He has a vast practice in the town and scarcely time to draw breath. Already he owns an estate and two town houses, and he is looking for a third—a better bargain. When, in the Mutual Credit Bank, he hears of a house for sale, he marches straight in without ceremony, goes through all the rooms—paying no attention to the half-dressed women and children who stare at him in fascinated horror—prods all the doors with his stick.
'This the study?' he asks. 'That a bedroom? What have we here?'
He breathes heavily all the time, wiping sweat from his brow.
He has a lot to do, but still does not give up his council post, being too greedy and wanting a finger in every pie. At Dyalizh and in to^ he is now known simply as 'the Doc'.
'Where's the Doc off to?' people ask. Or 'Shouldn't we call in the Doc?'
His voice has changed, probably because his throat is so congested with fat, and has become thin and harsh. His character has changed too —he has gro^ ill-humoured and irritable. When taking surgery he usually loses his temper and bangs his stick impatiently on the floor.
'Pray confine yourself to answering my questions!' he shouts unpleasantly. 'Less talk!'
He lives alone. It is a dreary life, he has no interests.
During his entire time at Dyalizh his love for Pussy has been his only joy, and will probably be his last. He plays bridge in the club of an evening, then dines alone at a large table. He is waited on by Ivan, the oldest and most venerable of the club servants, is served with Chateau-La fite No. 17, and everyone—the club officials, the cook, the waiter—knows his likes and dislikes, they all humour him in every way. Otherwise he's liable to fly into a rage and bang his stick on the floor.
While dining he occasionally turns round and breaks into a conversation.
'What are you on about? Eh? Who?'
When, occasionally, talk at a near-by table turns to the Turkins, he asks what Turkins. 'You mean those people whose daughter plays the piannyforty?'
There is no more to be said about him.
What of the Turkins? Mr. Turkin looks no older—hasn't changed a bit, but still keeps joking and telling his funny stories. Mrs. Turkin still enjoys reading those Novels to guests in a jolly, hearty sort of a way. And Pussy plays the piano for four hours a day. She looks much older, she is often unwell, and she goes to the Crimea with her mother every autu^A. Mr. Turkin sees them off at the station, and when the train starts he wipes away his tears.
'Cheerio, chin chin!' he shouts.
And waves a handkerchief
EXPLANATORY NOTES
THE BUTTERFLY
I was a rather junior doctor, literally, 'was a doctor and held the grade of titular councillor' — class nine in the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great in 1722. 9 Kineshma: town on the Volga about 200 miles north-east of Moscow.
II Masini: Angelo Masini (i 844-1926), Italian operatic tenor. I 4 Do you know any place in all Russia . . .: the couplet is a paraphrase of a quatrain from the poem Razmyshleniya и paradnogo podyezda (Reflections by a Main Entrance; 1858) by N. A. Nekrasov (I82I-78).
Polenov: V. D. Polenov (i 844-1927), Russian painter.
Bamay: Ludwig Barnay (1842-1924), German actor.
Gogol's Osip: the comic servant ofKhlestakov, hero of the farce The Inspector General (1836) by N. V. Gogol (1809-52).
old fellow called Osip, who 'grew hoarse from a surfeit of gossip': the original tongue-twister reads Osip okhrip, a Arkhip osip, literally: 'Osip grew hoarse and Arkhip grew husky.'
WARD NUMBER six
24 official ofthe twelfth grade: literally 'aprovincial secretary' (gubcm- sky sekretar), twelfth grade in the Table of Ranks.
2R gendarmes: founded under Nicholas I in 1 Я26, the Corps of Gendarmes constituted the uniformed branch of the Imperial political police force from then until 1917.
the Order of St. Stanislaus: one of the numerous orders, or decorations for distinction in peace and war, instituted by Peter the Great and added to as the years went by.
the paralytic: this refers to the 'tall, lean working-class fellow' mentioned first among the five inmates of the Ward (sec p. 24, above).
34 Pushkin: Russia's greatest poet Alexander Push kin (179!)-! H 37) was fatally wounded in the stomach in the course of his duel with a Frenchman, Georges d'Anthcs, and suffered for two days before dying.
Heine: Heinrich Heine (I797-I 856), the German poet, suffered from spinal disease during the last eight years of his life.
3 5 a senator, founded in I 7 I I by Peter the Great, the Senate functioned as a supreme court of appeal from I 864 onwards and was also empowered to interpret the laws. The Emperor appointed Senators from among holders of the first three grades in the Table of Ranks.
white tie: a white tie was customary wear for Russian doctors in this period.
Svyatogorsk Monastery: founded in I 566 and situated in Pskov Province, the Monastery was the site of Pushkin's tomb.
35-6 The Physician: Vrach; a weekly medical newspaper published in St. Petersburg from I 88o onwards.
3 8 the ideas of the Sixties: during the I 86os, the age of Russian Nihilism, an obsession with utilitarianism, materialism and scientific progress was very much in vogue.
40 Pirogov: N. I. Pirogov (i8io-8i), the Russian surgeon and educationist.
Pasteur: Louis Pasteur (I822-95), the French chemist and bacteriologist.
Koch: Robert Koch (i843-I9io), the German bacteriologist.
44 Dostoyevsky: F. M. Dostoyevsky, the Russian novelist.
Voltaire: Jean Franзois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (I694-I778), the French dramatist and historian, and author ofthe remark 'si Die n'existait pas, il faudrait /'inventer,' See Voltaire, Epltres, 96, A /'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs.
as an exile—or as a convict: reference is to the two headings under which a condemned person might be sent to Siberia, the milder status being that of 'exile' (poselenets), the more severe that of 'convict' (katorzhnik).
Marcus Aurelius: Marcus Aurelius (a.d. I2I-8o), the Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, author of the celebrated Meditations.
49 Garden of Gethsemane: reference is to the New Testament, Matthew 26: 36-42; Mark 14: 32-6.
Pripet Marshes: the Pripet is a tributary of the River Dnieper and flows through marshlands in southern Belorussia.
the Iverian Madonna: situated near the Red Square in Moscow, the Iverian chapel (Iverskaya chasovnya) housed the most celebrated icon in the city, that of the 'Iverian Madonna'. This was an exact copy of an early eighth-century icon preserved in the Iverian Monastery on Mount Athos. The copy was brought to Russia in 1648 and became famous as a 'miracle-working icon', in which capacity it could be hired out by private individuals.