Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume X).djvu/94

Rh patch began to move, to grow less, to disappear. . . and in its place, in the doorway appeared a woman's figure. Aratov looked intently at it. . . Clara! And this time she was looking straight at him, coming towards him. . . . On her head was a wreath of red roses. . . . He was all in agitation, he sat up. . . . Before him stood his aunt in a nightcap adorned with a broad red ribbon, and in a white dressing-jacket. 'Platosha!' he said with an effort. 'Is that you?' 'Yes, it's I,' answered Platonida Ivanovna. . . 'I, Yasha darling, yes.' 'What have you come for?' 'You waked me up. At first you kept moaning as it were. . . and then you cried out all of a sudden, "Save me! help me!"' 'I cried out?' 'Yes, and such a hoarse cry, "Save me!" I thought, Mercy on us ! He 's never ill, is he? And I came in. Are you quite well?' 'Perfectly well.' 'Well, you must have had a bad dream then. Would you like me to burn a little incense?'

Aratov once more stared intently at his aunt, and laughed aloud. . . . The figure of the good old lady in her nightcap and dressing-jacket, with her long face and scared expression, was