Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume X).djvu/115



I

a long time I could not get to sleep, and kept turning from side to side. 'Confound this foolishness about table-turning!' I thought. 'It simply upsets one's nerves.'. .. Drowsiness began to overtake me at last. . ..

Suddenly it seemed to me as though there were the faint and plaintive sound of a harp-string in the room.

I raised my head. The moon was low in the sky, and looked me straight in the face. White as chalk lay its light upon the floor. . .. The strange sound was distinctly repeated.

I leaned on my elbow. A faint feeling of awe plucked at my heart. A minute passed, another. . .. Somewhere, far away, a cock crowed; another answered still more remote.

I let my head sink back on the pillow. 'See what one can work oneself up to,' I thought again,. .. 'there's a singing in my ears.'

After a little while I fell asleep—or I thought