Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/246

 (smiling). I can't understand what you are up to! Yes, I will tell him, I will. (Exit.)

. Really, I will do it. He said himself that there is a power in Semén, and I know how to do it all. Nobody caught on then. Now I will teach Semén how to do it. And if it does not succeed, there will be no sin in doing it. There is no sin in doing it.

(smiling). So you have a request to make! What kind of an affair have you?

. A little secret, Leoníd Fédorovich. Permit me to tell it to you in private.

. Indeed! Fédor, go out for a minute!

. As I have been living in your house, Leoníd Fédorovich, and have grown up here, and as I am grateful to you for so much, I will tell you everything, as if you were my own father. Semén, who is living in your house, wants to marry me.

. Indeed?

. I will tell you everything, as before God. I am an orphan, and I have no one to consult—

. Why not? He seems to be a nice fellow.

. Yes, he is. That would be all right, but I have fears about one thing. I should like to ask you about this matter: there is something about him which I