As long as _Akulina's_ condition is not noticeable, the relation of _Nikita_ with his dead master's daughter remains hidden from the neighbors. But the time comes when she is to give birth to a child. It is then that _Anisya_ becomes mistress of the situation again. Her hatred for _Akulina_, her outraged love for _Nikita_ and the evil spirit of _Nikita's_ mother all combine to turn her into a fiend. _Akulina_ is driven to the barn, where her terrible labor pains are stifled by the dread of her stepmother. When the innocent victim is born, _Nikita's_ vicious mother and _Anisya_ persuade him that the child is dead and force him to bury it in the cellar. While _Nikita_ is digging the grave, he discovers the deception. The child is alive! The terrible shock unnerves the man, and in temporary madness he presses a board over the little body till its bones crunch. Superstition, horror and the perfidy of the women drive _Nikita_ to drink in an attempt to drown the baby's cries constantly ringing in his ears. The last act deals with _Akulina's_ wedding to the son of a neighbor. She is forced into the marriage because of her misfortune. The peasants all gather for the occasion, but _Nikita_ is missing: he roams the place haunted by the horrible phantom of his murdered child. He attempts to hang himself but fails, and finally decides to go before the entire assembly to confess his crimes. _Nikita._ Father, listen to me! First of all, Marina, look at me! I am guilty toward you: I had promised to marry you, and I seduced you. I deceived you and abandoned you; forgive me for Christ's sake! _Matrena._ Oh, oh, he is bewitched. What is the matter with him? He has the evil eye upon him. Get up and stop talking nonsense! _Nikita._ I killed your father, and I, dog, have ruined his daughter. I had the power over her, and I killed also her baby.... Father dear! Forgive me, sinful man! You told me, when I first started on this life of debauch: "When the claw is caught, the whole bird is lost." But, I, dog, did not pay any attention to you, and so everything turned out as you said. Forgive me, for Christ's sake. The "Power of Darkness" is a terrible picture of poverty, ignorance and superstition. To write such a work it is not sufficient to be a creative artist: it requires a deeply sympathetic human soul. Tolstoy possessed both. He understood that the tragedy of the peasants' life is due not to any inherent viciousness but to the power of darkness which permeates their existence from the cradle to the grave. Something heavy is oppressing them--in the words of _Anisya_--weighing them down, something that saps all humanity out of them and drives them into the depths. "The Power of Darkness" is a social picture at once appalling and gripping. ANTON TCHEKHOF