Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/247

 cannot understand, and I am afraid it might be something bad.

. What is it? He drinks?

. No, God forfend! But as I know that there is such a thing as spirituality—

. You do?

. Of course I do! I understand it very well. Others, being ignorant, do not understand it—

. Well, what of it?

. I have my fears about Semén. Such things happen with him.

. What things?

. Something like spirituality. You ask the servants! The moment he falls asleep at the table the table begins to shake; it begins to creak like this: tick, ti-tick! All the people have heard it.

. That's precisely what I told Sergyéy Ivánovich this morning. Well?

. So—when was it? Oh, yes, on Wednesday. We sat down to dinner. No sooner did he sit down than the spoon came right into his hand,—it just jumped into his hand.

. Ah, this is interesting! It just jumped into his hand? Well, did he fall asleep?

. I did not notice. I think he did.

. Well?

. Well, I am afraid there might be some harm from it, and so I wanted to ask you about it. I did not know whether I could risk it to live with him, because he has such a thing.

(smiling). No, don't be afraid: there is no harm from it. This only means that he is a medium, simply a medium. I knew before that he was a medium.

. That's all. I was so afraid!

. No, don't be afraid, it won't hurt.