"Why, Volodya is not asleep," she said. "Volodya, look in the
cupboard for the morphine, there's a dear! What a nuisance Lili is!
She has always something the matter."

_Maman_ muttered something, yawned, and went away.

"Look for it," said Nyuta. "Why are you standing still?"

Volodya went to the cupboard, knelt down, and began looking through
the bottles and boxes of medicine. His hands were trembling, and
he had a feeling in his chest and stomach as though cold waves were
running all over his inside. He felt suffocated and giddy from the
smell of ether, carbolic acid, and various drugs, which he quite
unnecessarily snatched up with his trembling fingers and spilled
in so doing.

"I believe _maman_ has gone," he thought. "That's a good thing . . .
a good thing. . . ."

"Will you be quick?" said Nyuta, drawling.

"In a minute. . . . Here, I believe this is morphine," said Volodya,
reading on one of the labels the word "morph . . ." "Here it is!"

Nyuta was standing in the doorway in such a way that one foot was
in his room and one was in the passage. She was tidying her hair,
which was difficult to put in order because it was so thick and
long, and looked absent-mindedly at Volodya. In her loose wrap,
with her sleepy face and her hair down, in the dim light that came