Page:Leskov - The Sentry and other Stories.djvu/253

 Rh or to play at cards, or to do many other things which our contemporary, outwardly seeming Christians, could not do without. He was in some ways an innovator, and seeing this antiquated world, was ashamed of it, and hoped for a new one full of spirit and truth.

When I suggested this to him he at once agreed with me.

"Yes," he said, "these people are of the flesh; why show the flesh?—it must be hidden so that the name of Christ should not be brought to contempt by the hypocrites."

"How is it that people say the natives still come to you?"

"They trust me, and they come."

"So it appears, but why?"

"When they have a dispute or a quarrel they come to me. 'Settle this matter,' they say, 'according to your little Christ.

"And you settle it?

"Yes, I know their customs; I apply the wisdom of Christ, and settle the matter."

"They accept it?"

"Yes, they accept it—they like His justice. At other times the sick come, and the possessed—they ask me to pray for them."

"How do you cure the possessed? Do you heal them by saying prayers?"