My aunt, Leokadia Serafimovna Sumarokova, was a woman who was strange and unpredictable. And when she bequeathed me her country estate, I didn’t expect anything good from this gift of fate. And I was right, by the way. Judge for yourself—apart from the mysterious voices that can be heard in the house, there are also all kinds of persistent strangers who keep trying to ask to stay. And I’m a lonely, unmarried, kind-hearted girl—how could I refuse? Of course not. Let them stay. And then we’ll see what comes of all this.