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 people were standing: he was at a loss to know who they were. And a voice whispered in his ear,—

“Martuin—ah, Martuin! did you not recognize me?”

“Who?” uttered Avdyéitch.

“Me,” repeated the voice. “It’s I;” and Stepánuitch stepped forth from the dark corner; he smiled, and like a little cloud faded away, and soon vanished.

“And this is I,” said the voice. From the dark corner stepped forth the woman with her child: the woman smiled, the child laughed, and they also vanished.

“And this is I,” continued the voice; both the old woman and the boy with the apple stepped forward; both smiled and vanished.

Avdyéitch’s soul rejoiced: he crossed himself, put on his eye-glasses, and began to read the Evangelists where it happened to open. On the upper part of the page he read,—

“For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”

And on the lower part of the page he read this:—

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (St. Matthew, chap. xxv.).

And Avdyéitch understood that his dream did not deceive him; that the Saviour really called upon him that day, and that he really received him.