"Zina, call up Fedyukov!"
The spiritualistic lady was delighted; she sent for a sheet of cardboard and a saucer, made
her husband sit down beside her, and began upon the magic rites.
Fedyukov did not keep them waiting long. . . .
"What do you want?" asked Navagin.
"Repent," answered the saucer.
"What were you on earth?"
"A sinner. . . ."
"There, you see!" whispered his wife, "and you did not believe!"
Navagin conversed for a long time with Fedyukov, and then called up Napoleon, Hannibal,
Askotchensky, his aunt Klavdya Zaharovna, and they all gave him brief but correct answers
full of deep significance. He was busy with the saucer for four hours, and fell asleep
soothed and happy that he had become acquainted with a mysterious world that was new to
him. After that he studied spiritualism every day, and at the office, informed the clerks that
there was a great deal in nature that was supernatural and marvellous to which our men of
science ought to have turned their attention long ago.
Hypnotism, mediumism, bishopism, spiritualism, the fourth dimension, and other misty
notions took complete possession of him, so that for whole days at a time, to the great
delight of his wife, he read books on spiritualism or devoted himself to the saucer, table-
turning, and discussions of supernatural phenomena. At his instigation all his clerks took up
spiritualism, too, and with such ardour that the old managing clerk went out of his mind and
one day sent a telegram: "Hell. Government House. I feel that I am turning into an evil
spirit. What's to be done? Reply paid. Vassily Krinolinsky."
After reading several hundreds of treatises on spiritualism Navagin had a strong desire to
write something himself. For five months he sat composing, and in the end had written a
huge monograph, entitled: My Opinion. When he had finished this essay he determined to
send it to a spiritualist journal.
The day on which it was intended to despatch it to the journal was a very memorable one
for him. Navagin remembers that on that never-to-be-forgotten day the secretary who had
made a fair copy of his article and the sacristan of the parish who had been sent for on
business were in his study. Nayagin's face was beaming. He looked lovingly at his creation,
felt between his fingers how thick it was, and with a happy smile said to the secretary:
"I propose, Filipp Sergeyitch, to send it registered. It will be safer. . . ." And raising his eyes
to the sacristan, he said: "I have sent for you on business, my good man. I am putting my
youngest son to the high school and I must have a certificate of baptism; only could you let
me have it quickly?"