of a maid-servant was visible over their shoulders.
The girl ran to meet them.
'He is saved, mother, he is alive!' she cried, impulsively embracing the lady who had just entered.
'But what is it?' she repeated. 'I come back . . . and all of a sudden I meet the doctor and Luise . . .'
The girl proceeded to explain what had happened, while the doctor went up to the invalid who was coming more and more to himself, and was still smiling: he seemed to be beginning to feel shy at the commotion he had caused.
'You've been using friction with brushes, I see,' said the doctor to Sanin and Pantaleone, 'and you did very well. . . . A very good idea . . . and now let us see what further measures . . .'
He felt the youth's pulse. 'H'm! show me your tongue!'
The lady bent anxiously over him. He smiled still more ingenuously, raised his eyes to her, and blushed a little.
It struck Sanin that he was no longer wanted; 'he went into the shop. But before he had time to touch the handle of the street-door, the girl was once more before him; she stopped him.
13
