Pagina 606 di 2288

They turned to go back, when suddenly they heard, not noisy talk,

but shouting. Levin, stopping short, was shouting at the doctor,

and the doctor, too, was excited. A crowd gathered about them.

The princess and Kitty beat a hasty retreat, while the colonel

joined the crowd to find out what was the matter.

A few minutes later the colonel overtook them.

"What was it?" inquired the princess.

"Scandalous and disgraceful!" answered the colonel. "The one

thing to be dreaded is meeting Russians abroad. That tall

gentleman was abusing the doctor, flinging all sorts of insults

at him because he wasn't treating him quite as he liked, and he

began waving his stick at him. It's simply a scandal!"

"Oh, how unpleasant!" said the princess. "Well, and how did it

end?"

"Luckily at that point that ... the one in the mushroom hat ...

intervened. A Russian lady, I think she is," said the colonel.

"Mademoiselle Varenka?" asked Kitty.