mercy on him! If only it doesn't come to the mistress's ears!"

But the dumb man had never shown such energy as on that day; he cleaned
and scraped the whole courtyard, pulled up every single weed with his
own hand, tugged up every stake in the fence of the flower-garden, to
satisfy himself that they were strong enough, and unaided drove them in
again; in fact, he toiled and labored so that even the old lady noticed
his zeal. Twice in the course of the day Gerasim went stealthily in to
see his prisoner; when night came on, he lay down to sleep with her in
the garret, not in the hay-loft, and only at two o'clock in the night he
went out to take her a turn in the fresh air.

After walking about the courtyard a good while with her, he was just
turning back, when suddenly a rustle was heard behind the fence on the
side of the back street. Mumu pricked up her ears, growled--went up to
the fence, sniffed, and gave vent to a loud shrill bark. Some drunkard
had thought fit to take refuge under the fence for the night. At that
very time the old lady had just fallen asleep after a prolonged fit of
"nervous agitation"; these fits of agitation always overtook her after
too hearty a supper. The sudden bark waked her up: her heart palpitated,
and she felt faint. "Girls, girls!" she moaned. "Girls!" The terrified
maids ran into her bedroom. "Oh, oh, I am dying!" she said, flinging her
arms about in her agitation. "Again, that dog, again! . . . Oh, send for
the doctor. They mean to be the death of me. . . . The dog, the dog
again! Oh!" And she let her head fall back, which always signified a
swoon. They rushed for the doctor, that is, for the household physician,
Hariton. This doctor, whose whole qualification consisted in wearing
soft-soled boots, knew how to feel the pulse delicately. He used to
sleep fourteen hours out of the twenty-four, but the rest of the time he
was always sighing, and continually dosing the old lady with cherrybay