Page:Plays by Anton Tchekoff (1916).djvu/126

118 . We bow before you, Asculapius! [He shakes hands with Lvorr and sings]

. Hasn’t Ivanoff come home yet?

. Not yet. I have been waiting for him myself for over an hour.

walks impatiently up and down.

. How is Anna to-day?

. Very ill.

. [Sighing] May one go and pay one’s respects to her?

. No, please don’t. She is asleep, I believe.

. 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.

. [To ] 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?

tries to answer, but makes an impatient gesture instead, and walks out of the room.

. What a withering look he gave me!

. Some fiend must prompt you to say such things! Why did you offend him?

. [Angrily] Why does he tell such lies? Con-