There are sometimes very stupid and humiliating positions.... Before the
count went away I met his wife. Huge diamonds in her ears, wearing a
bustle, and not knowing how to hold herself. A millionaire. In the company
of such persons one has a stupid schoolboy feeling of wanting to be rude.

The village priest often comes and pays me long visits; he is a very good
fellow, a widower, and has some illegitimate children.

Write or there will be trouble....




MELIHOVO,
October 10, 1892.


Your telegram telling me of Svobodin's death caught me just as I was going
out of the yard to see patients. You can imagine my feelings. Svobodin
stayed with me this summer; he was very sweet and gentle, in a serene and
affectionate mood, and became very much attached to me. It was evident to
me that he had not very long to live, it was evident to him too. He had the
thirst of the aged for everyday peace and quiet, and had grown to detest
the stage and everything to do with the stage and dreaded returning to
Petersburg. Of course I ought to go to the funeral, but to begin with, your
telegram came towards evening, and the funeral is most likely tomorrow, and
secondly the cholera is twenty miles away, and I cannot leave my centre.
There are seven cases in one village, and two have died already. The
cholera may break out in my section. It is strange that with winter coming
on the cholera is spreading over a wider and wider region.