hands. "As though you had not disgraced me enough, you've taken up
with... oh, you shameless old reprobate!"

_"Chere..."_ His voice failed him and he could not articulate a syllable
but simply gazed with eyes wide with horror.

"Who is she?"

"_C'est un ange; c'etait plus qu'un ange pour moi._ She's been all
night... Oh, don't shout, don't frighten her, _chere, chere..._"

With a loud noise, Varvara Petrovna pushed back her chair, uttering a
loud cry of alarm.

"Water, water!"

Though he returned to consciousness, she was still shaking with terror,
and, with pale cheeks, looked at his distorted face. It was only then,
for the first time, that she guessed the seriousness of his illness.

"Darya," she whispered suddenly to Darya Pavlovna, "send at once for the
doctor, for Salzfish; let Yegorytch go at once. Let him hire horses here
and get another carriage from the town. He must be here by night."

Dasha flew to do her bidding. Stepan Trofimovitch still gazed at her
with the same wide-open, frightened eyes; his blanched lips quivered.

"Wait a bit, Stepan Trofimovitch, wait a bit, my dear!" she said,
coaxing him like a child. "There, there, wait a bit! Darya will come
back and... My goodness, the landlady, the landlady, you come, anyway,
my good woman!"

In her impatience she ran herself to the landlady.

"Fetch that woman back at once, this minute. Bring her back, bring her
back!"

Fortunately Sofya Matveyevna had not yet had time to get away and was
only just going out of the gate with her pack and her bag. She was
brought back. She was so panic-stricken that she was trembling in every
limb. Varvara Petrovna pounced on her like a hawk on a chicken, seized
her by the hand and dragged her impulsively to Stepan Trofimovitch.

"Here, here she is, then. I've not eaten her. You thought I'd eaten
her."

Stepan Trofimovitch clutched Varvara Petrovna's hand, raised it to his
eyes, and burst into tears, sobbing violently and convulsively.

"There, calm yourself, there, there, my dear, there, poor dear man!
Ach, mercy on us! Calm yourself, will you?" she shouted frantically.
"Oh, you bane of my life!"

"My dear," Stepan Trofimovitch murmured at last, addressing Sofya
Matveyevna, "stay out there, my dear, I want to say something here...."

Sofya Matveyevna hurried out at once.

_"Cherie... cherie..."_ he gasped.

"Don't talk for a bit, Stepan Trofimovitch, wait a little till you've
rested. Here's some wate