Towards the end of winter, the health of Kitty causes deep concern for the Cherbatzky family as her condition deteriorates with the approaching spring. After various remedies prescribed by the family doctor prove ineffective, the family decides to consult a celebrated young medical specialist. This fashionable doctor insists on a thorough and intrusive examination, dismissing traditional modesty as an outdated remnant of barbarism. Though deeply confused and humiliated by the process, Kitty submits to the examination while the old prince watches with skeptical irritation, convinced that the medical profession cannot cure his daughter's true underlying ailment.
Following the examination, the celebrity doctor confers with the family physician. They discuss the vague possibility of a tubercular development alongside her clear symptoms of poor nutrition and intense nervousness. The famous doctor dismisses the idea of a foreign journey at first, prioritizing a strict regimen of diet and tonics, but eventually concedes that a trip might be acceptable if the family avoids foreign charlatans and strictly follows his harmless prescriptions. The family doctor listens respectfully throughout the discussion, noting that a moral cause lies hidden beneath the surface of Kitty illness.
When the consultation concludes, the doctor asks to see the patient once more. Kitty stands in her room, emaciated and feverish, feeling that all these medical treatments are completely futile. To her, trying to heal her condition with pills and powders is like attempting to piece together the fragments of a broken vase. When the doctor begins repeating his tedious questions, Kitty loses her patience and abruptly cuts him short before leaving the room, prompting the doctor to diagnose her behavior as mere morbid irritability.
After the doctor finally departs, a sense of relief washes over the household. The mother returns to her daughter feeling much more optimistic, and Kitty adopts a calm and cheerful demeanor to comfort her. Seeking to reassure her mother and prove her willingness to cooperate, Kitty cheerfully brings up the subject of packing and preparations for their upcoming journey.