The Complete Works of Count Tolstoy/Volume 18/The Fruits of Enlightenment/Act 3
ACT III.
Action takes place, the same evening, in a small drawing-room, where all the tests of Leonid Fédorovich are made.
Scene I. Leoníd Fédorovich and Professor.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Well, shall we risk a séance with our new medium?
Professor. By all means. The medium is unquestionably a powerful one. Besides, it is desirable that the mediumistic séance should be this evening and with the same composition of the audience. Grossmann will, no doubt, have an effect on the mediumistic energy, and then the connection and oneness of the phenomena will be much more manifest. You will see that if the medium will be as strong as before, Grossmann will vibrate.
Leoníd Fédorovich. In that case, you know, I will send for Semén, and will invite volunteers.
Professor. Yes, yes. In the meantime I want to make a few notes. (Takes out a note-book and writes.)
Scene II. The same and Sakhátov.
Sakhátov. They have just sat down to cards in Anna Pávlovna's apartments. Being an odd number, and, besides, having an interest in the séance, I have made my appearance here. Well, will there be a séance?
Leoníd Fédorovich. There will be, by all means.
Sakhátov. What, without Mr. Kápchich's mediumistic power?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Vous avez la main heureuse. Just imagine, the peasant of whom I told you turns out to be a real medium.
Sakhátov. I declare! Oh, but that is particularly interesting!
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes, yes. After dinner we made a little preliminary test with him.
Sakhátov. You have had time to have it and to convince yourself?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Completely so. He has proved to be a medium of wonderful power.
Sakhátov (incredulously). I declare!
Leoníd Fédorovich. It now turns out that this had been known quite awhile in the servants' room. When he sits down to a cup, the spoon jumps into his hand. (To the Professor.) Have you heard this?
Professor. No, I have not heard this particular thing.
Sakhátov (to the Professor). Still, you admit the possibility of such phenomena?
Professor. Of what phenomena?
Sakhátov. Well, in general, the spiritualistic, the mediumistic, in general, the supernatural phenomena.
Professor. The question is what do we call supernatural? When not a living man, but a piece of stone, attracted a nail, how did such a phenomenon seem to the spectators, natural or supernatural?
Sakhátov. Yes, of course. Only, such phenomena, as the attraction of the magnet, are continually repeated.
Professor. The same thing happens here. The phenomenon is repeated, and we subject it to investigation. More than that, we subject the phenomena under investigation to the laws which are common to other phenomena. Phenomena seem to be supernatural only because the causes of the phenomena are ascribed to the medium himself. But this is incorrect. The phenomena are produced, not by the medium, but by a spiritual energy working in the medium, and that is a great difference. The whole matter lies in the law of equivalency.
Sakhátov. Yes, of course, but—
Scene III. The same and Tánya (who enters and stands behind the portière).
Leoníd Fédorovich. You must remember this much: as with Hume and Kápchich, so even now you can't count on anything for certain with this medium. There may be a failure, and there may be a complete materialization.
Sakhátov. Even materialization? What kind of a materialization can it be?
Leoníd Fédorovich. For example, a dead person may come: your father or grandfather will take your hand and will give you something; or somebody will rise in the air, as was last time the case with Aleksyéy Vladímirovich.
Professor. Of course, of course. But the main thing is to explain all these phenomena and to bring them under common laws.
Scene IV. The same and Stout Lady.
Stout Lady. Anna Pávlovna permitted me to come to see you.
Leoníd Fédorovich. You are welcome!
Stout Lady. How tired out this Grossmann is! He could not hold a cup. Did you notice how pale he grew (to the Professor) as he came near it? I noticed it at once, and I was the first to mention it to Anna Pávlovna.
Professor. No doubt. There was a loss of vital energy.
Stout Lady. That's what I say,—we ought not to misuse it. A hypnotizer had suggested to a friend of mine, Vyérochka Konshín,—you know her,—to stop smoking, and her spine began to ache.
Professor (wants to begin speaking). The measurement of the temperature and of the pulse show obviously—
Stout Lady. Just a minute, excuse me. So I told her it would be better to smoke than to suffer from the nerves. Of course, smoking is harmful, and I should like to give it up, but do what you please, I can't. I once stopped for two weeks, but I could not stand it any longer.
Professor (again makes an attempt to speak). Show conclusively—
Stout Lady. No, just let me finish. I have only two words more to say. You say it is a loss of strength? I wanted to tell you that when I travelled post— The roads were dreadful then,—you can't remember that, but I have noticed that all our nervousness comes from the railroads. For example, I can't sleep on the road,—kill me, but I can't fall asleep.
Professor (begins again, but the Stout Lady gives him no chance to speak). The loss of strength—
Sakhátov (smiling). Yes, yes.
(Leonid Fédorovich rings the bell.)
