Chapter 16 sixteen

sixteen Mikhail Averyanitch came one afternoon while Andrey Yefimitch was lying on the sofa.By coincidence, Hobotov also came with a bottle of potassium bromide.Andrey Yefimitch got up with difficulty, sat down, and supported the sofa with his hands. "Today, my dear," began Mihail Averyanitch, "you look much better than yesterday. You look younger! Really, younger!" "It's time, it's time to recover, colleague," Hobotov said with a yawn, "I'm afraid you're tired of procrastinating." "It will come back!" said Mikhail Averyanitch cheerfully. "We'll live to be a hundred years! For sure!"

"One hundred years is hard to say, and another twenty years is not a problem," Hobotov said consolingly, "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, colleague, don't be discouraged...don't think about it anymore." "We're going to show off!" Mikhail Averyanitch laughed loudly, patting his friend's knee. "We're going to show off. Next summer, God help us, we'll go to the Caucasus and ride horses." Go all over the country -- jump! jump! jump! When we get back from the Caucasus, wait and see, maybe we'll have a wedding," Mikhail Averyanitch winked mischievously. Marry you, my dear friend, marry you..."

Andrey Yefimitch suddenly felt a grievance in his throat, and his heart beat violently. "Vulgar!" said he, rising at once and going to the window. "Don't you see how vulgar you are talking?" He wanted to speak more tactfully and politely, but suddenly he clenched his fists involuntarily and raised them above his head. "Leave me alone!" He yelled, his voice changed, his face flushed, and his whole body was trembling, "Get out! Both of you get out! Get out!" Mikhail Averyanitch and Hobotov both stood up and looked at him first in bewilderment, then in fear.

"Get out, both of you!" Andrey Yefimitch continued. "Idiots! Idiots! I don't want your friendship or your potions, idiots! Vulgarity! Damn it!" Hobotov and Mikhail Averyanitch exchanged glances in bewilderment, retreated to the door, and entered the antechamber.Andrey Yefimitch grabbed the bottle of potassium bromide and threw it behind them.The glass bottle shattered on the threshold with a thud. "To hell with you!" he cried in a sobbing voice, chasing him into the vestibule. "To hell with you!" After the guests had gone, Andrey Yefimitch lay on the sofa trembling like a malaria, muttering incessantly:

"Idiot! Idiot!" When he calmed down, his first thought was that Mikhail Averyanitch must now be terribly ashamed and heavy-hearted, and all this was terrible.This has never happened before.Where have the brains and senses gone?Where is the common sense and prudent calm? The doctor was very guilty and kept blaming himself, which kept him up all night.The next morning, around ten o'clock, he set off to the post office to apologize to the postmaster. "Let's not talk about yesterday," sighed Mikhail Averyanitch, who was greatly moved, holding his hand tightly. "Anyone who mentions the past will be blind. Bafkin!" he cried out suddenly, startling the postman and the customer alike, "bring a chair! Wait a moment," he called to a peasant woman who was delivering a registered letter from the Handed it to him through the iron grid, "Don't you see that I am busy?" He turned to Andrey Yefimitch and said softly: "Please sit down, I beg you, dear friend."

He sat silently, stroking his knee lightly, and after a while he said: "I don't hate you at all in my heart. Sickness is cruel, I know that. Yesterday you fell ill and frightened me and the doctor. We talked about you again later, and talked about Nehisa. Why don't you want to, my dear?" Seriously to treat you? Is it possible? Forgive me for my frankness as a friend," began Mikhail Averyanitch in a low voice. , no care, no money for medical treatment... My dear friend, together with the doctor, I sincerely beg you to follow our advice: go to the hospital! There is nutritious food, nursing, and treatment. Yev Genny Fyodorovitch, we have said in private, that although he is a vulgar man, he knows the art of medicine and can be relied upon. He assures me that he will treat you."

①The original text is French. Andrey Yefimitch was moved by the postmaster's sincere concern and the sudden tears that fell on his cheeks. "Dear friend, don't believe it!" he whispered too, putting his hand on his chest, "don't believe them! It's a hoax! My only problem is that I've found only one brainy person in this city in twenty years. , and he's a madman. I'm not sick at all, I've just fallen into a magic circle and can't get out. I don't care anymore, I'm ready for everything." "Go to the hospital, my friend."

"I don't care, even if I go to jail." "My dear, you promise to obey Yevgeny Fedoritch everywhere." "Well, I promise. But I will say it again, dear friend, I have fallen into a magic circle. Now everything, including the sincere concern of my friends, leads to one end - my destruction. I am devastated, and had the courage to admit it." "My friend, you will recover." "Why do you say that?" said Andrey Yefimitch angrily. "There are very few people at the end of life who do not feel what I am feeling. If someone tells you that your kidneys are defective and your atrium is enlarged, So you have to heal, or say to you, you are a madman, a criminal, in short, as soon as someone suddenly notices you, then you should know that you are trapped and can't get out. You try to get out, But lost more and more. Resign yourself to fate, because no one's power can save you. That's what I think."

At that time, there were many customers crowded in the iron grid.Andrey Yefimitch, not wanting to interfere with his duties, got up and took his leave.Mihail Averyanitch once again begged him to oblige him and to walk him to the gate. That evening Hobotov, in his short leather jacket and high boots, unexpectedly came to see Andrey Yefimitch.He said calmly, as if nothing happened yesterday: "I've come to see you on business, colleague. I've come to invite you: would you like to go to a consultation with me?" Andrey Yefimitch thought that Hoboto probably wanted him to go out and relax, or really wanted to give him a chance to earn money, so he dressed and walked with him.He was glad to have the opportunity to correct yesterday's mistakes, the two reconciled, and sincerely thanked Hobotov, who forgave him by not saying a word about yesterday's incident.It was hard to expect such kindness from this uneducated man.

"And where is your patient?" asked Andrey Yefimitch. "In my hospital. I've been meaning to have you here...an interesting case." They walked into the hospital yard, walked around the main building, and walked towards the side house where the madman lived.I don't know why no one spoke along the way.They went into the antechamber, and Nikita jumped up, as usual, and straightened himself up. "Here's a patient with complications from the lungs," Hobotov whispered as they entered the sixth ward with Andrey Yefimitch. "You wait here a moment, and I'll be right back. I'll fetch it." My stethoscope."

After speaking, he left.