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The doctor was extremely dissatisfied with Alexey Alexandrovitch.

He found the liver considerably enlarged, and the digestive

powers weakened, while the course of mineral waters had been

quite without effect. He prescribed more physical exercise as far

as possible, and as far as possible less mental strain, and above

all no worry-in other words, just what was as much out of Alexey

Alexandrovitch's power as abstaining from breathing. Then he

withdrew, leaving in Alexey Alexandrovitch an unpleasant sense

that something was wrong with him, and that there was no chance

of curing it.

As he was coming away, the doctor chanced to meet on the

staircase an acquaintance of his, Sludin, who was secretary of

Alexey Alexandrovitch's department. They had been comrades at the

university, and though they rarely met, they thought highly of

each other and were excellent friends, and so there was no one to

whom the doctor would have given his opinion of a patient so

freely as to Sludin.