tall, stooping figure of the doctor, with his long, narrow beard
and aquiline nose, stood out distinctly in the darkness. Abogin's
big head and the little student's cap that barely covered it could
be seen now as well as his pale face. The scarf showed white only
in front, behind it was hidden by his long hair.

"Believe me, I know how to appreciate your generosity," Abogin
muttered as he helped the doctor into the carriage. "We shall get
there quickly. Drive as fast as you can, Luka, there's a good fellow!
Please!"

The coachman drove rapidly. At first there was a row of indistinct
buildings that stretched alongside the hospital yard; it was dark
everywhere except for a bright light from a window that gleamed
through the fence into the furthest part of the yard while three
windows of the upper storey of the hospital looked paler than the
surrounding air. Then the carriage drove into dense shadow; here
there was the smell of dampness and mushrooms, and the sound of
rustling trees; the crows, awakened by the noise of the wheels,
stirred among the foliage and uttered prolonged plaintive cries as
though they knew the doctor's son was dead and that Abogin's wife
was ill. Then came glimpses of separate trees, of bushes; a pond,
on which great black shadows were slumbering, gleamed with a sullen
light--and the carriage rolled over a smooth level ground. The
clamour of the crows sounded dimly far away and soon ceased altogether.

Kirilov and Abogin were silent almost all the way. Only once Abogin
heaved a deep sigh and muttered:

"It's an agonizing state! One never loves those who are near one