My patient died the next day. The kingdom of heaven to her (added the doctor quickly and with a sigh)! Before her death, she asked her people to come out and leave me alone with her. “Forgive me,” he says, “maybe I am to blame for you ... illness ... but, believe me, I did not love anyone more than you ... do not forget me ... take care of my ring ... "
The doctor turned away; I took his hand.
Eh! - he said. - Let's talk about something else, or would you like to be a little one? Our brother, you know, is not a trace to indulge in such lofty feelings. Our brother, think of one thing: no matter how the children squeal and the wife does not scold. After all, since then I have managed to enter into a legal, as they say, marriage ... Well ... I took the merchant's daughter: seven thousand dowry. Her name is Akulina; Trifon something to match. Baba, I must tell you, she is evil, but she sleeps all day long ... But what about preference?
We sat down in preference for a penny. Trifon Ivanovich won two and a half rubles from me - and left late, very pleased with his victory.
Ivan Turgenev - Notes of a hunter - District doctor, read text
See also Turgenev Ivan - Prose (stories, poems, novels ...):
Hunter's Notes - Khor and Kalinich
Who happened to move from the Bolkhovsky district to Zhizdrinsky, the one who ...
Hunter's Notes - Chertophanov and Nedopyuskin
On a hot summer day I was returning one day from a hunt in a cart; Yermolai...
