way.

When returning some weeks later from a visit to the Kirghiz of the Inner
Horde, I arrived one evening at this centre of the Molokan faith,
and was hospitably received by one of the brotherhood. In conversing
casually with my host on religious subjects I expressed to him a desire
to find some one well read in Holy Writ and well grounded in the faith,
and he promised to do what he could for me in this respect. Next morning
he kept his promise with a vengeance. Immediately after the tea-urn had
been removed the door of the room was opened and twelve peasants were
ushered in! After the customary salutations with these unexpected
visitors, my host informed me to my astonishment that his friends
had come to have a talk with me about the faith; and without further
ceremony he placed before me a folio Bible in the old Slavonic tongue,
in order that I might read passages in support of my arguments. As I was
not at all prepared to open a formal theological discussion, I felt not
a little embarrassed, and I could see that my travelling companions,
two Russian friends who cared for none of these things, were thoroughly
enjoying my discomfiture. There was, however, no possibility of drawing
back. I had asked for an opportunity of having a talk with some of the
brethren, and now I had got it in a way that I certainly did not expect.
My friends withdrew--"leaving me to my fate," as they whispered to
me--and the "talk" began.

My fate was by no means so terrible as had been anticipated, but at
first the situation was a little awkward. Neither party had any clear
ideas as to what the other desired, and my visitors expected that I
was to begin the proceedings. This expectation was quite natural and
justifiable, for I had inadvertently invited them to meet me, but I
could not make a speech to them, for the best of all reasons--that I
did not know what to say. If I told them my real aims, their suspicions
would probably be aroused. My usual stratagem of the weather and the
crops was wholly inapplicable. For a moment I thought of proposing that
a psalm should be sung as a means of breaking the ice, but I felt that
this would give to the meeting a solemnity which I wished to avoid. On
the whole it seemed best to begin at once a formal discussion. I told
them, therefore, that I had spoken with many of their brethren in
various villages, and that I had found what I considered grave errors
of doctrine. I could not, for instance, agree w