Lebedieff. We bow before you, Asculapius! [He shakes hands with Lvorr and sings]
“Doctor, doctor, save, oh, save me,
I am scared to death of dying!”
Lvoff. Hasn’t Ivanoff come home yet?
Lebedieff. Not yet. I have been waiting for him myself for over an hour.
Lvoff walks impatiently up and down.
Lebedieff. How is Anna to-day?
Lvoff. Very ill.
Lebedieff. [Sighing] May one go and pay one’s respects to her?
Lvoff. No, please don’t. She is asleep, I believe.
Lebedieff. She is a lovely, charming woman. [Sighing] The day she fainted at our house, on Sasha’s birthday, I saw that she had not much longer to live, poor thing. Let me see, why did she faint? When I ran up, she was lying on the floor, ashy white, with Nicholas on his knees beside her, and Sasha was standing by them in tears. Sasha and I went about almost crazy for a week after that.
Shabelski. [To Lvoff] Tell me, most honoured disciple of science, what scholar discovered that the frequent visits of a young doctor were beneficial to ladies suffering from affections of the chest? Itis a remarkable discovery, remarkable! Would you call such treatment Allopathic or Homeopathic?
Lvoff tries to answer, but makes an impatient gesture instead, and walks out of the room.
Shabelski. What a withering look he gave me!
Lebedieff. Some fiend must prompt you to say such things! Why did you offend him?
Shabelski. [Angrily] Why does he tell such lies? Con-
