en a lady serving in a chemist's shop,"
observed the doctor.

"There's nothing out of the way in it," replied the chemist's wife,
looking out of the corner of her eye at the rosy-cheeked officer.
"My husband has no assistant, and I always help him."

"To be sure. . . . You have a charming little shop! What a number
of different . . . jars! And you are not afraid of moving about
among the poisons? Brrr!"

The chemist's wife sealed up the parcel and handed it to the doctor.
Obtyosov gave her the money. Half a minute of silence followed. . . .
The men exchanged glances, took a step towards the door, then
looked at one another again.

"Will you give me two pennyworth of soda?" said the doctor.

Again the chemist's wife slowly and languidly raised her hand to
the shelf.

"Haven't you in the shop anything . . . such as . . ." muttered
Obtyosov, moving his fingers, "something, so to say, allegorical
. . . revivifying . . . seltzer-water, for instance. Have you any
seltzer-water?"

"Yes," answered the chemist's wife.

"Bravo! You're a fairy, not a woman! Give us three bottles!"

The chemist's wife hurriedly sealed up the soda and vanished through
the door into the darkness.

"A peach!" said the doctor, with a wink. "You wouldn't find a
pineapple like that in the island of Madeira! Eh? What do you say?
Do you hear the snoring, though? That's his worship the chemist
enjoying sweet repose."

A minute later the chemist's wife came back and set five bottles
on the counter. She had just been in the cellar, and so was flushed
and rather excited.

"Sh-sh! . . . quietly!" said Obtyosov when, after uncorking the
bottles, she dropped the corkscrew. "Don't make such a noise; you'll
wake your husband."

"Well, what if I do wake him?"

"He is sleeping so sweetly . . . he must be dreaming of you. . . .
To your health!"

"Besides," boomed the doctor, hiccupping after the seltzer-water,
"husbands are such a dull business that it would be very nice of
them to be always asleep. How good a drop of red wine would be in
this water!"

"What an idea!" laughed the chemist's wife.

"That would be splendid. What a pity they don't sell spirits in
chemist's shops! Though you ought to sell wine as a medicine. Have
you any _vinum gallicum rubrum_?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, give us some! Bring it here, damn it!"

"How much do you want?"

"_Quantum satis_. . . . Give us an ounce each in the water, and
afterwards we'll see. . . . Ob