novels, poems.

"Medicine should be sweet, truth beautiful, and man has had this
foolish habit since the days of Adam . . . though, indeed, perhaps
it is all natural, and ought to be so. . . . There are many deceptions
and delusions in nature that serve a purpose."

He set to work, but lazy, intimate thoughts still strayed through
his mind for a good while. Overhead the scales could no longer be
heard, but the inhabitant of the second storey was still pacing
from one end of the room to another.


A CLASSICAL STUDENT

BEFORE setting off for his examination in Greek, Vanya kissed all
the holy images. His stomach felt as though it were upside down;
there was a chill at his heart, while the heart itself throbbed and
stood still with terror before the unknown. What would he get that
day? A three or a two? Six times he went to his mother for her
blessing, and, as he went out, asked his aunt to pray for him. On
the way to school he gave a beggar two kopecks, in the hope that
those two kopecks would atone for his ignorance, and that, please
God, he would not get the numerals with those awful forties and
eighties.

He came back from the high school late, between four and five. He
came in, and noiselessly lay down on his bed. His thin face was
pale. There were dark rings round his red eyes.