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At the end of the winter, in the Shtcherbatskys' house, a

consultation was being held, which was to pronounce on the state

of Kitty's health and the measures to be taken to restore her

failing strength. She had been ill, and as spring came on she

grew worse. The family doctor gave her cod liver oil, then iron,

then nitrate of silver, but as the first and the second and the

third were alike in doing no good, and as his advice when spring

came was to go abroad, a celebrated physician was called in. The

celebrated physician, a very handsome man, still youngish, asked

to examine the patient. He maintained, with peculiar

satisfaction, it seemed, that maiden modesty is a mere relic of

barbarism, and that nothing could be more natural than for a man

still youngish to handle a young girl naked.