"What for?" asked the doctor, standing still.
"Why, for the work that I have got here! I will do all I can to please you, for I like being here in all this bustle ... and you said just now you needed me ... so I thank you specially for that, with all my heart...."
The doctor watched with surprise the joyful, excited face of the new attendant, and smiled in a friendly way.
"You're a queer sort of fellow! But it's all right ... you take it the right way.... There is something straightforward in what you say. Come then ... do your work well But not for my sake; do it for the sick people.... It's like a field of battle here; we have to save the sick from the jaws of disease; do you understand? Well then, help us with all your strength to conquer. Now then, be off and get some sleep!"
Orloff was soon lying in his bunk, feeling a pleasant sensation of pride at being on such a confidential footing with a person like the doctor. He was' only sorry that Matrona had not overheard the conversation. But he would tell her about it to-morrow. She would scarcely believe it, the fat little lump that she was.... Busy with such pleasant thoughts Grigori fell asleep.
[CHAPTER VI]
"Come and drink your tea, Grischka." With these words Matrona awoke her husband the next morning.
He lifted his head and looked at her. She was smiling pleasantly at him; her hair was brushed, and looked glossy and neat, whilst her white dress gave her a smart, clean appearance.
It pleased him to see her thus, but immediately afterwards the thought glanced through his brain that the other men in the Infirmary might also find pleasure in looking at her.