Anna Karenina (Dole)/Part Two/Chapter 1
PART SECOND
CHAPTER I
Toward the end of the winter the Shcherbatskys held a consultation of physicians in order to find out what was the state of Kitty's health, and what measures were to be taken to restore her strength; she was ill, and the approach of spring only increased her ailment. The family doctor had ordered cod-liver oil, then iron, and last of all, nitrate of silver; but as none of these remedies did any good, and as he advised them to take her abroad, it was then resolved to consult a celebrated specialist.
This celebrated doctor, still a young man, and very neat in his appearance, insisted on a careful investigation of the trouble. He with especial satisfaction, as it seemed, insisted that maidenly modesty is only a relic of barbarism, and that nothing is more natural than that a young man should make examination of a girl in undress. He found this natural because he did it every day, and he was conscious of no impropriety in it, as far as he could see; and, therefore, any sense of shame on the part of the girl he considered not only a relic of barbarism, but also an insult to himself.
It was necessary to submit, since, notwithstanding the fact that all the other doctors were taught in the same school and studied the same books, and notwithstanding the fact that certain persons declared that this celebrated doctor was a bad doctor, yet in the princess's house and in her circle of friends it was admitted somehow that this celebrated doctor was the only one known who had the special knowledge, and was the only one who could save Kitty's life. After a careful examination and a prolonged thumping on the lungs of the poor sick girl, trembling with mortification, the celebrated physician carefully washed his hands, and returned to the drawing-room, and gave his report to the prince.
The prince, with a little cough, listened to what he had to say, and frowned. He was a man of experience and brains, was in good health, and he had no faith in medicine. He was all the more angry at this comedy, because possibly he alone understood what ailed his daughter.
"A regular humbug,"[1] thought the old prince, as he listened to the doctor's loquacity concerning the symptoms of his daughter's illness, mentally applying to the celebrated doctor a term from the vocabulary of hunting.
The doctor, on his part, with difficulty disguised his disdain, with difficulty stooped to the low level of his intelligence, for this old gentleman. It seemed to him scarcely necessary to speak to the old man, since, in his eyes, the head of the house was the princess. He was ready to pour out before her all the floods of his eloquence. At this moment she came in with the family doctor. The prince left the room, so as not to show too clearly how ridiculous this whole comedy seemed to him. The princess was troubled, and did not know what course to take. She felt a little guilty in regard to Kitty.
"Well! Doctor, decide on our fate," said the princess; "tell me all."
She wanted to say, "Is there any hope?" but her lips trembled, and she could not put this question to him. "Well, doctor?"
"In a moment, princess, I shall be at your service, after I have conferred with my colleague. I shall then have the honor of giving you my opinion."
"Do you wish to be alone?"
"Just as you please."
The princess sighed, and left the room.
When the doctors were left alone, the family physician began timidly to express his opinion about her condition, and gave his reasons for thinking that it was the beginning of tubercular disease, but ....
The celebrated physician listened, and in the midst of his diagnosis took out his great gold watch.
"Yes," said he, "but...."
The family physician stopped respectfully.
"You know that we can hardly decide when tubercular disease first begins. In the present case, apparently there is as yet no decided lesion. We can only surmise. And the symptoms are: indigestion, nervousness, and others. The question, therefore, stands thus: What is to be done, granting that a tubercular development is to be feared, in order to superinduce improved alimentation?"
"But you know well, in such cases there are always some moral or spiritual causes," said the family doctor, with a cunning smile.
"Of course," replied the celebrated doctor, looking at his watch again. "Excuse me, but do you know whether the bridge over the Yausa is finished yet, or whether one has to go around? Oh, it is finished, is it? Well! Then I have twenty minutes left.—We were just saying that the question remains thus: to improve the digestion, and strengthen the nerves; the one is connected with the other, and it is necessary to act on both halves of the circle."
"But the journey abroad?"
"I am opposed to these journeys abroad. I beg you to follow my reasoning. If tubercular development has already set in, which we are not yet in a condition to prove, then a journey abroad would do no good. The main thing is to discover a means of promoting good digestion."
And the celebrated doctor began to develop his plan for a cure by means of Soden water, the principal merits of which were, in his eyes, their absolutely inoffensive character.
The family doctor listened with attention and respect.
"But I should urge in favor of a journey abroad the change of her habits and dissociation from the conditions that serve to recall unhappy thoughts. And finally, her mother wants her to go."
"Ah, well, in that case let them go, provided always that those German charlatans do not aggravate her disease. .... They must follow.... Yes! let them travel."
And again he looked at his watch.
"It is time for me to go;" and he started for the door.
The celebrated doctor explained to the princess that he wished to see the invalid once more—a sense of propriety dictated this.
"What! have another examination?" cried the princess, with horror.
"Oh, no! only a few minor points, princess."
"Then come in, I beg of you."
And the mother ushered the doctor into the drawing-room where Kitty was. Emaciated and flushed, with a peculiar gleam in her eyes, the result of the mortification she had borne, Kitty was standing in the middle of the room. When the doctor came in her eyes filled with tears, and she turned crimson. Her whole illness and the medical treatment seemed to her such stupid, even ridiculous nonsense. The medical treatment of her case seemed to her as absurd as to gather up the fragments of a broken vase. Her heart was broken, and could it be healed by pills and powders? But it was impossible to wound her mother's feelings, the more because her mother felt that she had been to blame.
"Will you sit down, princess?" said the celebrated doctor.
With a smile he sat down in front of her, felt her pulse, and with a smile began a series of wearisome questions. At first she replied to them, then suddenly arose impatiently.
"Excuse me, doctor; but, indeed, this all leads to nothing. This is the third time that you have asked me the same question."
The celebrated doctor took no offense,
"It is her nervous irritability," he remarked to the princess when Kitty had gone from the room. "However, I had finished." ....
And the celebrated doctor explained the young princess's condition to her mother, treating her as a woman of remarkable intelligence, and concluded with directions how to drink those waters which were valueless.
On the question, "Is it best to take her abroad?" the doctor pondered deeply, as if he were deciding a difficult problem. The decision was at last expressed: 'Go, but put no faith in charlatans, and consult him in everything.'
After the doctor's departure, everybody felt as if something jolly had happened. The mother, in much better spirits, rejoined her daughter, and Kitty declared that she was better already. Often, almost all the time, of late, she felt obliged to pretend.
"Truly, I am well, maman, but if you desire it, let us go," said she; and in her endeavor to show that she was interested in the journey, she began to speak of their preparations.
- ↑ Pustobrekh, empty barker, signifying one who has had no luck, but comes home with large stories.—Tr.