just drunk
paraffin, Dashenka!"

"What next! You don't say they gave you paraffin there?"

"I must own I wanted to get a drink of vodka without asking you,
and . . . and the Lord chastised me: by accident in the dark I took
paraffin. . . . What am I to do?"

Dashenka, hearing that the cupboard had been opened without her
permission, grew more wide-awake. . . . She quickly lighted a candle,
jumped out of bed, and in her nightgown, a freckled, bony figure
in curl-papers, padded with bare feet to the cupboard.

"Who told you you might?" she asked sternly, as she scrutinized the
inside of the cupboard. "Was the vodka put there for you?"

"I . . . I haven't drunk vodka but paraffin, Dashenka . . ." muttered
Strizhin, mopping the cold sweat on his brow.

"And what did you want to touch the paraffin for? That's nothing
to do with you, is it? Is it put there for you? Or do you suppose
paraffin costs nothing? Eh? Do you know what paraffin is now? Do
you know?"

"Dear Dashenka," moaned Strizhin, "it's a question of life and
death, and you talk about money!"

"He's drunk himself tipsy and now he pokes his nose into the
cupboard!" cried Dashenka, angrily slamming the cupboard door. "Oh,
the monsters, the tormentors! I'm a martyr, a miserable woman, no
peace day or night! Vipers, basilisks, accursed Herods, may you
suffer the same in the world to come! I am going to-morrow! I am a
maiden lady and I won't allow you to stand before me in your
underclothes! How dare you look at me when I am not dressed!"

And she went on and on. . . . Knowing that when Dashenka was enraged
there was no moving her with prayers or vows or even by firing a
cannon, Strizhin waved his hand in despair, dressed, and made up
his mind to go to the doctor. But a doctor is only readily found
when he is not wanted. After running through three streets and
ringing five times at Dr. Tchepharyants's, and seven times at Dr.
Bultyhin's, Strizhin raced off to a chemist's shop, thinking possibly
the chemist could help him. There, after a long interval, a little
dark and curly-headed chemist came out to him in his dressing gown,
with drowsy eyes, and such a wise and serious face that it was
positively terrifying.

"What do you want?" he asked in a tone in which only very wise and
dignified chemists of Jewish persuasion can speak.

"For God's sake . . . I entreat you . . ." said Strizhin breathlessly,
"give me something. I have just accidentally drunk paraff