"Bring a light!" he says.
"Bu, bu, bu," answers Yéfim.
Pelageya runs to the stove and searches for a jar of matches. A minute passes in silence. The doctor dives into his pockets and lights a match himself. "Immediately, batiushka, immediately!" cries Pelageya, running out of the cabin. In a minute she returns with a candle end.
Yéfim's cheeks are flushed, his eyes sparkle, and his look is piercing, as if he could see through the doctor and the cabin wall.
"Well, what's the matter with you?" asks the doctor, bending over him. "Ah! You have been like this long?"
"What's the matter? The time has come, your honour, to die.... I shall not live any longer...."
"Nonsense.... We'll soon cure you!"
"As you will, your honour. Thank you humbly ... only we understand.... If we must die, we must die...."
Half an hour the doctor spends with Yéfim; then he rises and says:
"I can do nothing.... You must go to the hospital; there they will operate on you. You must go at once ... without fail! It is late, and they will all be asleep at the hospital ... but never mind, I will give you a note.... Do you hear?"