Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/168

 PART SECOND

CHAPTER I

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,