“Please, call me a coachman,” a young man politely said—the very same “newly arrived doctor,” just as he had barely found himself in the out-of-the-way county town of Propadinsk.
“A coachman?” an elderly cook asked with confusion, overseeing not only the staff but also the servants. “Unless it’s for Fomka to run: he usually stands by the cathedral, and that’s about it—there’s nobody else here.”
“It doesn’t matter: Fomka, then Fomka, or any other… I don’t have time. I need to hurry with my calls…”