Page 1531 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

promised to come at any time; that he would certainly not
be angry! and that he must therefore wake him at once.
The footman agreed, and went upstairs, taking Levin
into the waiting room.

Levin could hear through the door the doctor
coughing, moving about, washing, and saying something.
Three minutes passed; it seemed to Levin that more than
an hour had gone by. He could not wait any longer.
‘Pyotr Dmitrievitch, Pyotr Dmitrievitch!’ he said in an
imploring voice at the open door. ‘For God’s sake, forgive
me! See me as you are. It’s been going on more than two
hours already.’
‘I a minute; in a minute!’ answered a voice, and to his
amazement Levin heard that the doctor was smiling as he
spoke.
‘For one instant.’
‘In a minute.’
Two minutes more passed while the doctor was putting
on his boots, and two minutes more while the doctor put
on his coat and combed his hair.
‘Pyotr Dmitrievitch!’ Levin was beginning again in a
plaintive voice, just as the doctor came in dressed and
ready. ‘These people have no conscience,’ thought Levin.
‘Combing his hair, while we’re dying!’

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