The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-03-25
SORCERER
IL.
CONCLUDED.

IL.
CONCLUDED.
Two years passed, and this image
was destined again to rise before my
minds eye. l was converSing with
one of my colleagues, who had just
returned from a trip to the South of
Russia. He had passed some time in
o., and told me some of the gOs-
sip about the people there.
"Apr0pOs he exclaimed, "yOu used
F, to know Mr.. B very well 2"
THAT was my friend, the father of
SOphia.)
doh yes! 1 was acquainted with
him."
"And his dOughter, Sophia ?"
al saw her once or twice"
"Only to think ! she has elOpedp'
"What?'
ayes, indeed. Three months ago,
she disappeared, without leaving a
single trace. And the strange part of
the matter is, that no one can say
with whom. Can you imagine? Not
an idea, net the faintest suspicion )
She had refused all suitors. Dis
rich, you know, and she is his heir
ess. She always conducted herself in
the most proper manner. All, these
quiet, pious people THE scandal is
immense-B-is in despair-and
what possible reason could she have
for running away? Her father in
dulged her in everything. What is
most ineomprehensible, however, is
that not one Of the LOverlaces in the
province is missingw
"And they have not yet found herr"
al tell you she has vanished, like a
drop of water i'm the sea. There is one
rich bride the less in the wOrld-that
| is unpleasant ~
l. This piece of news caused me the
greatest establishment. 1t did not
agree i'm the least with my recOllec-
ton of Sophia B. Wonders, how
ever, will never cease.
In the autumn of the same year,
NV fate again carried me on official
business into the province which ad-
Joins that of O.. The weather
was rainy and cold. The wearied
pOst-horses could hardly drag my
! fight tdrdntdss through the deep, black
mud of the highway. L remember
that one day was especially unlucky;
Three times did find myself in mud
up TO the axels. The postillion urged
his horses increasingly out Of one rui
into another, but all to no purpose
In a word, by evening was so eX'
hausted that, at the first halting place
We came to, / resolved TO spend the
night in the tavern. was shown u
q room with a broken-dOwn wOOdeT
sofa, a filthy, unexpected floor o
warped planks, and tattered hanging
on the walls. There was q strong
smell of kDdgs "a kind of beer), mat
ting, onions, and turpentine, com
bined, and flies covered every thing II
swarms. But there was at least shell
ter from the storm, and the rain which
had been pouring down for full four
and-twenty hours. / ordered thC
samOware to be brought and seating
myself on the rickety sofa, abandoned
myself TO the luxury of meditation
up6n the pleasures of travelling il
Russia.
My reflections were interrupted by
a great din, which proceeded from tn,
D common reception-room, from which
my apartment was separated only b,
thin partition.
The noise was accompanied, from
7 time to time, by a clinking sOun'
which seemed to be made by the rat
Ting of a chain. Suddenly, a harsl
: mans voice cried: ''God bless all VIII
I are In this house, God bless all-GO
!, bless all % repeated the voice, length
ening opt the last syllable of eac
word eAcessively, and in most pf
n cuIiar manner. Then followed lou
$ sigh, and heavy body fell on one
the benches with the same rattlin
sound.