“‘Just look at the unfortunate man,’ said Helena Petrovna suddenly, turning to me. ‘He does not look himself at all; he drives me to distraction’.... Then she passed from Bavaji to the London Society for Psychical Research, and again tried to persuade me about the ‘master.’ Bavaji stood like a statue; he could take no part in our conversation, as he did not know a word of Russian.
“‘But such incredulity as to the evidence of your own eyes, such obstinate infidelity as yours, is simply unpardonable. In fact, it is wicked!’ exclaimed Helena Petrovna.
“I was walking about the room at the time, and did not take my eyes off Bavaji. I saw that he was keeping his eyes wide open, with a sort of contortion of his whole body, while his hand, armed with a great pencil, was carefully tracing some letters on a sheet of paper.
“‘Look; what is the matter with him?’ exclaimed Madame Blavatsky.
“‘Nothing particular,’ I answered; ‘he is writing in Russian.’
“I saw her whole face grow purple. She began to stir in her chair, with an obvious desire to get up and take the paper from him. But with her swollen and almost inflexible limbs, she could not do so with any speed. I made haste to seize the paper and saw on it a beautifully drawn Russian phrase.
“Bavaji was to have written, in the Russian language with which he was not acquainted: ‘Blessed are they that believe, as said the Great Adept.’ He had learned his task well, and remembered correctly the form of all the letters, but he had omitted two in the word ‘believe,’ [The effect was precisely the same as if in English he had omitted the first two and last two letters of the word.]
“‘Blessed are they that lie,’ I read aloud, unable to control the laughter which shook me. ‘That is the best thing I ever saw. Oh, Bavaji! you should have got your lesson up better for examination!’
“The tiny Hindoo hid his face in his hands and rushed out of the room; I heard his hysterical sobs in the distance. Madame Blavatsky sat with distorted features.”
As will be seen from the above, the Hindoo servant was one of the Madame’s Mahatmas, and was caught in the act of preparing a communication from a sage in the Himalayas, to Solovyoff.