Page 1077 - ANNA KARENINA
P. 1077
Anna Karenina
doctor took up a stethoscope and sounded the patient,
shook his head, prescribed medicine, and with extreme
minuteness explained first how to take the medicine and
then what diet was to be kept to. He advised eggs, raw or
hardly cooked, and seltzer water, with warm milk at a
certain temperature. When the doctor had gone away the
sick man said something to his brother, of which Levin
could distinguish only the last words: ‘Your Katya.’ By the
expression with which he gazed at her, Levin saw that he
was praising her. He called indeed to Katya, as he called
her.
‘I’m much better already,’ he said. ‘Why, with you I
should have got well long ago. How nice it is!’ he took
her hand and drew it towards his lips, but as though afraid
she would dislike it he changed his mind, let it go, and
only stroked it. Kitty took his hand in both hers and
pressed it.
‘Now turn me over on the left side and go to bed,’ he
said.
No one could make out what he said but Kitty; she
alone understood. She understood because she was all the
while mentally keeping watch on what he needed.
‘On the other side,’ she said to her husband, ‘he always
sleeps on that side. Turn him over, it’s so disagreeable
1076 of 1759