The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories
sprang suddenly to one side. The superintendent fell across the fence
and a very sharp picket pierced his stomach, when Michael fell
unconscious to the ground.
Toward the evening, when the serfs arrived at the village gate, their
horses refused to enter. On looking around, the peasants discovered the
dead body of their superintendent lying face downward in a pool of
blood, where he had fallen from the fence. Peter Mikhayeff alone had
sufficient courage to dismount and approach the prostrate form, his
companions riding around the village and entering by way of the back
yards. Peter closed the dead man’s eyes, after which he put the body in
a wagon and took it home.
When the nobleman learned of the fatal accident which had befallen his
superintendent, and of the brutal treatment which he had meted out to
those under him, he freed the serfs, exacting a small rent for the use
of his land and the other agricultural opportunities.
And thus the peasants clearly understood that the power of God is
manifested not in evil, but in goodness.