Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/246

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226
THE FRUITS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Fédor Iványch (smiling). I can't understand what you are up to! Yes, I will tell him, I will. (Exit.)

Scene LVI. Tánya (alone).

Tánya. Really, I will do it. He said himself that there is a power in Semén, and I know how to do it all. Nobody caught on then. Now I will teach Semén how to do it. And if it does not succeed, there will be no sin in doing it. There is no sin in doing it.

Scene LVII. Tánya, Leoníd Fédorovich followed by Fédor Iványch.

Leoníd Fédorovich (smiling). So you have a request to make! What kind of an affair have you?

Tánya. A little secret, Leoníd Fédorovich. Permit me to tell it to you in private.

Leoníd Fédorovich. Indeed! Fédor, go out for a minute!

Scene LVIII. Leoníd Fédorovich and Tánya.

Tánya. As I have been living in your house, Leoníd Fédorovich, and have grown up here, and as I am grateful to you for so much, I will tell you everything, as if you were my own father. Semén, who is living in your house, wants to marry me.

Leoníd Fédorovich. Indeed?

Tánya. I will tell you everything, as before God. I am an orphan, and I have no one to consult—

Leoníd Fédorovich. Why not? He seems to be a nice fellow.

Tánya. Yes, he is. That would be all right, but I have fears about one thing. I should like to ask you about this matter: there is something about him which I