Summary

Chapter 3 shifts focus to a man referred to only as ‘the doctor.’ The doctor is a physician. He lives alone in a relatively large house in the estate. He spends most of his time alone in his house, reading, writing, and drinking. He tends to the illnesses of the villagers, but they have less and less money with which to pay him, and so his own savings are dwindling. Recently, the estate was technically disincorporated by the government, but the doctor refuses to leave the village. He clings to the belief that the government will reincorporate the estate eventually. He employs Mrs. Kráner as a housekeeper, although he generally disallows her form actually cleaning, as he claims the messes in his house to be part of his own special organizational system. The doctor also spends much of his time observing the village through...