On recovering consciousness I for some time could neither understand nor remember what had happened to me. I was lying in bed in a strange room, and felt very weak. Before me stood Savelitch with a candle in his hand. Someone was carefully unwinding the bandages which were wrapped round my chest and shoulder. Little by little my thoughts became more collected. I remembered my duel and conjectured that I was wounded. At that moment the door creaked.
“Well, how is he?” whispered a voice which sent a thrill through me.
“Still in the same condition,” replied Savelitch with a sigh; “still unconscious, and this makes the fifth day that he has been like it.”
I wanted to turn round, but I was unable to do so.
“Where am I? Who is here?” said I with an effort. Maria Ivanovna approached my bed and leaned over me. “Well, how do you feel?” said she.
“God be thanked!” replied I in a weak voice. “Is it you, Maria Ivanovna? Tell me——”
I had not the strength to continue and I became silent. Savelitch uttered a shout and his face beamed with delight.
“He has come to himself again! He has come to himself again!” he kept on repeating. “Thanks be to Thee, O Lord! Come, little father, Peter Andreitch! What a fright you have given me! It is no light matter; this is the fifth day——”
Maria Ivanovna interrupted him.
“Do not speak to him too much, Savelitch,” said she, “he is still very weak.”