caused a loss of several thousand. He sold the land which ought not to have been sold.
Tánya. Let me go, Anna Pávlovna!
Anna Pávlovna. No, you will have to answer. You can't cheat like that. I will take you before a justice of the peace.
Betsy (stepping forward). Let her go, mother! If you wish to sue her, you will have to sue me, too: I did it all with her last night.
Anna Pávlovna. Of course, if you had anything to do with it, it could have been nothing but the nastiest thing.
Scene XXII. The same and Professor.
Professor. Good day, Anna Pávlovna! Good day, madam! I am bringing you, Leoníd Fédorovich, the report of the thirteenth meeting of the spiritualists at Chicago. Schmidt delivered a wonderful speech!
Leoníd Fédorovich. Ah, that will be interesting!
Anna Pávlovna. I will tell you something which is more interesting still. It turns out that this girl has been fooling you and my husband. Betsy takes it upon herself, but that is only to tease me; it was really this illiterate girl who has been fooling you, and you believed it all. There were none of your mediumistic phenomena last night, but this girl here (pointing to Tanya) has done it all.
Professor (angrily). What do you mean?
Anna Pávlovna. I mean that it was she who played the guitar in the dark, and who struck my husband on the head, and who did all that foolishness. She has just confessed.
Professor (smiling). What does that prove?
Anna Pávlovna. It proves that your mediumism is nonsense, that is what it proves!
Professor. Because this girl wanted to cheat, mediumism is nonsense, as you have deigned to express yourself? (Smiling.) A strange conclusion! It may well
