Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 26, 2025
I wondered whether it was a rat; no, it was not a rat: it moved about, scratched on the floor and scratched itself.... At last it flapped its ears! "There was no mistake about it; it was a dog. But where could a dog have come from? I did not keep one; could some stray dog have run in, I wondered. I called my servant; Filka was his name. He came in with a candle.
Well, I began to feel so set up that I fell to calling it all sorts of names. But still there was not a sound! I could only hear the puppy panting! Filka, I cried, 'Filka! Come here, you stupid! He came in. 'Do you hear the dog? 'No, sir, said he, 'I hear nothing, and he laughed.
"'How's this, I said, 'Filka, my lad? Is that how you look after things? A dog has got under my bed? 'What dog? said he. 'How do I know, said I, 'that's your business to save your master from disturbance. My Filka bent down, and began moving the candle under the bed. 'But there's no dog here, said he. I bent down, too; there certainly was no dog there. What a queer thing!
'Ah, ah! observed the wolfskin pelisse reproachfully, 'you came with twenty nations into Russia, burnt Moscow, tore down, you damned heathen! the cross from Ivan the Great, and now mossoo, mossoo, indeed! now you turn tail! You are paying the penalty of your sins!... Go on, Filka! The horses were starting. 'Stop, though! added the landowner. 'Eh? you mossoo, do you know anything of music?
I sent him away, blew out the candle and, damn it all, the dog was there again and it was a dog right enough: one could hear it breathing, biting its coat, looking for fleas.... It was so distinct 'Filka, I said, 'come here without the candle! He came in. 'Well, now, I said, 'do you hear? 'Yes, he said. I could not see him, but I felt that the fellow was scared.
Here were cooks from the whole courtyard, the porter, two policemen, a non-commissioned officer with good-conduct stripes, and the boy Filka. . . . This Filka was generally hanging about the laundry playing with the dogs; now he was combed and washed, and was holding an ikon in a tinfoil setting. Pelageya was standing in the middle of the kitchen in a new cotton dress, with a flower on her head.
I glanced at Filka and he was smiling. 'You stupid, I said to him, 'why are you grinning. When you opened the door the dog must have whisked out into the passage. And you, gaping idiot, saw nothing because you are always asleep. You don't suppose I am drunk, do you? He would have answered, but I sent him out, curled up and that night heard nothing more.
"And in the past, have you ever seen ghosts before?" "Y-yes, I have seen them, but only once in my life, six years ago. I had a serf, Filka; just after his burial I called out forgetting 'Filka, my pipe! He came in and went to the cupboard where my pipes were. I sat still and thought 'he is doing it out of revenge, because we had a violent quarrel just before his death.
"But the next night only fancy the thing was repeated. As soon as I blew out the candle, he scratched himself and flapped his ears again. Again I called Filka; again he looked under the bed again there was nothing!
Word Of The Day
Others Looking