The Schoolmaster and other stories - Penn State University
The Schoolmaster and other stories - Penn State University
The Schoolmaster and other stories - Penn State University
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Schoolmaster</strong> & <strong>other</strong> <strong>stories</strong><strong>The</strong> doctor’s chaise stopped by a well. <strong>The</strong> examiningmagistrate <strong>and</strong> the doctor drank some water, stretched,<strong>and</strong> waited for the coachman to finish watering thehorses.“Well, what did the lady die of?” asked the doctorwhen the chaise was rolling along the road again.“She died in a strange way. One fine day her husb<strong>and</strong>went in to her <strong>and</strong> said that it wouldn’t be amiss to selltheir old coach before the spring <strong>and</strong> to buy somethingrather newer <strong>and</strong> lighter instead, <strong>and</strong> that it might beas well to change the left trace horse <strong>and</strong> to putBobtchinsky (that was the name of one of her husb<strong>and</strong>’shorses) in the shafts.“His wife listened to him <strong>and</strong> said:“‘Do as you think best, but it makes no difference tome now. Before the summer I shall be in the cemetery.’“Her husb<strong>and</strong>, of course, shrugged his shoulders <strong>and</strong>smiled.“‘I am not joking,’ she said. ‘I tell you in earnest thatI shall soon be dead.’“‘What do you mean by soon?’“‘Directly after my confinement. I shall bear my child<strong>and</strong> die.’“<strong>The</strong> husb<strong>and</strong> attached no significance to these words.He did not believe in presentiments of any sort, <strong>and</strong> heknew that ladies in an interesting condition are apt tobe fanciful <strong>and</strong> to give way to gloomy ideas generally. Aday later his wife spoke to him again of dying immediatelyafter her confinement, <strong>and</strong> then every day shespoke of it <strong>and</strong> he laughed <strong>and</strong> called her a silly woman,a fortune-teller, a crazy creature. Her approaching deathbecame an idée fixé with his wife. When her husb<strong>and</strong>would not listen to her she would go into the kitchen<strong>and</strong> talk of her death to the nurse <strong>and</strong> the cook.“‘I haven’t long to live now, nurse,’ she would say. ‘Assoon as my confinement is over I shall die. I did notwant to die so early, but it seems it’s my fate.’“<strong>The</strong> nurse <strong>and</strong> the cook were in tears, of course. Sometimesthe priest’s wife or some lady from a neighbouringestate would come <strong>and</strong> see her <strong>and</strong> she would take themaside <strong>and</strong> open her soul to them, always harping on thesame subject, her approaching death. She spoke gravely28