THE sound of a light carriage on springs--that sound which is
peculiarly impressive in the wilds of the country--suddenly struck
upon his hearing. Nearer and nearer rolled the light wheels; now even
the neighing of the horses could be heard. Vassily Ivanovitch jumped
up and ran to the little window. There drove into the courtyard of his
little house a carriage with seats for two, with four horses harnessed
abreast. Without stopping to consider what it could mean, with a rush
of a sort of senseless joy, he ran out on to the steps. A groom in
livery was opening the carriage door; a lady in a black veil and a
black mantle was getting out of it.
[Footnote 50: From "Fathers and Children." Translated from the Russian
by Constance Garnett.]
"I am Madame Odintsov," she said. "Yevgeny Vassilyitch is still
living? You are his father? I have a doctor with me."
"Benefactress!" cried Vassily Ivanovitch; and snatching her hand, he
prest it convulsively to his lips; while the doctor brought by Anna
Sergyevna, a little man in spectacles, of German physiognomy, stept
very deliberately out of the carriage. "Still living, my Yevgeny is
still living, and now he will be saved! Wife! wife! An angel from
heaven has come to us."
"What does it mean, good Lord!" faltered the old woman, running out of
the drawing-room; and comprehending nothing, she fell on the spot at
Anna Sergyevna's feet, in the passage, and began kissing her garments
like a madwoman.
"What are you doing!" protested Anna Sergyevna; but Arina Vlasyevna
did not heed her, while Vassily Ivanovitch could only repeat, "An
angel! an angel!"
"Wo ist der Kranke? [where is the patient?]" said the doctor at last,
with some impatience.
Vassily Ivanovitch recovered himself. "Here, here; follow me,
würdigster Herr Collega," he added through old associations.
"Ah!" articulated the German, grinning sourly.
Vassily Ivanovitch led him into the study. "The doctor from Anna
Sergyevna Odintsov," he said, bending down quite to his son's ear,
"and she herself is here."