As he looked out of the window, he began to scrutinize his own weaknesses of character in an extraordinarily minute and merciless examination. The snow had begun to fall in large flakes, veiling the melancholy landscape in mist and dimness.
This capricious and unprofitable train of thought was suddenly interrupted by loud expostulations from the housekeeper, who was trying to persuade someone to go away because the doctor was not at home. But wishing to break the tormenting chain of ideas, the doctor went out into the kitchen. A huge peasant was standing there, wearing an untanned sheepskin over his shoulders. He bowed very low to the doctor, so that his lamb"s-wool cap brushed the floor; then he pushed the hair back from his forehead, straightened himself, and was preparing for his speech, when the doctor cut him short.
"What"s the matter?"
"Please, sir, the Soltys[23] has sent me."
"Who is ill?"
"It"s the schoolmistress in our village. She"s been taken bad with something. The Soltys came to me, and he said: "Go to Obrzydlwek for the doctor, Ignaz," he said.... "Perhaps," he said...."
"I"ll come. Have you got good horses?"
"Fine fast beasts."
The doctor welcomed the thought of this drive, with its physical fatigue and even possible danger. With sudden animation he put on his stout boots and sheepskin, slipped into a fur coat large enough to cover a windmill, strapped on his belt, and went out. The peasant"s "beasts" were st.u.r.dy and well-fed, though not large. The sledge had high runners and a light wicker body; it was well supplied with straw and covered with homespun rugs. The peasant took the front seat, untied his hempen reins, and gave the horses a cut with the whip.
"Is it far?" the doctor asked as they started.
"A matter of about twenty miles."
"You won"t lose your way?"
"Who?... I?" He looked round with an ironical smile.
The wind across the fields was piercing. The runners, crooked and badly carved, ploughed deep furrows in the freshly fallen snow, and piled it up in ridges on either side. Nothing could be seen of the road.
The peasant pushed his cap on one side with a businesslike air, and urged on his horses. They pa.s.sed a little wood, and came out on an empty s.p.a.ce bounded by the forest which stood out against the horizon.
The twilight fell, overlaying this severe desert picture with a blue light, which deepened over the forest. b.a.l.l.s of snow thrown up by the horses" hoofs flew past the doctor"s head. He could not tell why he longed to stand up in the sledge and shout like a peasant with all his might--shout into that deaf, voiceless, boundless s.p.a.ce which fascinated by its immensity as a precipice does. A wild and gloomy night was coming on fast, night such as falls upon deserted fields.
The wind increased and roared monotonously, changing from time to time into a solemn largo. The snow was driving from the side.
"Be careful of the road, my friend, else we shall come to grief," the doctor shouted, immediately hiding his nose again in his fur collar.
"Aho, my little ones!" bawled the peasant to the horses, by way of an answer. His voice was scarcely audible through the storm. The horses broke into a gallop.
Suddenly the snowdrifts began to whirl round madly: the wind blew in gusts; it buffeted the side of the sledge; it howled underneath; it took the men"s breath away. The doctor could hear the horses snorting, but could distinguish neither them nor the driver. Clouds of snow torn from the ground sped by like a team of horses, and the thud of their hoofs seemed to fill the air. A very pandemonium had burst loose, throwing the power of its sound upward to the clouds, whence it descended again with a crash. The smooth surface was dispersed into down which enveloped the travellers. It was as if monsters were reeling in a mad giant dance, overtaking the sledge from behind, running now in front, now at the sides, and pelting it with handfuls of snow. Somewhere far away a large bell seemed to be droning in a hollow monotone.
The doctor realized that they were no longer driving on the road; the runners moved forward with difficulty and struck against the edge of ruts.
"Where are we, my good fellow?" he exclaimed in alarm.
"I am going to the forest by the fields," the man answered; "we shall get shelter from the wind under the trees. You can go all the way to the village through the forest."
As a matter of fact, the wind soon dropped; only its distant roar could be heard and the snapping of branches. The trees, powdered with snow, stood out against the dark background of night. It was impossible to proceed quickly now, for they had to make their way between snowdrifts and the stems and projecting branches.
After an hour during which the doctor had felt truly uncomfortable and alarmed, he at last heard the sound of dogs barking.
"That"s our village, sir."
Dim lights flickered in the distance like moving spots. There was a smell of smoke.
"Look sharp, little ones!" the driver cheerily called out to the horses, and slapped himself after the manner of drivers.
A few minutes later they pa.s.sed at full gallop a row of cottages, buried in snow up to their roofs. Heads were outlined in shadow against the window-panes from which circles of light fell on to the road.
"People are having their supper," the peasant remarked unnecessarily, reminding the doctor that it was time for the supper which he had no hope of eating that day.
The sledge drew up in front of a cottage. When the driver had accompanied the doctor through the pa.s.sage, he disappeared. The doctor groped for the latch, and entered the miserable little room, which was lighted by a flickering paraffin lamp.
A decrepit old hunchback woman, bent like the crook of an umbrella handle, started from her bed on seeing him, and straightened the handkerchief round her head. She blinked her red eyes in alarm.
"Where is the patient?" the doctor asked. "Have you a samovar?"
The old woman was so perturbed that she did not grasp the meaning of his words.
"Have you a samovar? Can you make me some tea?"
"There is the samovar; but as to sugar----"
"No sugar? What a nuisance!"
"None, unless Walkowa has some, because the young lady----"
"Where is the young lady?"
"Poor thing! she"s lying in the next room."
"Has she been ill long?"
"She"s been ailing as long as a fortnight. She was taken bad with something."
The woman half opened the door of the next room.
"Wait a moment; I must warm myself," the doctor said angrily, taking off his fur coat.
It was not difficult to get warm in that stuffy little den; the stove threw out a terrific heat, so that the doctor went into the "young lady"s" room as quickly as possible.
The lamp that was standing on a table beside the invalid"s pillow had been turned low. It was not possible to distinguish the schoolmistress"s features, as a large book had been placed as a screen, and the shadow from it fell on her face. The doctor carefully turned up the lamp, removed the book, and looked at her face. She was a young girl.
She had sunk into a feverish sleep; her face, neck and hands, were flushed scarlet and covered with a rash. Her ashen-blonde hair, which was exceptionally thick, was tossed round her face, and lay in rich tresses on the pillow. Her hands were plucking deliriously at the coverlet.
Dr. Pawel bent right down to the sick girl"s face, and suddenly, with a voice stifled by emotion, repeated:
"Panna Stanislawa, Panna Stanislawa, Panna St----"
Slowly and with difficulty the sick girl raised her eyelids, but closed them again immediately. She stretched herself, drew her head from one end of the pillow to the other, and gave a painful low moan.
She opened her mouth with an effort and gasped for breath.