Doctor Vladimir Paulitch arrived at the castle just in time to take care of Gilbert.The wound was wide and deep, and in consequence of the great heat which prevailed, it might easily have proved serious; fortunately, Doctor Vladimir was a skillful man, and under his care the wound was soon healed.He employed certain specifics, the uses of which were known only to himself, and which he took care to keep a secret from his patient.His medicine was as mysterious as his person.
Vladimir Paulitch was forty years of age; his face was striking but unattractive.His eyes had the color and the hard brightness of steel; his keen glances, subject to his will, often questioned, but never allowed themselves to be interrogated.Well made, slender, a slight and graceful figure, he had in his gait and movements a feline suppleness and stealthiness.He was slow, but easy of speech, and never animated; the tone of his voice was cold and veiled, and whatever the subject of conversation might be, he neither raised nor lowered it; no modulations; everyone of his sentences terminated in a little minor cadence, which fell sadly on the ear.He sometimes smiled in speaking, it is true, but it was a pale smile which did not light up his face.This smile signified simply: "I do not give you my best reason, and I defy you to divine it."One morning when Ivan had come by order of the doctor to dress Gilbert's wound, our friend questioned him as to the character and life of Vladimir Paulitch.Of the man Ivan knew nothing, and confined himself to extolling the genius of the physician; he expressed himself in regard to him in a mysterious tone.The imposing face of this impenetrable personage, the extraordinary power of his glance, his impassible gravity, the miraculous cures which he had wrought, it needed no more to convince the honest serf that Vladimir Paulitch dealt in magic and held communications with spirits; and he felt for his person a profound veneration mingled with superstitious terror.He told Gilbert that since the age of twenty-five, Vladimir had been directing a hospital and private asylum which Count Kostia had founded upon his estates, and that, thanks to him, these two establishments had not their equals in all Russia.
"Last year," added the serf, "he came to attend the barine, and told him that his malady would return this year, but more feebly, and that this would be the last.You will see that all will come to pass as he has said.Kostia Petrovitch is already much better, and I wager that next summer will come and go without his feeling his nerves."As Ivan prepared to go, Gilbert detained him to ask news of Stephane.The serf had been very discreet, and had related the adventure upon the terrace to his master without compromising anyone.The only trouble he had had was in persuading him that it was not on a sign from Stephane that the dog had attacked Gilbert.
The next day Gilbert dined in the great hall of the castle with M.
Leminof and Father Alexis.
"Do not disturb yourself because Stephane does not dine with us,"said the Count to him."He is not sick; but he has a new grievance against you; you have caused the death of his dog.I ask your pardon, my dear Gilbert, for the irrational conduct of my son.Ihave given him three days for the sulks.When that time has passed, I intend that he shall put on his good looks for you, and that he shall take his place at the table opposite you without frowning.""And how is it that Doctor Vladimir is not with us?""He has begged me to excuse him for a time.He finds himself much fatigued with the care he has given me.A magnetic treatment, you understand.I should inform you that every year, some time during the summer, I am subject to attacks of neuralgia from which Isuffer intensely.By the way, you have seen our admirable doctor several times.What do you think of him?""I don't know whether he is a great savant, but I am inclined to think he is a first-class artist.""You cannot pay him a finer compliment; medicine is an art rather than a science.He is also a man capable of the greatest devotion.
I am indebted to him for my life, it was not as physician that he saved me either.A pair of stallions ran away within twenty paces of a precipice; the doctor, appearing from behind a thicket, darted to the heads of the horses and hung on to them by their nostrils, which he held in an iron grip.You have the whole scene from these windows.What was amusing in it was, that having thanked him, with what warmth you can imagine, he answered, in a tranquil tone, and wiping his knees--for the horses in falling had laid him full length in the dust--'It is I who am obliged to you; for the first time I have been suspended between life and death, and it is a singular sensation.But for you I should not have known it.' This will give you an idea of the man and his sangfroid!""I am not surprised at his having the agility of a wildcat,"replied Gilbert; "but I suspect the sangfroid is feigned, and that his placidity of face is a mask which hides a very passionate soul.""Passionate is not the word, or at least the doctor knows only the passions of the head.There was a time when he thought himself desperately in love; an unpardonable weakness in such a distinguished man; but he was not long in undeceiving himself, and he has not fallen into such a fatal error since."The night having come, Gilbert, who had inquiries to make, crossed the yard of which the chapel formed one side, and gaining the rear by a private door, went in search of Father Alexis.It was not long before he discovered him, for the priest had left his shutters open, and he was seated in the embrasure of the window, peaceably smoking his pipe, when he perceived Gilbert.
"Oh, the good boy!" cried he, "let him come in quickly! My room and my heart are open to him."Gilbert showed him his arm in a sling, on account of which he could not climb the window.
