"Checkov, Anton - The Wife And Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chekhov Anton)

and said:

"Excuse us for troubling you, Natalie. We are discussing a very
important matter, and we had the happy thought that we might take
advantage of your good advice, which you will not refuse to give
us. Please sit down."

Ivan Ivanitch kissed her hand while she kissed his forehead;
then, when we all sat down to the table, he, looking at her
tearfully and blissfully, craned forward to her and kissed her
hand again. She was dressed in black, her hair was carefully
arranged, and she smelt of fresh scent. She had evidently dressed
to go out or was expecting somebody. Coming into the dining-room,
she held out her hand to me with simple friendliness, and smiled
to me as graciously as she did to Ivan Ivanitch -- that pleased
me; but as she talked she moved her fingers, often and abruptly
leaned back in her chair and talked rapidly, and this jerkiness
in her words and movements irritated me and reminded me of her
native town -- Odessa, where the society, men and women alike,
had wearied me by its bad taste.

"I want to do something for the famine-stricken peasants," I
began, and after a brief pause I went on: " Money, of course, is
a great thing, but to confine oneself to subscribing money, and
with that to be satisfied, would be evading the worst of the
trouble. Help must take the form of money, but the most important
thing is a proper and sound organization. Let us think it over,
my friends, and do something."

Natalya Gavrilovna looked at me inquiringly and shrugged her
shoulders as though to say, "What do I know about it?"

"Yes, yes, famine . . ." muttered Ivan Ivanitch. "Certainly . . .
yes."

"It's a serious position," I said, "and assistance is needed as
soon as possible. I imagine the first point among the principles
which we must work out ought to be promptitude. We must act on
the military principles of judgment, promptitude, and energy."

"Yes, promptitude . . ." repeated Ivan Ivanitch in a drowsy and
listless voice, as though he were dropping asleep. "Only one
can't do anything. The crops have failed, and so what's the use
of all your judgment and energy? . . . It's the elements. . . .
You can't go against God and fate."

"Yes, but that's what man has a head for, to conten d against the
elements."

"Eh? Yes . . . that's so, to be sure. . . . Yes."