“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.