After working a little while, it grew darker, so that he could not see to sew; he saw the lamplighter pa.s.sing by to light the street-lamps.
"It must be time to make a light," he said to himself; so he got his little lamp ready, hung it up, and he took himself again to his work. He had one boot already finished; he turned it around, looked at it: "Well done." He put away his tools, swept off the cuttings, cleared off the bristles and ends, took the lamp, set it on the table, and took down the Gospels from the shelf. He intended to open the book at the very place where he had yesterday put a piece of leather as a mark, but it happened to open at another place; and the moment Avdyeitch opened the Testament, he recollected his last night"s dream. And as soon as he remembered it, it seemed as if he heard someone stepping about behind him. Avdyeitch looked around, and saw--there, in the dark corner, it seemed as if 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?" exclaimed Avdyeitch.
"Me," repeated the voice. "It was I;" and Stepanuitch stepped forth from the dark corner; he smiled, and like a little cloud faded away, and soon vanished.
"And it was 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 it was I," continued the voice; both the old woman and the boy with the apple stepped forward; both smiled and vanished.
Avdyeitch"s soul rejoiced; he crossed himself, put on his spectacles, and began to read the Evangelists where it happened to open. On the upper part of the page he read:--
"_For I was an 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 Avdyeitch understood that his dream had not deceived him; that the Saviour really called on him that day, and that he really received Him.