Stout Lady. Though I have been without sleep, one, two, three nights, I cannot fall asleep.
Scene V. The same and Grigóri.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Please, tell Fédor to prepare everything for the séance and call Semén here,—Semén, the peasant of the pantry,—do you hear?
Grigóri. Yes, sir! (Exit.)
Scene VI. Leoníd Fédorovich, Professor, Stout Lady, and Tánya (concealed).
Professor (to Sakhátov). The measurement of the temperature and pulse show a loss of vital energy. The same will happen at mediumistic phenomena. The law of the preservation of energy—
Stout Lady. Yes, yes. I wanted to say that I am very glad to see that a common peasant has turned out to be a medium. That is nice. I always said that the Slavophiles—
Leoníd Fédorovich. Let us meanwhile go to the drawing-room!
Stout Lady. Permit me to say just two words. The Slavophiles are right, but I always tell my husband that there is no reason for exaggerating. The golden means, you know— How can one affirm that everything is good with the masses, when I myself saw—
Leoníd Fédorovich. Won't you, please, go to the drawing-room?
Stout Lady. A boy not bigger than this, and he drinks. I scolded him. He was grateful to me for it later on. They are children, and children, so I always said, need love and severity— (All exeunt, talking.)
Scene VII. Tánya (alone, coming out from behind the door).
Tánya. Oh, if I only may succeed! (Ties twine.)
Scene VIII. Tánya and Betsy (walks in hurriedly).
Betsy. Is papa not here? (Looking at Tánya.) What are you doing here?
Tánya. Oh, Lizavéta Leonídovna, I just came in—I wanted I just came in— (Confused.)
Betsy. Isn't there going to be a séance here at once? (Noticing that Tánya is gathering up the twine, looks fixedly at her, and bursts out laughing.) Tánya! You have been doing it all! Don't deny it! And you did it last time! Yes, you did, you did!
Tánya. Dear Lizavéta Leonídovna!
Betsy (in ecstasy). Ah, how good that is! I did not expect that! Why did you do it all?
Tánya. My dear Lizavéta Leonídovna, don't give me away!
Betsy. No, not for anything in the world. I am so glad! How do you do it?
Tánya. Like this: I will hide myself, and then, when they put out the lights, I will crawl out and do it.
Betsy (pointing to the twine). What is this for? Yes, I understand, you don't have to tell me you catch them—
Tánya. Dear Lizavéta Leonídovna, I will tell you everything. Before this I only joked, but now I want to get something done.
Betsy. How? What? Something done?
Tánya. You have seen the peasants that have come to buy some land. Now, your papa will not sell it to them, and he has returned the document to them without signing it. Fédor Iványch says he did so because the spirits have told him to. So I am trying it this way.
Betsy. Ah, what a clever girl you are! Do it, do it! How are you going to do it?
Tánya. Like this: the moment they put out the lights, I will begin to rap, to throw the twine on their heads, and finally to hurl the paper on the floor, and on the table,—I have it with me.
Betsy. Well, and—?
Tánya. Well, they will be astonished. The paper was in the hands of the peasants, and suddenly it is here. I will order—
Betsy. Oh, yes, Semén is the medium to-day!
Tánya. I will order him (Can't speak for laughter.) —will order him to choke anybody that gets into his hands, that he will not dare to do,—only not your papa,—and to choke them until the paper is signed.
Betsy (laughing). But that is not the way it is done. A medium does not do anything himself.
Tánya. Oh, that won't hurt,—maybe it will be all right.
Scene IX. Tánya and Fédor Iványch. (Betsy makes a sign to Tánya and exit.)
Fédor Iványch (to Tánya). What are you doing here?
Tánya. My dear Fédor Iványch, I have come to see you—
Fédor Iványch. What is it?
Tánya. About what I have been asking you.
Fédor Iványch (laughing). I have made the match, I have. We have shaken hands, but we have not drunk anything.
Tánya (squeaking). Is it really so?
Fédor Iványch. I tell you it is. He said he would take counsel with the old woman, and God aid you!
Tánya. He did say that? (Squeaking.) Ah, my dear Fédor Iványch, I will pray all my life for you!
Fédor Iványch. All right, all right! I am busy now. I was told to fix things for the séance.
Tánya. Let me help you! How do you want to fix it?
Fédor Iványch. How? Like this: the table in the middle of the room, chairs, the guitar, the accordion. No lamps,—just candles.
Tánya (arranges things with Fédor Iványch). Is this right? The guitar here, the inkstand here— (Placing things.) Like this?
Fédor Iványch. Will they really put Semén down?
Tánya. I suppose so. They have had him in the chair once.
Fédor Iványch. Wonderful! (Putting on his eye-glasses.) But is he clean?
Tánya. How do I know?
