But poor Mr.Shchapoff received an official warning not to do it again, from the governor of his province.

That way lies Siberia.
"Imagine, then," exclaims Mr.Shchapoff, "our horror, when, on our return to the country in March, the unknown force at once set to work again.

And now even my wife's presence was not essential.

Thus, one day, I saw with my own eyes a heavy sofa jump off all four legs (three or four times in fact), and this when my aged mother was lying on it." The same thing occurred to Nancy Wesley's bed, on which she was sitting while playing cards in 1717.

The picture of a lady of seventy, sitting tight to a bucking sofa, appeals to the brave.
Then the fire-raising began.