midday
The pain and the constant screaming and moaning stupefied her . She heard , saw , and sometimes spoke , but hardly understood anything , and was only conscious that she was in pain or was just going to be in pain . It seemed to her that the nameday party had been long , long ago -- not yesterday , but a year ago perhaps ; and that her new life of agony had lasted longer than her childhood , her school-days , her time at the University , and her marriage , and would go on for a long , long time , endlessly . She saw them bring tea to the midwife , and summon her at midday to lunch and afterwards to dinner ; she saw Pyotr Dmitritch grow used to coming in , standing for long intervals by the window , and going out again ; saw strange men , the maid , Varvara , come in as though they were at home ... . Varvara said nothing but , `` He will , he will , '' and was angry when any one closed the drawers and the chest . Olga Mihalovna saw the light change in the room and in the windows : at one time it was twilight , then thick like fog , then bright daylight as it had been at dinner-time the day before , then again twilight ... and each of these changes lasted as long as her childhood , her school-days , her life at the University ... . In the evening two doctors -- one bony , bald , with a big red beard ; the other with a swarthy Jewish face and cheap spectacles -- performed some sort of operation on Olga Mihalovna .