The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-10-12
Selsrf Storp.
THE BLACK RUSSIA,
All the Year Round.l


why, 1t is Musgrave, ce cher Arthur
| thought you, mon ami, to be in Spain
STILL What good wind, what wind Of
fortune, has blown you TO us here, in
Russia?'
Such were the words that reached my
ears, as a gloved grasp was suddenly laid
upon my arm, while l WAS traversing the
railway platform at Nlnsk. / turned to
find myselfconfronted by the smiling fice
of Demetrius Vassili, Russian whom /
had known for some three or four wears
at ST. Petersburg, Paris, and wherever
diplomatists and birds of passage congre-
gate. He, this we'll whiskered, glib
tongued Vassili, belonged to both cate
gories, since, when 1 first knew him in
he Cars capital, he was professor of
the university, while in Paris he was an
underling of the Russian embassy, and
at Madrid gentleman at large.
confess than did not much like De
metrius Vassili, though was more than
half ashamed of my prejudice. for the
man was friendly, almost too ostenta
dously so; was polite, genial, and one of
hose amiable persons who are always
taking our good opinion by storm, as it
were, by the graceful rendering Of some
little service or other. Vassili, when /
was raw lad new to the continent, had
been kind to me once or twice, and
had repaid his good nature by taking his
part when others spoke evil of him, in a
vague way, behind his back, for he was
not popular somehow. There he was at
any rate, and evidently delighted to see
me.
"By the by" abruptly put in an old
acquaintance, linking his arm in mine,
Il have to congratulate you, have | not?
It's true that you are about to marry the
beautiful Mile. Marie, daughter of Count
Constantine Orloff, the young lady who
at Madrid, when I was there, broke all
hearts,"
1t was true that | was betrothed to
Marie Orlof; indeed | was on my way
then to her fathers mansion, at which it
was arranged that / should be guest
until af,er the wedding should take place,
acc riding to both the English and Russo
Greek forms at st. Petersburg. Our en-
gagement had come about in this wise:
|, Arthur Musgrave, as an attache of our
legation at Madrid, had been thrown
much into the society of the daughter of
the Russian envoy, had learned to love
her, and had been lucky enough to teach
her to love me. My chief difficulty was
with the Count, who was at first yer,
much annoyed and displeased Russia
Youngest Of nations-has an aristocracv
that in pride and pretentions rivals the
blue blood" of Spain. and every Musco
vite noble is convinced that the English
are, as Napoleon called us, a nation of
shopkeepers. quite unfit to mate with
their own upper classes. Fortunately
for me, however, was heir to an en-
tailed property, small indeed, but the
rent roll of which seemed respectable in
continental eyes; while l was able to
convince Count Orloff that my border
ancestry had driven off Scottish cattle.
and ridden in warden raids, at time
when his own forefathers were probably
unbaptized Tartars, for it is curious
fact that the titled families of Russia are
Georgian, Tartar, German, Swedish, any.
thing but Russian.
All now was happily settled, and as l
have said, L was on my way to my future
father in-law's country chateau, a sum
mer residence in the lake district of Os-
taschkoi, near Tyer on the Upper Volga
The Counts estates lay chiefly in that
neighborhood, and he had lately been
appointed, by one of those abrupt trans
itions from one service to another, which
are common under the Cars rule, Gov.
ernor of the province.
But what chance, VI. Vassih, brings
you here?" Iasked, when he had shaken
hands. Il heard ofyou last in Rome
Here to-day, there to morrow" an
swered Nassili, airily. Il have been in
Asia lately, shall be at wilma tomorrow
and in St Petersburg next week. Iserve
master who has dealings in far away
places"
"You mean the Emperor" Inquired
and the Russian nodded with Look OF
good -humored mystery. Atthis moment
up came porter to tell me, cringingly
that my excellency must, he feared, be
content to wait six hours or more for a
train. There had been a movement OF
troops toward Boland, disordering the
companyis arrangement, and taking uI
the rolling stock.
The Emperors orders, noble gospo
din" he added with deprecatory shrug
D. he saw my vexed face.
Then Demetrlus cbimed in. His tram