Fédor Iványch. So you had better—
Tánya. What, Fédor Iványch?
Fédor Iványch. Go, take a nail-brush and scented soap,—take mine, if you want to,—and cut his nails and wash them clean.
Tánya. He will wash them himself.
Fédor Iványch. Well, tell him to do so. And let him put on clean linen.
Tánya. All right, Fédor Iványch. (Exit.)
Scene X. Fédor Iványch (alone, sitting down in an armchair).
Fédor Iványch. He is learned, yes, Aleksyéy Vladímirovich is a professor, but I often have my doubts about him. Popular superstitions are coarse, and they are destroyed: the superstitions about house-spirits, wizards, witches— And when you come to think of it, this is just such a superstition. Really, is it possible for the spirits of the dead to speak and play the guitar? Somebody is fooling them, or maybe they are fooling themselves. I can't make it out about Semén. (Looking through the album.) Here is their spiritualistic album. How can one take a photograph of a spirit? Here is a picture of a Turk sitting with Leoníd Fédorovich— A wonderful human weakness!
Scene XI. Fédor Iványch and Leoníd Fédorovich.
Leoníd Fédorovich (entering). Well, is everything ready?
Fédor Iványch (rising without haste). Yes. (Smiling.) Only I am afraid your new medium may disgrace himself, Leoníd Fédorovich.
Leoníd Fédorovich. No, Aleksyéy Vladímirovich and I have tested him. He is a wonderfully strong medium!
Fédor Iványch. I do not know about that. But is he clean? You have not troubled yourself about ordering him to wash his hands. It might cause some inconvenience.
Leoníd Fédorovich. His hands? Oh, yes! You think they might be dirty?
Fédor Iványch. Yes, he being a peasant. And there will be ladies present, and Márya Vasílevna.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Let them be!
Fédor Iványch. I wanted to tell you something else: Timoféy, the coachman, came to complain about the dogs; he says it is impossible to keep clean on account of them.
Leoníd Fédorovich (placing things on the table, distractedly). What dogs?
Fédor Iványch. They brought three greyhounds from Vasíli Leonídych this morning, and they were put in the coachman's room.
Leoníd Fédorovich (annoyed). Tell Anna Pávlovna about it! Let her do as she pleases! I have no time.
Fédor Iványch. You know her weakness for Vasíli Leonídych—
Leoníd Fédorovich. Let her do as she pleases. From him nothing but annoyance— Well, I have no time.
Scene XII. The same and Semén (in sleeveless coat, enters smiling).
Semén. Did you call me?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes, yes. Let me see your hands! All right, all right! So, my dear, you do just as you did before! Sit down and abandon yourself to your feeling! Don't do any thinking.
Semén. Why should I think? It is only worse if you do.
Leoníd Fédorovich. That's it, that's it! The less you are conscious, the stronger it will be. Don't do any thinking, and abandon yourself to your mood: if you feel like sleeping, sleep; if you feel like walking, walk; you understand?
Semén. Why should I not understand? There is no cunning in this!
Leoníd Fédorovich. The main thing is not to get confused, for you might be surprised at yourself. You must understand that just as we live, so the invisible world of spirits lives with us.
Fédor Iványch (correcting him). Unseen feelings, you understand?
Semén (laughing). Why should I not? What you say is so simple.
Leoníd Fédorovich. If you feel like rising in the air, or something like it, don't lose courage.
Semén. Why should I lose courage? What do I care?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Well, then I will go and call them all. Is everything ready?
Fédor Iványch. I think, yes.
Leoníd Fédorovich. And the slates?
Fédor Iványch. They are down-stairs. I will bring them in at once. (Exit.)
Scene XIII. Leoníd Fédorovich and Semén.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Well, all right, then. So don't get confused, and be at your ease!
Semén. Shall I take off my coat? That will make me more at my ease.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Your coat? No, no, keep it on! (Exit.)
Scene XIV. Semén (alone).
Semén. She told me to do the same again, and she will hurl around things as then. I wonder how it is she is not afraid.
Scene XV. Semén and Tánya (comes in without shoes in a dress of the colour of the wall-paper. Semén roars).
Tánya. Hush! They will hear us! Rub some matches on your fingers as you did the last time. (Rubs them on.) Well, do you remember everything?
Semén (bending his fingers). First, to moisten the matches. Wave the hands,—that is one thing. Then to gnash my teeth,—that is the second. I have forgotten the third.
Tánya. The third thing is the most important. Listen: when the paper falls on the table, and I ring a bell, you stretch out your arms like this. Stretch them out as far as you can and catch a person. Catch anybody that is sitting nearest to you. And when you get hold of some one, press as hard as you can. (Laughs.) Whether it be a lady or a gentleman, press as hard as you can, and don't let the person get away! Do it, as though you were asleep, and gnash your teeth, or bellow, like this— (Bellows.) When I begin to play on the guitar, act as though you were waking up! Stretch yourself, and wake up! Do you remember everything?
Semén. I do, but it is too funny.
Tánya. Don't laugh! If you do, that will not be so bad. They will think you are doing it in your sleep. Only don't fall asleep for good, when they put out the lights.
Semén. Don't be afraid! I will be pinching my ears.
Tánya. Do everything right, Semén dear. Only do everything, and don't be afraid! He will sign the paper, you will see he will. They are coming. (Crawls under the sofa.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. If you please, all unbelievers! Notwithstanding the fact that to-night we have a new, casual medium, I expect some remarkable manifestations.
Sakhátov. Very, very interesting!
Stout Lady (pointing to Semén). Mais il est très bien!
Anna Pávlovna. As a peasant of the pantry, only—
Sakhátov. Wives never believe in the affairs of their husbands. You do not admit at all?
Anna Pávlovna. Of course not. In Kápchich, it is true, there is something especial, but not so much, either.
Stout Lady. Excuse me, Anna Pávlovna, you must not judge this way. Before I was married I once had a remarkable dream. You know, there are dreams of such a kind that you do not know when they begin and when they end. So I had such a dream—
Scene XVII. The same, Vasíli Leonídych and Petríshchev (enter).
Stout Lady. I had much revealed to me in that dream. Nowadays these young people (pointing to Petríshchev and to Vasíli Leonídych) deny everything.
Vasíli Leonídych. I never deny anything, let me tell you. Ah, what?
Scene XVIII. The same. Enter Betsy and Márya Konstantínovna. They begin to talk with Petríshchev.
Stout Lady. How can one deny the supernatural? They say that it does not agree with reason. But there may be a stupid reason, then what? Now, on Sadováya Street,—have you heard about it?—there was an apparition which came every night. The brother of my husband, what do you call him?—not beau frère, but in Russian,—oh, I never can remember those Russian family relations,—well, he went there three nights in succession, and could not see anything, so I said—
Leoníd Fédorovich. So, who will stay?
Stout Lady. I, I!
Sakhátov. I!
Anna Pávlovna (to Doctor). And you, too, will stay?
Doctor. I want to see at least once what it is Aleksyéy Vladímirovich finds here. I can't deny without having had any proofs.
Anna Pávlovna. And so you want me by all means to take them to-night?
Doctor. Take whom? Oh, the pills! Yes, take them, if you please! Yes, yes, take them—I will call again.
Anna Pávlovna. If you please. (Aloud.) When you get through, messieurs et mesdames, please come to my apartment to rest from your emotion, and to finish the game of cards.
Stout Lady. By all means.
Sakhátov. Yes, yes! (Anna Pávlovna exit.)
Scene XIX. The same, without Anna Pávlovna.
Betsy (to Petríshchev). I tell you, stay. I promise you unusual things. Will you wager?
Márya Konstantínovna. Do you believe in it?
Betsy. To-night I do.
Márya Konstantínovna (to Petríshchev). And do you believe?
Petríshchev. "I believe not, I believe not thy cunning vows." Well, if Elizaveta Leonídovna commands—
Vasíli Leonídych. Let us stay, Márya Konstantínovna! Ah, what? I will concoct something épûtant.
Márya Konstantínovna. No, don't make me laugh. I can't keep from laughing.
Vasíli Leonídych (aloud). I will stay!
Leoníd Fédorovich (sternly). All I ask is that those who stay will not turn this into a joke. This is a serious matter.
Petríshchev. You hear? Well, we will stay. Vovó, sit down here, and don't you lose your courage!
Betsy. You are laughing, but wait and see!
Vasíli Leonídych. Well, what is it indeed? It will be a fine thing! Ah, what?
Petríshchev (trembling). Oh, I am afraid, I am afraid. Márya Konstantínovna, I am afraid! My little legs are trembling.
Betsy (laughing). Hush up! (All sit down.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. Sit down, if you please! Semén, sit down!
Semén. Yes, sir. (Sits down on the edge of the chair.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. Sit down better!
Professor. Sit down regularly, on the middle of the chair, at your ease. (Seats Semén.)
(Betsy, Márya Konstantínovna, and Vasili Leonídych laugh.)
Leoníd Fédorovich (raising his voice). I ask those who remain not to jest, but to take the matter seriously. There might be evil consequences. Vovó, do you hear? If you can't sit quietly, go out!
Vasíli Leonídych. Quiet! (Hides himself behind the back of Stout Lady.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. Aleksyéy Vladímirovich, put him in a trance!
Professor. No, Antón Borísovich is here, and he has more practice in this matter than I, and power—Antón Borísovich!
Grossmann. Ladies and gentlemen, I am not really a spiritualist. I have only studied hypnosis. Hypnosis I have studied, it is true, in all its known manifestations, but that which is called spiritualism is entirely unknown to me. From the trance of a subject I may expect certain familiar phenomena of hypnosis: lethargy, aboulia, anæsthesia, analgesia, catalepsy, and all kinds of suggestion. But here not these, but other phenomena are to be subjected to investigation, and so it would be desirable to know what these expected phenomena are, and what scientific significance they have.
Sakhátov. I fully concur with Mr. Grossmann's opinion. Such an elucidation would be very interesting.
Leoníd Fédorovich (to the Professor). I think, Aleksyéy Vladimirovich, you will not refuse to make a short explanation.
Professor. I do not object. I can explain it, if you so wish. (To the Doctor.) You, please, measure the temperature and pulse. My exposition will, unavoidably, be superficial and brief.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes, brief, brief.
Doctor. Directly. (Takes out a thermometer and gives it to Semén.) Well, my good fellow! (Places it in his mouth.)
Semén. Yes, sir.
Professor (rising and turning to the Stout Lady, then sitting down). Ladies and gentlemen! The phenomenon which we are investigating generally represents itself, on the one hand, as something novel, and, on the other, as something transcending the natural order of things. Neither the one nor the other is correct. This phenomenon is not new, but as old as the world, and not supernatural, but is subject to the same eternal laws to which everything in existence is subject. This phenomenon has usually been defined as a communion with the spiritual world. This definition is not exact. According to this definition, the spiritual world is opposed to the material world, but this is not right: there is no such opposition. Both worlds are contiguous, so that it is impossible to draw a line of demarcation, which should separate the one world from the other. We say that matter is composed of molecules—
Petríshchev. Dull matter! (Whispering, laughter.)
Professor (stopping, and then continuing). Molecules of atoms, but atoms, having no extension, are in reality nothing but points of application of forces, that is, strictly speaking, not of forces, but of energy, of that same energy which is as one and indestructible as matter. But just as matter is one and its forms are different, even so it is with energy. Within recent time we have been acquainted with only four forms of energy, which change one into another. We know the dynamic, thermic, electrical, and chemical energies. But these four forms of energy are far from exhausting all the varieties of its manifestations. The forms of the manifestations of energy are manifold, and one of these new, little known forms of energy is now to be investigated by us. I am speaking of the energy of mediumism.
(Again whispers and laughter in the corner of the young people.)
Professor (stops and, looking sternly around him, continues). The mediumistic energy has been known to humanity since time immemorial: predictions, presentiments, visions, and many others,—all those are nothing else but manifestations of mediumistic energy. The phenomena produced by it have been known since time immemorial. But the energy itself has not been acknowledged as such until recently, when, at last, we came to acknowledge the medium, the vibration of which produces the mediumistic phenomena. And just as the phenomena of light remained inexplicable until the existence of an imponderable substance, that of ether, was accepted, even so mediumistic phenomena seemed mysterious as long as we did not accept the now undoubted truth that in the interstices of the ether there is another even more delicate and imponderable substance, which is not subject to the law of the three dimensions—
Professor (again looking sternly around him). And just as mathematical calculations have irrefragably confirmed the existence of imponderable ether which produces the phenomena of light and electricity, even so a brilliant series of most exact investigations of Hermann, Schmidt, and Joseph Schmatzofen have undeniably confirmed the existence of that substance which fills the universe and which may be denominated as spiritual ether.
Stout Lady. Now I understand. How thankful I am—
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes. But, Aleksyéy Vladímirovich, can't you—abbreviate—a little?
Professor (without replying to him). And thus, a series of strictly scientific experiments and investigations, as I have had the honour of informing you, has made clear to us the laws of mediumistic phenomena. These experiments have made it clear to us that the putting of certain individuals into a hypnotic state, which differs from common sleep only in that by falling into this sleep the physiological activity is not only not lowered, but always raised, as we have just seen,—it has become manifest that the putting into this condition of any subject whatsoever invariably causes certain perturbations in the spiritual ether,—perturbations which completely resemble those perturbations which are produced by the immersion of a solid body in a liquid. These perturbations are what we call mediumistic phenomena— (Laughter, whispering.)
Sakhátov. This is quite just and intelligible; but permit me to ask you: If, as you have said, putting a medium to sleep produces perturbations of the spiritual ether, why, then, do these perturbations find their expressions, as is generally understood in spiritualistic séances, in manifestations of the activity of dead persons?
Professor. Because the particles of this spiritual ether are nothing but the souls of the living, the dead, and those not born, so that every concussion of this spiritual ether inevitably causes a certain motion of its particles. But these particles are nothing but the souls of men which by this motion are brought into communion.
Stout Lady (to Sakhátov). What is there here not to understand? This is so simple— I thank you very, very much!
Leoníd Fédorovich. It seems to me that everything is clear now, and that we can begin.
Doctor. The lad is in the most normal of conditions: temperature, 37.2; pulse, 74.
Professor (takes out a note-book, and makes a memorandum). As a confirmation of that which I have had the honour of presenting to you will be the fact that putting the medium to sleep inevitably brings with it, as we shall soon see, a rise in temperature and pulse, just as in the case of hypnosis.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Pardon me, but I should like to answer Sergyéy Iványch's question as to how it is we know that the spirits of deceased persons are communing with us. We know this because the spirit who comes tells us so straight out,—just as simply as I am saying this,—he tells us who he is, why he has come, where he is, and whether he is happy. At the last séance came the Spaniard Don Castillos, and he told us everything. He told us who he was, and when he died, and that he was suffering for having taken part in the Inquisition. More than that: he informed us of what was taking place during the very time he was speaking with us, namely, while he was speaking with us he had to be reborn upon earth, and so he could not finish the conversation which he had begun— Well, you will see for yourself.
Stout Lady (interrupting him). Ah, how interesting! Maybe the Spaniard was born in our house, and is now a baby.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Not impossible.
Professor. I think it is time to begin.
Leoníd Fédorovich. I only wanted to say—
Professor. It is late already.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Well, all right. So we can begin. Antón Borísovich, please, put the medium to sleep—
Grossmann. How do you wish me to put the subject to sleep? There are many possible means. There is Brede's system, there is the Egyptian symbol, there is Charcot's system.
Leoníd Fédorovich (to Professor). That makes no difference, I think.
Professor. It is a matter of indifference.
Grossmann. Then I will apply my own system, which I have demonstrated in Odessa.
Leoníd Fédorovich. If you please!
(Grossmann waves his hands over Semén. Semén closes his eyes and stretches himself.)
Grossmann (looking closely at him). He is falling asleep— He is asleep. A remarkably quick appearance of hypnosis! The subject has apparently already entered upon his anæsthetic condition. A remarkably, unusually receptive subject, and he might be subjected to interesting experiments! (Sits down, gets up, and again sits down.) We now could put a needle through his hand. If you wish—
Professor (to Leonid Fédorovich). Do you notice how the medium's sleep is affecting Grossmann? He is beginning to vibrate.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes, yes— Can we now put out the lights?
Sakhátov. But why must we have darkness?
Professor. Darkness? Because darkness is one of the conditions under which mediumistic energy is manifested, just as a certain temperature is the condition for certain manifestations of chemical and dynamic energy.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Not always. Many people have things happen to them at candle-light, and even in daylight. They have happened to me.
Professor (interrupting him). May we now have the lights out?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes, yes. (Puts out the lights.) Ladies and gentlemen! Please pay attention now!
(Tánya crawls out from under the sofa and takes hold of the thread which is attached to the candelabrum.)
Petríshchev. Really, I like the Spaniard. How, during the conversation, he—down his head—how do you translate piquer une tête?
Betsy. No, you just wait, and you will see what will happen!
Petríshchev. I am afraid of one thing only, and that is, that Vovó will grunt like a pig.
Vasíli Leonídych. Do you want me to do it? I will grab—
Leoníd Fédorovich. Ladies and gentlemen! I ask you not to speak—
(Silence. Semén sucks his finger, rubs the spittle on his knuckles, and waves his hands.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. A light! Do you see a light?
Sakhátov. A light? Yes, yes, I see, but permit me—
Stout Lady. Where, where? Ah, I have not seen it! There it is! Ah!
Professor (to Leoníd Fédorovich, in a whisper, pointing to Grossmann, who is moving about). Notice how he is vibrating! A double force! (Again a phosphorescence.)
Leoníd Fédorovich (to Professor). That is he?
Sakhátov. What he?
Leoníd Fédorovich. The Greek Nicholas. It is his light. Is it not so, Aleksyéy Vladimirovich?
Sakhátov. Who is this Greek Nicholas?
Professor. A certain Greek, who was a monk in the time of Constantine at Constantinople and who visited us last time.
Stout Lady. Where is he, where? I do not see.
Leoníd Fédorovich. He cannot be seen yet— Aleksyéy Vladimirovich, he is always especially well disposed to you. Ask him!
Professor (in a peculiar voice). Nicholas, is it you?
Leoníd Fédorovich (joyfully). He, he!
Stout Lady. Oh, oh! I am going away!
Sakhátov. On what ground is it assumed that it is he?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Two raps are an affirmative answer. Else there would have been a silence.
(Silence. Repressed laughter in the young people's corner. Tánya throws upon the table a lampshade, a pencil, and a pen-wiper.)
Leoníd Fédorovich (in a whisper). Notice, ladies and gentlemen, here is a lamp-shade. Something else. A pencil! Aleksyéy Vladímirovich, a pencil!
Professor. All right, all right. I am watching him and Grossmann. Do you notice?
(Grossmann rises and looks at the objects which have fallen on the table.)
Sakhatov. Excuse me, excuse me! I should like to see whether the medium is not doing it all himself.
Leonid Fédorovich. Do you think so? Then sit down near him, and hold his hands. But you may be sure he is asleep.
Sakhátov (walks over, catches with his head into the thread, which Tánya has lowered, and stoops in fright). Yes! Strange, strange! (Goes up, takes Semén by the elbow. Semén bellows.)
Professor (to Leoníd Fédorovich). Do you hear how Grossmann's presence affects him? A new phenomenon,—I must note it down— (Runs out of the room, notes it down, and returns.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. Yes. But we ought not to leave Nicholas without an answer. We ought to begin—
Grossmann (gets up, walks over to Semén, raises and drops his hand). Now it would be interesting to produce a contracture. The subject is in a state of absolute hypnosis.
Professor (to Leoníd Fédorovich). Do you see, do you see?
Grossmann. If you wish—
Doctor. Permit, sir, Aleksyéy Vladímirovich to go through with it: it is a serious matter.
Professor. Leave him alone! He is already speaking in his sleep.
Stout Lady. How glad I am I have decided to stay! It frightens me, but still I am glad, because I always told my husband—
Leoníd Fédorovich. I beg you to keep quiet.
(Tánya passes the thread over the head of the Stout Lady.)
Stout Lady. Ouch!
Leoníd Fédorovich. What, what is it?
Stout Lady. He took me by my hair!
Leoníd Fédorovich (in a whisper). Don't be afraid! It will not hurt! Give him your hand! The hand is generally cold, but I like it.
Stout Lady (hiding her hands). Not for the world!
Sakhátov. Yes, it is strange, it is strange.
Leoníd Fédorovich. He is here and wants to communicate. Who wants to ask any question?
Sakhátov. Please let me ask?—Do I believe, or not? (Tánya raps twice.)
Professor. An affirmative answer.
Sakhátov. Allow me to ask again. Have I a ten-rouble bill in my pocket?
(Tánya raps several times and passes the thread over Sakhátov's head.)
Sakhátov. Ah! (Catches the thread and breaks it off.)
Professor. I should like those present not to put any indefinite or jocular remarks. He does not like it.
Sakhátov. Excuse me, but I have a thread in my hand.
Leoníd Fédorovich. A thread? Keep it! That frequently happens. Not only threads, but silk cords, very antique cords, too.
Sakhátov. Still, where does the thread come from?
Sakhátov. Excuse me, excuse me! Something soft has struck my head. Let us have some light. There is something here—
Professor. We beg you not to interfere with the manifestations.
Stout Lady. For the Lord's sake, don't interfere! I want to ask something. May I?
Leoníd Fédorovich. You may, you may. Ask him!
Stout Lady. I want to ask about my stomach. May I? I want to ask what I had better take, aconite or belladonna?
(Silence. Whispering in the young people's corner, and suddenly Vasíli Leonídych cries like a suckling babe: "Ooah, ooah!" Laughter. Holding their noses and mouths, and snorting, the young women run out with Petríshchev.)
Stout Lady. Ah, no doubt, this monk is born anew!
Leoníd Fédorovich (furious, in an angry whisper). You can't do anything but foolish things! If you can't behave, go out! (Vasíli Leonídych exit.)
Stout Lady. Oh, what a pity! Now I can't ask any more! He is born now!
Leoníd Fédorovich. Not at all. That was Vovó's foolishness. He is here. Ask him!
Professor. This often happens: these jests and this ridicule are a very common phenomenon. I assume that he is still here. Anyway, we may ask. Leoníd Fédorovich, you ask!
Leoníd Fédorovich. No, if you please, you ask! This has put me out. It is so disagreeable! This tactlessness—
Professor. All right! All right! Nicholas, are you here?
(Tánya raps twice and rings the bell. Semén begins to bellow and to wave his hands. Gets hold of Sakhátov and of the Professor and chokes them.)
Professor. Such an unexpected manifestation! An interaction on the medium himself. This is entirely new. Leoníd Fédorovich, you keep watch, I am in an uncomfortable position. He is choking me. See what Grossmann is doing. Now you must be as attentive as possible.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Something has fallen on the table.
Professor. See what it is.
Leoníd Fédorovich. A paper! A folded sheet of paper! (Tánya throws a pocket inkstand on the table.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. An inkstand!
Leoníd Fédorovich. A pen!
Professor (out of breath). Excuse me, this is an absolutely new phenomenon. Not the elicited mediumistic energy is here at work, but the medium himself. Open the inkstand, and put the pen on the paper! He will write.
Leoníd Fédorovich. He has struck my head! (Looking at the table.) The pen is not writing yet, and the paper is folded.
Professor. See what kind of paper it is, and be quick about it! Apparently a double force, his and Grossmann's, is producing the perturbations.
Leoníd Fédorovich (goes out with the paper, and immediately returns). Extraordinary! This paper is a contract with the peasants, which I declined this morning to sign, and which I gave back to the peasants. Apparently he wants me to sign it.
Professor. Of course! Of course! You ask him!
Leoníd Fédorovich. Nicholas! Shall I do so?
Professor. Do you hear? There is no doubt about it!
(Leoníd Fédorovich takes the pen and goes out. Tánya raps, plays on the guitar and accordion, and again creeps under the sofa. Leoníd Fédorovich returns. Semén stretches himself and coughs.)
Leoníd Fédorovich. He is waking up. May I light the candles?
Professor (hurriedly). Doctor, doctor, if you please, the temperature and pulse! You will see that there will prove to be a rise.
Leoníd Fédorovich (lights the candles). Well, unbelievers?
Doctor (going up to Semén and putting the thermometer into his mouth). Well, my good fellow? Have you slept well? Put this in your mouth, and let me have your hand! (Looks at his watch.)
Sakhátov (shrugging his shoulders). I can affirm that the medium did not do any of these things. But the thread? I should like to have an explanation of the thread.
Leoníd Fédorovich. The thread, the thread! There were more serious phenomena than that!
Sakhátov. I do not know. But, in any case, je réserve mon opinion.
Stout Lady (to Sakhátov). How can you say: Je réserve mon opinion? And what about the baby with the wings? Did you not see him? At first I thought I was only dreaming; but later it was as clear, as clear, as though he were alive—
Sakhátov. I can speak only of what I have seen. I did not see that, I did not.
Stout Lady. Well! It was so plain. On the left side the monk in black attire leaned down over him—
Sakhátov (walking away). What exaggeration!
Stout Lady (turning to the Doctor). You must have seen it. He rose on your side. (Doctor, paying no attention to her, continues to count the pulse.)
Stout Lady (to Grossmann). And there was a light from him, especially around the face. And his expression was so gentle, so truly angelic! (Smiles gently herself.)
Grossmann. I saw a phosphorescent light and that objects changed places, but nothing else.
Stout Lady. Don't say that! You are just joking. You do so because you, learned men of the school of Charcot, do not believe in the life after death. Nobody will now make me change my faith in a future life! (Grossmann walks away from her.)
Stout Lady. No, you may say what you please, but this is one of the happiest moments of my life. When Sarasate played, and this one— Yes! (Nobody pays any attention to her. She goes up to Semén.) Tell me, my friend, how did you feel? Was it hard for you?
Semén (laughing). Yes, madam.
Stout Lady. Still, you could stand it?
Semén. Yes, madam. (To Leonid Fédorovich.) May I go?
Leoníd Fédorovich. Go, go!
Doctor (to Professor). The pulse is the same, but the temperature is lower.
Professor. Lower? (In thought and suddenly making it out.) That is what it ought to be, there ought to be a fall! The double energy, crossing, ought to have produced something in the nature of an interference. Yes, yes.
|
Leoníd Fédorovich. I am sorry that there was no complete materialization, but still— Ladies and gentlemen, please go to the drawing-room! Stout Lady. I was particularly impressed by the flapping of his wings, and I could see him rise in the air. Grossmann (to Sakhátov). If one were to stick to hypnosis alone, one might produce complete epilepsy. The success might be absolute. Sakhátov. Interesting, but not convincing,—that is all I can say! |
Speaking together. |
Scene XXI. Leoníd Fédorovich with the paper. Enter Fédor Iványch.
Leoníd Fédorovich. Well, Fédor, it was a remarkable séance! It now turns out that I must give the peasants the land upon their own conditions.
Fédor Iványch. Indeed!
Leoníd Fédorovich. I should say so! (Shows the paper to him.) Just think of it! The paper which I had returned to them was thrown down on the table. I signed it.
Fédor Iványch. How did it get there?
Leoníd Fédorovich. It just got there. (Exit, Fédor Iványch follows him out.)
Scene XXII. Tánya (alone, creeping out from underneath the sofa, and laughing).
Tánya. My saints! How frightened I got when he caught hold of the thread! (Squeaking.) Still, it has come out all right, he has signed it!
Scene XXIII. Tánya and Grigóri.
Grigóri. So it is you who has been fooling them?
Tánya. What is that to you?
Grigóri. Do you suppose the lady will praise you for it? No, you are mistaken! Now you are caught. I will tell of your tricks, if you will not do as I want you to.
Tánya. I will not do as you want me to, and you won't dare to do anything to me.
Curtain.