"Yes, we can hardly get on without that," answered Andréi Yéfimitch after a moment's thought. "But if the corner wing is to be fitted up as a dispensary you will have to spend at least five hundred roubles on it. It is unproductive expenditure."
For a few minutes all were silent.
"I had the honour to announce to you, ten years ago," continued Andréi Yéfimitch in a soft voice, "that this hospital, under present conditions, is a luxury altogether beyond the means of the town. It was built in the forties, when the means for its support: were greater. The town wastes too much money on unnecessary buildings and sinecure offices. I think that with the money we spend we could keep up two model hospitals; that is, of course, with a different order of things."
"Well, then, let us reform the present order," said the Town Councillor.
"I have already had the honour to advise you to transfer the medical department to the Zemstvo."
"Yes, and hand over to the Zemstvo funds which it will pocket," laughed the fair-haired doctor.
"That is just what happens," said the Town Councillor, laughing also.
Andréi Yéfimitch looked feebly at the fair-haired doctor, and said:
"We must be just in our judgments."
Again all were silent. Tea was brought in. The chief of the recruiting department, apparently in a state of confusion, touched Andréi Yéfimitch's hand across the table, and said: