Litchfield enquirer., 1878-03-07
lFrom the Cornhill Magazinel THE CARS CLEMENCY A POLISH PRIESTS STORY.

Tie governor of the district of Podlaquia sent for nie and said in Drench, ''Caslmr l Barinski has been pardoned, and will return | from Siberia to-day. He is to reside m thls town of Dolw. 1 rely upon you to impress on him that he must show himself deserving of the czars clemency by the most scrupulous | loyalty henceforth.'
 1 1 bowed hunlbiy and retired. ,1
 So many Poles from the district of Podla- l quia were transported after the rebellion of | 1863 A that nine persons out of ten might not have remembered who Casimir Barinski was ] but knew very we'll I am the priest of the l town of Dolw, which has but one Catholic parish, great number of the population be- 1 ing Jews and 1 keep register, in which have entered the names and alleged crimes of those among my parisioners who have suffer ] ed for our national cause. The police, who pay me frequent domiciliary yisits have ask | ed more than once what 1 mean by keeping this register; but have alway answered that, in the event of his Majesty deigning to pardon any of the misguided men or women who l joined in the civil war, it is good that should preserve some record of their individual offen- ces so as to caution them against relapslng in- l to the same on their return. have also had the honor of explaining to the chief of the po- l lice that the notes. which 1 have preserved as to the character of the offenders, would enable me to address each with the words of admoni- tion best suited to him.
 The police, seeing how very unfavorable are all these character notes, have been satisfied l till now; but think they would be less pleas l ed could the guess that every censorious cpl | thet bears in my eyes contrary sense, and | by certain cryptographic signs of my own, such az the shape of capital letters and the po- | sition of commas, am able to reconstruct at 1 glance the true and private history of the | exiles, whom my entries appear one and all to condemn.
 Thus, I consulted my register on getting home, and found by large hooked < in Casi- mir Barinski's name that he had done nothing whatever worthy of punishment; the words qud,reLsonae and disifege7oas01s reminded me at the same time of his courage and candor. lie was barely twenty when eXiled in 1863, along with his father and three brothers, who had all died since, as l heard, in the mines of Oural. His mother was dead likewise, and his only sister, Eveline, was married and set tied in France. Every one knows that the Barinskis have been from father to son staunch patriots; and 1 have no doubt that, if the oc- casion had offered Casimir would have drawn his sword for Poland, as others of his family did !; but it happened that the instruction had not yet spread to Dolw when the father and his sons were all arrested one night and sent away to Siberia, without even the form of trial. Such proceedings were not exceptional in those days. The denunciation of spy was enough; and semicolon appraised me that the spy who had betrayed the Barinskis was Coun- tess Paulina Marienha, who still resides in our town.
 I stood pensively looking at the semicolon for nearly half an hour, then closed the regis ter, and went out to pay visit to the Coun- tess Marienha.
 She was at home in her large old mansion of the Artillery Square. Her maid, the red haired Jewess Rebecca, conducted me to her boudoir, and found her deep in her favorite occupation of drinking Caravan tea, and tel ling her own fortune with pack of cards. She had just turned up Whe knave of hearts .when entered
 Paulina Marienha was close upon forty, but could have passed herself off for thirty, and I believe did. The proverbal beauty of Polish women was all hers with her dark hair large eyes, 1.-the figure, and dazzling complexion, she quite realized the Lithuanian poets de- scripton of his icountrywomen ''Frisky as kittens white as cream, under their black eye lashes their eyes sparkle like stars" have never known any woman exercise such tascl- nation on those who approached her, so that even I, her confessor, found that the sins which she avowed to me had not such bad appearance as the sins of other people. She had coaxing ways and childlike manner of pouting, by placing her hands before her face and crying real tears when rebuked, the which made me often wonder whether she was as conscious as ordinary grown-up persons of the enormty of the things which she did. Her laugh was as seductive as her weeping and, notwithstanding that she was SO near middle age, there was not wrinkle on her white brow though God and 1 knew too we'll what deep lines would have been imprinted there if kl c. ,c,,1o of harh hfor ri had loft O mark.
 Rebecca the Jewess, placed my shovel-hat on q cltafonnie7e and brought me cup; then left us. When I was alone with the countess, who was wrapped up in pale blue satin dres- sing-goWn, and had a number of jewelied rings on her finger, said to her,
 'sPaulina, Casmir ..Barinski has been pard- oned and is coming back"
 s'That is my knave of hearts, she answered pointing to her cards; ''1 knew it announced a fair stranger"
 s'Casimir has been in exile thirteen years, and those years count doubly."
 Poor fellow! but man is still young at thirty three"
 'sIf Casimr should still be young in heart if he should still feel for you as he once did, you must not trifle with him as you did last time, eh p
 ''What an idea, father!" And she laughed with the coquetry of girl of eighteen. "Who would fall in love with an old woman of my age?"
 Pauline" I said, with more sadness than severity, mot one of the patriot Poles, save myself, whose lips are sealed, knows of the treacherous part you played towards our coun- trymen. You are respected as one of the mainstays of our cause you gave aims and are beloved and yet it was you who sent those Barinskis, with numerous others, into exile"
 Well confessed it to you, and you gave me absolution," she replied, preparing to pout. 'You have no right to reproach me with an old story now"
 T do not reproach you, but being ignorant how far you are dealing faithfully with us now appeal to you not to do the. same thing again. Casimir's only crime was that he made love to you at a time when you were flirting with some one whom you liked better"
 "He plagued me with his outbursts of jeal ousy," she said, assuming her plaintive tone. ''As to doing the same thing again, why should you deem me capable of it? Do not attend your confessional every week, and tell you the smallest of my sins ?"
 s'Alas! it is the smallness of your sins, Pau. lima, which makes me fear that you have some other private confessor to whom you retail the big ones" said 1, stirring my tea, with sigh, for knew the duplicity of women. At this I noticed that she changed color, but she laugh ed at the same moment, and asked where I could have learned of such tricks 'sIs it pos- sible that some women can split their comics sion into halves, and divide them between two priests ?" she said.
 ''Yes, and believe that is your case" I replied sternly. twill you look in my eyes and affirm it is SOP"
 "Oh, will look into your eyes for a whole hour," she ejaculated, opening wide her eye balls as they do to amuse children. ''I am better penitent than you think, father. There is not naughty thing do but you hear of it. However, if you find my sins too small can make them larger" enid her for this profanity, and we talked l for while of other things; then I left her., But was not without misgivings.~ Paulina Marienha had no religion, but she was superstitious as an old peasant woman. believe she imagined herself adroit enough to throw dust into the eyes of the saints, and get into heaven under cover of her mere good ] works. What with her prayers and aims, the cb cf.